LACONIA, N.H. (AP) — Former President Donald Trump is back on the campaign trail Thursday as his primary challenger for the GOP presidential nomination, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, is making his first swing through the states of early voting as an official candidate.
Trump returns to Iowa nearly three weeks after canceling his last event, a large rally near Des Moines, because of a tornado warning, reluctantly ceding the spotlight to DeSantis as the governor crisscrossed the state before the launch of your campaign.
Trump, who has spent the past few weeks attacking DeSantis on social media and mocking his error-filled initial announcement, has a series of events scheduled in Des Moines followed by a town hall airing on Fox News Channel Thursday night.
DeSantis is coming off a two-day flurry of stops around Iowa, leading up to next year’s GOP presidential primary contest. On Thursday, he will be in the early voting state of New Hampshire, with stops scheduled in Laconia, Rochester, Salem and Manchester, before taking his campaign Friday to South Carolina, another state high on the presidential voting calendar.
The dueling appearances between Trump and DeSantis come as each man presents himself as the strongest fighter for conservative policies.
While DeSantis had largely avoided countering Trump’s constant attacks before announcing his run for president, the governor pledged in Iowa this week that he would “stand up.” He accused Trump of discarding “America First” immigration principles and “moving to the left” on issues.
Trump and his allies have continued to attack DeSantis on social media, with the former president sharing polls showing him as the heavy favorite in the Republican primary, criticizing DeSantis’ leadership during the pandemic. Trump in recent days has also pledged to end the constitutional right to citizenship for babies of non-citizens and unauthorized immigrants born in the United States, something he has called for since he first campaigned for the White House in 2015 , but which he did not do in his first term. as president
Trump, after appearing at a GOP legislative dinner in Des Moines Wednesday night, will appear Thursday morning at one of the conservative club’s bimonthly breakfasts at an Urbandale restaurant. The Westside Conservative Breakfast events are a longtime stop for Republican candidates at all levels of elected office, including presidential hopefuls.
The former president is later expected to have lunch with religious leaders, visit with activists and supporters and then participate in a taped late-afternoon town hall with Sean Hannity in the Des Moines suburb of Clive. The town hall will air Thursday at 9pm on Fox News.
DeSantis’ New Hampshire stop is scheduled to resemble his Iowa swing, with a series of appearances around the state and an event billed as a “fireside chat” with his wife, Casey DeSantis.
As Trump and DeSantis make their pitches to GOP voters, the Republican presidential field is shaping up to get even more crowded.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to kick off a Republican presidential campaign on June 6 in New Hampshire. The next day, both Mike Pence, Trump’s former vice president, and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum are expected to announce campaigns of their own.
US Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and biotech entrepreneur and “anti-woke” activist Vivek Ramaswamy are among the others candidates who are already in the race.
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Price reported from New York and Beaumont reported from Urbandale, Iowa.
