Iowa GOP chair on abortion: ‘My money and conviction on Republican position’

JOHNSTON — Low turnout at the 2024 caucuses will not injure Iowa Republicans’ first-in-the-nation status, the strained relationship between former President Donald Trump and Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds will be fine if Trump again is elected president and abortion policy will not be a hindrance to GOP candidates in this fall’s elections, Republican Party of Iowa Chair Jeff Kaufmann predicted Friday.

He discussed those topics and more while recording this weekend’s episode of “Iowa Press” on Iowa PBS.

Roughly 110,000 Iowans participated in the Jan. 15 Republican presidential precinct caucuses. That is down compared with the record-setting total of nearly 187,000 votes cast in 2016 and fewer than in 2008 (roughly 119,000) and in 2012 (roughly 121,000). The 2024 caucus turnout represents just 15 percent of registered Iowa Republican voters, including those who were registered but did not vote in 2022, according to state voter registration data.

Kaufmann said he does not believe that turnout will provide ammunition to any states that may want to supplant Iowa as the first state to declare its preference in the Republican race in the quadrennial presidential election cycle.

He reiterated his belief that the turnout was impressive, given the frigid temperatures that hit Iowa that day — wind chills were in the range of 30 degrees below zero — and said the new leader of the national Republican Party, Michael Whatley, was in Iowa for the caucuses and expressed his admiration.

“Had we been at the 70,000, 80,000 I might have been a little worried that we would be open for that criticism,” Kaufmann said Friday. “But I have to tell you, the (Republican National Committee) members that we hosted here, including the new chair that came and braved those temperatures to see how our process worked, they were very, very impressed that we turned out. I think we did what we needed to do in terms of giving me the evidence that I need to proceed and say, ‘Hey, we deserve this again.’”

Iowa Democrats lost their coveted first-in-the-nation status leading this year when the national Democratic Party decided to change its early voting calendar.

Abortion policy on the campaign

Despite public polling that consistently shows most Americans favor legal abortion in at least some cases, and election results across the country favoring abortion rights advocates since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned a decision that had established abortion rights for decades, Kaufmann said he does not believe abortion policy debates will hinder Iowa Republican candidates this fall.

He said voters will be motivated by immigration policy and the economy, and said he believes voters not affiliated with a party will be more drawn to Republicans’ positions on abortion.

As of 2022, 61 percent of Americans said they believe abortion should be legal in all or most cases, while 37 percent said it should be illegal in all or most cases, according to historical trend polling from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.

But just 1 in 8 U.S. voters said abortion is “most important” to their vote in a March poll from the nonprofit Kaiser Family Foundation.

In Iowa, abortion is legal through roughly the 20th week of pregnancy — the same as it was before the 2022 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reset abortion policy’s legal landscape across the country.

However, Reynolds and statehouse Republicans approved a law that would ban abortions in Iowa once a fetus’ heartbeat can be detected — which supporters of such laws say is at roughly six weeks of pregnancy. The Iowa Supreme Court will consider a legal challenge to the constitutionality of that law; oral arguments have been scheduled for Thursday.

“In terms of Iowa’s electoral votes, I feel very comfortable when you take our position of heartbeat (law) versus an abortion on demand to the point of birth. I’m going to put my money and my conviction on the Republican position,” he said.

Democrats have consistently argued they do not support abortion policies like Kaufmann described. According to data from the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in 2021 only 1 percent of abortions were performed at 21 weeks of gestation or later, while 93 percent of abortions were performed at or before 13 weeks of gestation.

Kaufmann on Reynolds and Trump

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Kaufmann said he believes that, if Trump is elected president this fall, he would work well with Reynolds’ administration even though the political relationship between the two was strained this past year when Reynolds endorsed and actively campaigned for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, one of Trump’s main rivals, who withdrew after coming in a distant second to Trump in the caucuses.

“Obviously there was some back and forth on that, we all saw that,” Kaufmann said. “But she has endorsed Donald Trump at this point. Donald Trump, he is going to be seeing her and our Iowa delegation at (the Republican Party’s national) convention, he’s going to be seeing her standing and saying we need four more years of Donald Trump, and what he is going to see is a united Iowa and he’s going to see a governor that may not have always agreed with him, but he’s going to see a governor that has the same conservative principles that he does.”

Reynolds issued a statement later Friday doing exactly that: calling on Iowans to vote for Trump against Democratic President Joe Biden.

“Iowans kicked off the contest for the Republican nomination. We showed why our state is the first in the nation. We showed up and we listened. And while we may have been on different sides, we all share a common goal: and that’s ending Joe Biden’s political career,” Reynolds said in the statement. “That’s why I endorsed President Donald J. Trump. He’s a fighter. He’ll close the border on Day 1, get our economy back on track, and our enemies will know that America is back. He’s done it before, and he’ll do it again.”

Iowa Democrats issued a statement Friday in response to Kaufmann’s comments.

“The Iowa GOP is in chaos. Jeff Kaufmann knows it and is trying to hide it,” Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart said in a statement. “Their congressional and state house candidates are facing numerous primary challengers, Kim Reynolds is unpopular, and half of Iowans say our state is headed in the wrong direction.

“Iowa Democrats are focused on fighting to lower costs for Iowans, ensuring access to quality, affordable child care, protecting (in vitro fertilization) and reproductive freedoms and supporting our public schools,” Hart continued.

“Iowa Press” airs on Iowa PBS at 7:30 p.m. Friday and noon on Sunday. It can be viewed any time online at iowapbs.org.

Comments: (515) 355-1300, erin.murphy@thegazette.com