Ron DeSantis bets on retail campaigning as he completes 99-county Iowa tour

NEWTON — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has gotten familiar with Iowa.

The GOP presidential candidate recounted at a rally in Newton on Saturday stories from his tour of all 99 Iowa counties — playing baseball at the Field of Dreams in Dyersville, eating Dutch letters in Pella and visiting the world’s largest popcorn ball in Sac City.

The visits have been part of DeSantis’ all-in strategy in Iowa, as he hopes a caucus upset can catapult him to a dominant position in the national primary.

Despite his aggressive efforts in Iowa, DeSantis remains far behind former President Donald Trump in recent polling of the state’s likely caucusgoers. According to FiveThirtyEight’s average of Iowa polls, Trump registers just under 45 percent of support, while DeSantis is sitting at 17.5 percent. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley has just over 15 percent of support.

At the rally in Jasper County, the last stop on his 99-county tour, DeSantis said conducting small-scale events in Iowa’s rural counties have helped him “get out of the media fog” and connect with everyday Americans.

“A lot of campaign consultants will tell you that you can be in more populated areas and you can get into other states, and sometimes they'll advise you not to do it,” he said. “But to me it was the right thing to do.”

An Iowa politics tradition, the “Full Grassley” was started by U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who conducts a 99-county tour every year.

In a statement provided by the campaign, Grassley commended DeSantis for the achievement.

“I have found it is the best way to show Iowans everyone is important to hear from and no one is forgotten,” he said.

According to a list provided by DeSantis’ campaign, the Florida governor’s stops have included traditional meet and greets and large multi-candidate events. They’ve also included “retail stops” at truck stops and coffee shops, church services, tours of businesses and farms and private fundraisers for candidates.

DeSantis said his willingness to visit each of Iowa’s counties shows that he is a “servant, not a ruler,” tying it to his efforts to move federal agencies out of Washington, D.C. and into the states.

To further that goal, he said he would move the U.S. Department of Agriculture headquarters to Iowa as president. He said he’d heard from Iowans while campaigning who are upset with the department’s regulations.

“A number of people said that they don’t like USDA Washington bureaucrats interfering with how people are farming, and they would much rather have this agency be run with people from their own communities,” he said.

Will the 99-county tour lead DeSantis to caucus victory?

Iowa Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who endorsed DeSantis last month and has joined him at campaign stops, said at the rally visiting all 99 counties is important to Iowans and helps a candidate get to know what matters to them.

“It really helps them kind of do the retail politics,” she said. “It helps them hone the message. It gives them the opportunity to hear about the issues that are important to rural America and to Iowans.”

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As DeSantis seeks to clear the gap between himself and Trump, his surrogates and supporters in Iowa say the tour has helped him build momentum that can rally support and lead to a surprise on caucus night.

Iowa State Rep. Jon Dunwell, a Republican who represents Jasper County and has endorsed DeSantis, said the candidate has “tremendous momentum” after receiving endorsements from Reynolds and Family Leader President and CEO Bob Vander Plaats, completing the tour and debating California Gov. Gavin Newsom.

“Iowa voters are late in their decision making,” he said. “There’s so much still undecided, or people that will switch when it comes to actually being at the caucus.”

Rachel Paine Caufield, a professor of political science at Drake University who runs the university’s Iowa Caucus Project, said Iowans expect to see presidential candidates in small towns and intimate settings.

Trump has held some events smaller than his traditional rallies, but he has largely kept his events to the state’s population centers. That approach makes Trump an anomaly, Caufield said.

“Anybody who’s trying to take on Trump, I think the 99 county tour is part of that,” she said. “ … The big rallies for Trump might be fun, but that’s a different kind of campaigning.”

Still, Caufield said she expects Trump to win the caucuses on Jan. 15, but being able to exceed expectations would help carry DeSantis’ campaign into the rest of the primary.

Trump’s campaign in statements this week pointed to Texas pastor and long-shot GOP candidate Ryan Binkley, whose campaign said he completed a 99-county tour on Nov. 10, arguing Binkley beat DeSantis to the punch.

“As with his entire campaign, DeSantis is trying to gaslight voters and caucusgoers into believing he actually has a shot of becoming president,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement.

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Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried and Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a joint statement DeSantis’ leadership in Florida has been an “extreme MAGA agenda.”

“While Ron DeSantis tries desperately to rev up his sputtering presidential campaign with a 99 county tour in Iowa, he’s left behind at least 99 problems for his constituents back home in the Sunshine State,” Fried and Hart said.

Cheryl Septer, 62, said she is leaning toward caucusing for DeSantis but still undecided in who she will support. The endorsement from Reynolds, Septer said, made her more confident in DeSantis.

Septer said the 99-county tour is not a major consideration for her, but she appreciates DeSantis’ efforts.

“It just lets you know they do care about all of Iowa, not just Des Moines, Cedar Rapids, Iowa City, the big towns,” she said. “It kind of makes it nice that they’re actually looking out for rural Iowa too.”