Campaign Almanac: Trump returning to Iowa, announces Ottumwa campaign stop

Former President Donald Trump returns to Iowa this weekend.

Trump’s campaign announced Tuesday that the leading 2024 Republican presidential candidate plans to stop in Ottumwa on Sunday afternoon, where he is scheduled to deliver remarks at a caucus event at the Bridge View Center.

Doors are set to open at 11:30 a.m. and the former president is set to speak at 2:30 p.m.

Tickets for the event are limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis. Individuals may only register for up to two tickets per mobile number per event, according to the campaign.

Tickets are available at https://bit.ly/3riZynq.

The stop comes as Trump ramps up his in-person campaigning, including in Iowa, and follows a weekend online lashing out at the media and urging congressional Republicans to go ahead and shut down the government.

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Trump plans to skip the second Republican primary debate on Wednesday in California, as he did the first debate in Milwaukee, and will instead visit Michigan to voice his opposition to President Joe Biden's automotive policies amid an autoworkers strike.

This would be Trump’s ninth trip to Iowa thus far in 2023. He held events in Maquoketa and Dubuque last week, the first of five Iowa visits planned through the end of October.

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Scheetz announces re-election bid for Iowa House

Iowa state Rep. Sami Scheetz, a Democrat from Cedar Rapids, announced his re-election campaign to the Iowa House of Representatives on Tuesday.

Scheetz, a 27-year-old labor organizer representing Teamsters Local 238, is the first Arab American elected to the Iowa Legislature and one of the youngest members in the Iowa House. He was elected to represent Iowa House District 78, which largely encompasses southeast Cedar Rapids, last November.

Scheetz won with more than 65 percent of the vote, besting Republican Anne Fairchild.

"I ran to serve Iowans because they deserve a voice in Des Moines who puts their needs first,” Scheetz said in a statement. “Over the past year, I worked across the aisle to author a bipartisan school lunch bill, advocated for the most vulnerable Iowans, and tirelessly supported Iowans across our state who are trying to make a difference.”

Scheetz authored a bill to expand eligibility for free meals to all students whose families qualify for free or reduced-price lunch. The proposal would have allocated $1.1 million in state funds to cover the difference between the federal reimbursement for free meals and the federal reimbursement for reduced-price meals.

The bill, sponsored by 20 Republican Iowa House members, failed to advance this year in the Republican-controlled Legislature. Scheetz said he plans to continue to push passage of the school meal funding bill next year.

“My goal is to get legislation addressing food insecurity across the finish line and to show that — despite being in the minority — Iowa House Democrats will continue to deliver for working people,” he said.

Scheetz also called for an investigation into worker safety protocols after touring the Banjo Block construction site in Cedar Rapids in mid-April with other officials and reported possible underage labor and safety hazards to city officials.

DeSantis super PAC launches new Iowa ad

Never Back Down, the super PAC backing Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' presidential campaign, launched a new ad, “One Man,” running in Iowa and New Hampshire.

The ad, also running nationally on Fox News and Newsmax, spotlights DeSantis’ biography putting himself through college and serving in the Navy.

"Uniforms don't define a man, but they do tell a story," a narrator says in the ad before detailing DeSantis' time working as an electrician's assistant in college, being a member of the Yale baseball team and serving in the Navy after 9/11.

“One man won historic re-election, and one did not. One man is the right man to defeat Joe Biden. Ron DeSantis,” the ad states, building off a larger theme playing out in the GOP primary: Who can best beat Joe Biden?

DeSantis’ campaign insists the primary effectively remains a head-to-head battle between DeSantis and Trump, and that DeSantis is the only candidate in the race who can beat Biden and implement a conservative agenda needed to reverse what he sees as a country in decline and reeling from record federal spending, inflation and failed policies of the Biden administration.

DeSantis has seen support among likely Republican primary voters in Iowa and nationally slip. DeSanits garnered about 14 percent to 15 percent support in Real Clear Politics’ rolling average of national and Iowa polls. That’s compared to previous polling this summer that showed him with 20 percent support or better. DeSantis also slightly trails Biden in a hypothetical general election match-up.

Trump, though, still views DeSantis as a threat to his renomination. He attacks the Florida governor far more than any of his other Republican rivals, and his team has ramped up its campaign in Iowa, a state DeSantis sees as crucial to his prospects of winning the GOP nomination.