Presidential candidates test messages at event hosted by Iowa Christian conservative group

CLIVE — Rollie Roberts, a farmer from Western Iowa, said he still respects former President Donald Trump. But Roberts is open to considering a different Republican candidate for president.

Iowa Republicans’ shopping season is underway, roughly 10 months out from their big decision in the 2024 caucuses.

Nine official or potential candidates were on display Saturday night in Iowa at the first multiple-candidate event of the cycle: the Christian conservative Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s annual fundraiser at the Horizon Events Center in this Des Moines suburb.

Roberts was among the roughly 900 people who attended the event. His top two candidates at this early point of the cycle: Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Roberts said he also respects Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, but that he considers Trump and DeSantis his top tier.

DeSantis declined the invitation to speak at Saturday’s event. Trump recorded a message that was played at the event. Pence attended and spoke at the event.

“I still respect Donald Trump and what he did for our country. I wish he was a younger man. Gov. DeSantis might be that man. I don’t know,” said Roberts, who lives in Harrison County.

  Buy Photo

The full roster of official or potential presidential candidates who spoke at Saturday’s event also included: Will Hurd, Asa Hutchinson, Larry Elder, Perry Johnson, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott and Tulsi Gabbard.

Beth Roberts, Rollie’s wife, has even more candidate shopping to do: She said she has no favorites in the Republican primary thus far.

Rollie Roberts said his top issues for the presidential election are China, Russia and “wokeness” in the U.S. military.

“I’m primarily concerned about who would be the best for our country, get us out of this mess,” he said.

“Wokeness” was a top target of attendees and speakers at Saturday night’s event. The term has become shorthand for some policies that conservatives oppose, for example the discussion of gender identity in schools.

Pence, the first speaker at Saturday’s event, referred to the policy of the Linn-Mar School District on gender identity, which has come under fire from conservatives.

The Linn-Mar policies, adopted last year but largely in place at many other school districts as well, spell out inclusive practices for transgender students, including giving them access to restrooms, locker rooms or changing areas that correspond with their gender identity.

Iowa Republican state lawmakers have been advancing legislation that would ban transgender students in K-12 schools from using the bathroom that matches their gender identity, and would prohibit the teaching of gender identity and sexual orientation before seventh grade.

The Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition held two similar events in 2015, the last competitive cycle for Republicans — one in the spring and one in the fall. The organization announced Saturday night it will hold a second event this fall, on Saturday, Sept. 16, at the Iowa Events Center in downtown Des Moines.

Doug Smalley, a former state legislator from Clive, said he had a broader response to the question of which candidates he is considering at this stage of the Republican presidential primary.

“All of them are so much better than any of the possibilities on the other side that I’m equally for any one of them,” he said.

National Democrats, in advance of the event, attempted to tie all the candidates to Trump by describing them as “MAGA Republicans,” and accused the candidates of supporting “exceedingly extreme positions.”

“This cattle call is just the latest gathering of MAGA Republicans who’ve spent their entire careers pushing for an extreme agenda — from banning abortion to gutting Social Security to wanting to rip away affordable health care access from millions of Americans,” Democratic National Committee spokesperson Rhyan Lake said in a statement. “Each and every 2024 Republican has doubled down on their exceedingly extreme positions that are out of step with hard working Americans and can count on being held accountable by voters.”

Steve Scheffler, president of the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition, urged those in attendance to help protect religious liberty.

“Today’s society is crazy vs. normal,” Scheffler said. “(President Joe) Biden and his leftist, radical, socialist Democrats in my view are doing everything they can to destroy America. And we dare not allow this man to be reelected in 2024.”

Republican Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds did not attend the event but recorded brief remarks that were played for the crowd. She highlighted some of the legislation passed thus far this legislative session by Republicans, including state funding for private school financial assistance, a ban on gender-affirming health services for Iowans under 18, and a reorganization of the executive branch of state government.

Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann and Republican Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird appeared on stage and posed questions to the candidates.

The candidates

Pence decried what he called a “radical gender ideology,” which he said is tied to religious freedom.

“The battle against radical gender ideology is a battle for religious freedom. And it’s a battle we must fight,” Pence said.

  Buy Photo

Will Hurd, a former Texas congressman and former CIA officer, warned that the U.S. is in “a new Cold War” with China.

“The Chinese Communist Party is trying to surpass the United States of America as a global superpower,” Hurd said. “Why should we care? Because if they win this new Cold War, it’s going to affect all of us. ... It is going to impact a quality of life that is the envy of everybody else in the world.”

Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson boasted that he signed 30 “pro-life” bills and touted his experience as a former head of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, particularly in the effort to reduce fentanyl use and deaths.

“We have got to go after the cartel. The cartel is a foreign terrorist organization in Mexico, they’re bringing in the fentanyl, and we’ve got to pressure (Mexico President Andrés Manuel López Obrador) not to yield to the cartel and empower them,” Hutchinson said. “It’s critical that we go after that supply chain that brings it in, as well as educating our communities.”

Larry Elder, a conservative media host and commentator, said one of the biggest domestic problems is the number of children without a father in the home married to the mother, especially among Black American children.

“Why? What we’ve done since the mid-’60s, is we’ve incentivized women to marry the government, we’ve incentivized men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility,” Elder said.

Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman, said he disagrees with Pence on U.S. financial support of Ukraine’s ongoing military defense against Russia’s invasion.

“I think it’s ridiculous to send $100 billion to Ukraine when we’re going broke,” Johnson said to applause that was far greater than the tepid reaction to Pence’s statement of support for Ukraine.

Johnson also needled DeSantis, saying he thinks it was a mistake for DeSantis to not attend the event.

Vivek Ramaswamy, a 37-year-old entrepreneur from Ohio, said Republicans should not shy away from issues that have become politically charged.

“I just think it’s up to us not to hide from it. So if you’re a presidential candidate and you’re not going to go to a college campus because of the questions they give you, you probably shouldn’t be sitting across the table from (Chinese President) Xi Jinping,” he said.

U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, of South Carolina, said the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment was written “to protect the church from the state, not the state from the church.”

“We need to make sure that we protect our religious liberties. They will be under assault,” he said.

Tulsi Gabbard, the former Democratic congresswoman from Hawaii who left the Democratic Party, said current leaders in the U.S. military are not correctly identifying the challenges to recruiting young Americans.

“We have a failure of leadership to lead at a time when we need to have an army of warriors who are trained and ready to ensure the safety, security and freedom of the American people,” said Gabbard, a former National Guard member, accusing the military of focusing instead on diversity training and medical treatment for gender transitions.

During his recorded message, Trump highlighted actions taken during his term as president, including appointing conservative Supreme Court justices, federal financial assistance for agriculture, and preserving Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status in the Republican presidential caucuses. He said a second Trump administration would find “radical Marxists and zealots” in schools and “have them escorted from the building.”

“The left-wing gender lunacy being pushed on our children is an act of child abuse and it will stop immediately,” Trump said.

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

  Buy Photo