116 3rd St SE
Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401
Republican candidates flock to Iowa State Fair’s opening day
Mike Pence draws biggest crowd, reiterates criticisms of Trump's efforts to overturn 2020 election
DES MOINES — For the next 10 days, the Iowa State Fairgrounds will be the center of the battle for the Republican nomination for president.
The fair is virtually mandatory for anyone running for president as a Republican, a chance to meet voters from across the state, sample various foods on sticks and exhibit the retail politicking vital to winning support in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
Four candidates visited the fair Thursday, and a dozen more, including Democrats and a Libertarian, are expected to visit later.
Former Vice President Mike Pence drew the largest crowd Thursday at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox, where he implored several dozen people that it was time to “restore a threshold of civility in public life.”
“I know we need new leadership in the White House, but I also believe we need new leadership in the Republican Party,” he said. “I believe we need leadership that will stay grounded on the timeless conservative principles that have always made this country great.”
Pence did not mention Donald Trump, the front-runner for the party’s 2024 presidential nomination, during his prepared remarks, but when asked a question from the audience, he levied criticisms at the former president,
Pence said, as vice president, he had no authority to reject or overturn states’ electoral votes on Jan. 6, withstanding a pressure campaign from Trump and his lawyers who asked Pence to disqualify votes from states they claimed, without evidence, were rife with fraud.
“There’s almost no idea more un-American than the notion that any one person can pick the American president,” he said. “The American presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.”
Pence, who recently cleared the 40,000-donor threshold to appear in the first candidate debate Aug 23, said he is looking forward to making his case on the debate stage. Trump has not confirmed whether he will participate, but Pence said he has no qualms about going head-to-head with his former boss.
“I’ve debated Donald Trump a thousand times, just never with the cameras on,” he told reporters. “I know the former president, I know everybody on that stage, and I’m looking forward to having a vigorous debate.”
Trump will visit the fair Saturday, the same day as his highest-polling primary opponent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Trump is the dominant front-runner in the primary, pulling in support from more than 50% of Republicans nationally and 40-50% in Iowa, according to recent polls.
Larry Elder first up for ‘Fair-Side Chat’
California radio talk show host Larry Elder kicked off Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “Fair-Side Chats” at JR’s Southwest Pork Ranch. The chats will be a series of discussions Reynolds will be holding throughout the fair with most presidential candidates.
Elder said he’s running to bring up three issues he thinks are not talked about enough in the Republican Party: What he calls the “epidemic of fatherlessness” in the U.S., claims that the U.S. is systemically racist, and the achievement rate in schools in American cities.
"We've incentivize women to marry the government and incentivize men to abandon their financial and moral responsibility," he said. "And that is not to denigrate the jobs of single moms and sometimes parents, other extended family members have done to raise these kids, but it makes it a lot harder. And our side does not talk enough about it."
He said he would pardon Trump on his first day in office and said the myriad investigations being face by Trump are “outrageous.”
Elder generally polls below 1 percent in Iowa and nationally, and he has not met the polling requirements or donor levels to be on the campaign debate stage.
The chat also gives Reynolds the opportunity to flex her recent conservative accomplishments in the state, like cutting taxes and implementing a sprawling private school choice program.
She contrasted that with the policies of California Gov. Gavin Newsom, whom Elder waged an unsuccessful recall election against in 2021.
“Our national profile is rising, people are paying attention to what’s happening in the state of Iowa,” Reynolds said.
Doug Burgum stresses energy production
After flipping burgers and chops at the Iowa Pork Tent, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum brought his focus on energy, economy and national security to the Soapbox stage.
Burgum played up his experience as a tech executive, saying the president is the “CEO of America,” equating taxpayers to consumers.
“There shouldn't be anybody that's the president of the United States that has not worked in the private sector,” he said. “If you haven't created jobs, if you haven't made payroll, then I don't know how you're going to get the economy going unless you have that experience.”
In the 1980s, Burgum invested in and later became president of Great Plains Software, a tax software company. The company was sold to Microsoft for $1.1 billion in 2001, and Burgum stayed on with Microsoft until 2007.
He emphasized his pitch to boost U.S. energy production by cutting regulations and increasing oil and gas drilling. Burgum said energy production is tied to national security, making the U.S. less reliant on foreign nations for energy.
“We’re going to sell energy to our friends and allies, stop buying it from our adversaries and enemies,” he said.
Burgum has been a major proponent of carbon capture technologies, including a proposed pipeline from Summit Carbon Solutions that would deposit carbon extracted from ethanol plants in Iowa to a reservoir in the state.
A North Dakota regulator rejected the company’s application for that pipeline last week, but Burgum told reporters on Thursday he is confident the pipeline will be built.
Burgum has qualified for the debate and has registered support from 1 to 3 percent in recent Iowa polls.
Perry Johnson visits livestock barns
While he wasn’t scheduled for any stage events until Friday, Perry Johnson, a Michigan businessman, was at the fair Thursday morning touring livestock barns with U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn, the Republican who represents central Iowa in Congress.
Johnson said he wanted to take the opportunity to talk to Iowans, even if they’re not Republicans, to build up his low levels of support.
Johnson has cleared the donor requirement to make the debate stage but has yet to register enough support in polls, generally polling below 1 percent in Iowa and nationally.
"You still have an opportunity to talk to people, try to get them engaged so that they can participate in the caucus," Johnson said about visiting the fair. "And that is how you get ahead in Iowa. Commercials in Iowa, everybody runs commercials. I run commercials. They know who you are, but you don't really win their vote by running a commercial in Iowa."
Democrats slam ‘culture war’ candidates
Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, a Democrat, joined Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart on Thursday to critique the Republican candidates who would be at the fair over the next several days.
Walz said Biden and Democrats have worked to improve lives and lower costs for Americans, while Republicans are debating “culture war” topics and restricting personal freedoms.
“In Minnesota, we're not interested in banning books,” he said. “We're interested in banning hunger from our schools. It's why we’re providing meals for every single child. That's what's coming out of the administration. We’ve got an opportunity to continue to move this country forward.”
Daily Newsletters