DES MOINES, Iowa – Every declared Republican candidate for the White House, except former president Donald Trump will gather Saturday in Iowa’s capitol to participate in Sen. Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride, an annual motorcycle ride benefiting veterans.
Ernst, in an interview with Fox News Digital on the eve of their meeting, said the appearance of the White House hopefuls is a “great testament to Iowa,” the state whose caucuses have left the calendar of GOP presidential nominations for nearly half. century
“All roads to 2024 go through Iowa,” said Ernst. “Republicans will gather tomorrow at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to hear from their favorite presidential hopefuls.”
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Participating in the Roast and Ride are Florida Governor Ron DeSantisformer ambassador and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, businessman and conservative commentator Vivek Ramaswamy, conservative radio host and former candidate for governor of California Larry Elder and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson.
Also participating in the event – and scheduled to go on a motorcycle – is former Vice President Mike Pence.
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Pence is one of three Republicans expected to declare their candidacy for president next week, along with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2016 White House candidate, and North Dakota Gov. , Doug Burgum, as the field of GOP candidates continues to expand.
New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu has said he will have a decision on whether to launch a Republican campaign for the White House in 2024 within days, and former Reps. Will Hurd of Texas and Mike Rogers of Michigan are also weighing in. seriously about presidential bids.
Trump, who in November launched his third consecutive campaign for the White House, is currently the frontrunner in the campaign GOP presidential nomination in the latest polls. And the convention wisdom is that a growing field of challengers only increases Trump’s odds of becoming the party’s standard-bearer in 2024, hurting DeSantis, who is solidly in second place in the polls, ahead of the rest of the field of real and likely contenders. .
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“Good luck to Senator Tim Scott as he enters the Republican presidential primary race,” Trump said as Scott launched his campaign nearly two weeks ago. “He’s charging fast with a lot of people, and Tim is a huge step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is totally unelectable,” Trump added while using his derogatory nickname for DeSantis.
Trump and his allies, who have long seen DeSantis as the former president’s main threat in the 2024 race, have criticized the conservative two-term Florida governor for months.
“This is an indictment of DeSantis’ disastrous ad and his abysmal polling,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung argued as he pointed to the growing field of candidates. “DeSantis’ blood is in the water and all the candidates see how weak and weak he is.”
DeSantis’ allies obviously disagree.
“This is a two-man race between Gov. DeSantis and Trump, with the governor pushing and the former president scared,” argued Dave Vasquez, national press secretary for the pro-Desantis super PAC Never Back Down, in a communicated on Fox News.
Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor and congressman who served in senior positions in President George W. Bush’s administration, welcomes the expansion of the 2024 GOP field.
“What it really means is that all of these candidates are saying we need a different option than the one leading the pack right now, which is Donald Trump,” he told Fox News.
And Hutchinson, a vocal Republican critic of Trump, stressed that the growing list of candidates “adds to the message really that the party wants to see a new voice, new leadership, for the party and for the nation.”
There are many political prognosticators who point to 2024 becoming a repeat of the 2016 cycle, when a crowded and divisive field of candidates opened the door for Trump to win the nomination before he won the White House.
But what expands can also contract.
Sununu recently predicted that when it comes to field size, “there’s going to be a process of scaling back much more aggressively than we did in ’16.”
“Everybody understands that it just has to taper off, and I assume it will taper off at the end of the fall and as we get into the beginning of next year. And it will taper off quickly,” Sununu told Fox News. “If you told me there will be 10 or 12 people in the race until March and April next year, yes, it will be a problem. But that won’t happen. This will be over very quickly.”
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When asked if the various 2024 contenders will keep it quiet during the Roast and Ride, which is one of the first major presidential cattle calls of the year in Iowa, Ernst acknowledged, “I know they’re going to make some changes, and that’s okay.”
But the senator said she will encourage the candidates “to remember that we are all Republicans and if we want to move this nation forward and put a Republican in the White House, we have to work together. So no matter what blows they’re dealing now, at the end of this fight we all have to be friends.”
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter based in New Hampshire.
