116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Eastern Iowans not discouraged so far by record caucus day cold
‘You don’t get this chance very often — once every four years’
CEDAR RAPIDS — A late-emerging dark horse candidate upended 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls’ final weekend to deliver closing pitches to Iowa voters and was expected to have a chilling effect on turnout in Monday night’s caucuses.
The surprise contender: Blizzard conditions that blanketed the state in snow and ushered in frosty winds, making it the coldest caucus day on record. Wind chills reached as low as minus 40 degrees and roads were still icy Monday.
A “significant winter storm” dumped seven to 15 inches of snow on Eastern Iowa, the National Weather Service reported. Temperatures will remain subzero, and wind gusts of 15 to 20 mph will continue through Tuesday morning to create dangerous wind chills of minus 25 to 40 and increased risk of frostbite in just 10 minutes.
Candidates vying to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee pleaded with voters to brave the cold and roads to venture to their caucus site and vote for the candidate they want to challenge President Joe Biden for the White House this November.
While some GOP officials predicted record turnout, experts suspect the life-threatening extreme weather will drive down the number of Iowans who show up for caucuses. The weather will test voters’ loyalty to the candidates.
Presidential hopefuls retooled their campaign schedules for the weekend because of the weather, canceling some events or moving them online.
Hours before the caucuses started at 7 p.m. Monday, only Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy made last-minute stops in Cedar Rapids. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and former President Donald Trump already were in Central Iowa for watch parties in Des Moines, though Haley made it to Cedar Rapids for one final visit this past weekend.
At an Indianola campaign rally Sunday, Trump urged supporters to caucus no matter the risks — even if it costs their lives.
“If you’re sick as a dog, you say ‘Darling, I gotta make it,’” Trump told the attendees, according to the Associated Press. “Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.”
Those who didn’t let the elements discourage them from attending candidate events Monday afternoon largely said the weather didn’t concern them or affect their caucus plans.
In Ramaswamy’s last Cedar Rapids stop at Lion Bridge Brewing Co., most of the room packed full of attendees and media raised their hands to signal they were committed to the political newcomer. But about a dozen still-undecided caucusgoers were among them.
“Handwarmers for tonight?” one volunteer asked attendees, offering free ones to help caucusgoers stay warm.
“As long as Iowans have been showing up in a blizzard or not, we’ve been showing up as well because that’s the way this is supposed to work,” Ramaswamy said, encouraging people to persuade at least 10 people they know to caucus Monday night.
People would drive 12-15 miles through ice and snow to their caucus sites “because they care about this country,” he told reporters afterward.
“We have not degraded into total apathy,” Ramaswamy said.
Wrapped in an Iowa Hawkeyes scarf, Robin Tucker, 59, of Cedar Rapids, said he is serving as the caucus chair for the site at Faith Presbyterian Church in southeast Cedar Rapids. He has heard from people who don’t plan to caucus because of the weather.
“I’m concerned about the streets,” Tucker said, noting there were some Cedar Rapids street closures on roads the storm rendered impassable last weekend. “ … I hope people do get out.”
Sid Mills, 70, of North Liberty, said he took back roads around Swisher to see Ramaswamy speak. Barring minus 100-degree weather, he said the temperatures would not affect his plans to vote. He plans to caucus for Ramaswamy, as he’s looking to cast aside the “drama” of current and former presidential administrations.
“We need serious change at the top level on down,” Mills said. “I believe at this time Vivek’s the only one who can do that.”
Jeff Dutton, 54, of Cedar Rapids said he believes Ramaswamy has the youth and energy for the presidency, unlike Trump or Biden, and was committed to supporting him. He, too, was confident Iowans would venture outside to get to their caucus sites.
“It’s important enough for people in Iowa that they’ll brave it,” Dutton said.
At Jersey’s Pub and Grub, DeSantis said he asked his oldest daughter if she still prefers the snow to the weather and beaches in Florida. His children were initially excited by the snow, something different from the tropical climate their home state offers. The crowd laughed hearing her response: “Daddy, I like the snow, but it is way too cold for me.”
“We don’t know how many people are going to be able to turn out given the weather,” DeSantis said. “ … If you’re going out to caucus and you bring a friend or two between now and then, that’s going to make a big, big difference. Take advantage of the opportunity to change the trajectory of this country …”
Ruth Macke, 71, of Cedar Rapids said she’s been torn between DeSantis and Haley, but was strongly leaning toward supporting DeSantis. She thinks his support of a six-week ban on abortions is too extreme. Otherwise, she said she was impressed with policies he’s implemented in Florida.
Citing Haley’s refrain that Trump was “the right man for the right time,” she said she disliked the way Trump treated people he works with, so she hopes she doesn’t have to “hold her nose” and support him again in the 2024 general election. She was unsure how the weather might affect turnout, but said it wouldn’t dissuade her from caucusing.
“You don’t get this chance very often — once every four years,” Macke said.
When former U.N. ambassador Haley made her closing pitch to Iowa voters in Cedar Rapids late last week, Tricia Sheldon, 68, a retired registered nurse from Shellsburg, trudged through snow to see her.
Sheldon, a registered Republican, said she’s committed to supporting Haley Monday night — bitterly cold or not.
“This is the most important thing we do as Iowans in my opinion,” she said. “ … I listen to the issues and vote for the person. And I just think it's coolest thing to be watching, you know, morning news TV and there's the guy I just sat with, or the woman I just listened to. I like getting out. I think it's important for Iowans to do that.”
A majority of polls show Trump leading his nearest Republican rival in the caucuses by more than 30 percentage points.
Sheldon said she’s baffled by Trump’s “cult” following in the state. Should Trump win the nomination and it come down to a rematch of 2020 against Biden, she said, “I’ll be voting for Biden.”
“I think he’s going to ruin our country,” Sheldon said of Trump. “I think he’s done so many horrible things to tear our country apart. And he just continues doing it. And with the (criminal) indictments he’s got against him, it’s like I do not understand how anybody with any intelligence could vote for a man like him.”
Asked how a Republican primary challenger, including Haley, can successfully push back against Trump’s following, Sheldon said: “All I can do is support her and vote for her and push forward at the caucus.”
Tom Barton and Erin Jordan contributed to this report
Comments: (319) 398-8494; marissa.payne@thegazette.com
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