Campaign Almanac: Ron DeSantis super PAC launches Iowa parents coalition that includes Moms for Liberty

Never Back Down, the super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, has formed a coalition of Iowa parents, including local leaders of Moms for Liberty.

The conservative parents’ rights group has successfully advocated for and championed the passage of legislation in Iowa that restricts LGBTQ topics in education, increases school curriculum transparency and mandates the removal of school books it believes are inappropriate. The group also has criticized schools for policies to accommodate transgender students, including the Linn-Mar Community School District in Marion.

Never Back Down created similar groups in other early primary states of New Hampshire and South Carolina, and in Virginia, where the issue was central to Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s 2021 election win.

A growing cohort of parents across the U.S., including in Iowa, outraged over school closures and mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, have sought more control over public schools and what they are teaching children.

Iowa's coalition will consist of 100 members and 10 chairs, including several known activists in the state.

Two of the chairs, Jenn Turner and Angie Wenell, are county chapter chairs for Moms for Liberty. Two Johnston school board members who opposed mask mandates during the COVID-19 pandemic, Clint Evans and Derek Tidball, also are listed as chairs, as are former Cedar Rapids school board member Ann Rosenthal and her husband, Eric Rosenthal.

According to the PAC, the new coalition is inspired by and will complement Florida first lady Casey DeSantis’ “Mamas for DeSantis,” a group to mobilize mothers and grandmothers who support her husband’s bid for the Republican nomination for president.

DeSantis has cultivated a national reputation in part on his efforts to fight so-called “woke ideology” in schools and government institutions. On the campaign trail, he routinely touts how he rapidly reopened schools during the pandemic and signed into law measures in Florida that mirror those passed in Iowa restricting school books, enacting universal school choice legislation and banning the instruction of “critical race theory and gender ideology” in schools.

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CNN Poll: Nikki Haley leads Biden

A new CNN poll conducted by SSRS shows Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor and U.N. ambassador, as the Republican presidential candidate with the widest lead over Democratic President Joe Biden.

When asked about hypothetical 2024 general election matchups between Biden and one of the major GOP candidates, there was no clear leader in most of the polls except for Haley. When matched against Biden, Haley led 49 percent to 43 percent.

SSRS polled 1,503 U.S. adults from Aug. 25 to 31. The random nationwide sample included 1,259 registered voters and 391 Democratic and Democratic-leaning independent voters.

The poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.5 points, and Haley was the only candidate outside that margin of error, though other Republicans had smaller leads over Biden.

Biden faces negative job ratings and concerns about his age, according to the poll. There is no clear leader in a potential rematch between Biden and former President Donald Trump, who maintains a commanding lead in Republican presidential primary polling, both nationally and in Iowa. Nearly half of registered voters surveyed (46 percent) said that any Republican presidential nominee would be a better choice than Biden in 2024.

Former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina U.S. Sen. Tim Scott both won 46 percent support to Biden’s 44 percent support in hypothetical head-to-head matchups.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie won 44 percent to Biden’s 42 percent, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was tied with Biden, with each getting 47 percent.

Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was behind Biden in a head-to-head matchup, 45 percent to 46 percent, while Donald Trump held a 1-point advantage of 47 percent to 46 percent.

Larry Elder ad targets RNC

California conservative radio host and 2024 GOP presidential candidate Larry Elder announced Thursday his campaign is launching a $400,000 TV ad buy attacking the Republican National Committee for barring him from participating in the first primary debate and that he’s seemingly made the “RNC terror watch list.”

The ad will air nationwide, including in the early primary states of Iowa and Nevada, according to the campaign.

“Grassroots conservatives are sick of the party elites making backroom deals to narrow the field, instead of leaving it up to the voters,” Elder said in a statement. “I will be on the debate stage this month in Simi Valley because we’ve got a country to save.”

Elder filed a complaint last month with the Federal Elections Commission after the RNC left him out of the Aug. 23 primary debate, saying the RNC unfairly disqualified a Rasmussen Report poll showing him with 1 percent support.

RNC rules state that candidates had to demonstrate at least 1 percent support in three national polls or 1 percent in two national polls and one early state poll, with the polls in question having to meet criteria set by the RNC.

Candidates also had to raise money from 40,000 unique donors, including at least 200 from 20 distinct states, and commit to supporting the eventual Republican nominee.

Gazette-Lee Des Moines Bureau