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Ron DeSantis, Donald Trump return to Iowa as 2024 presidential race ramps up
Florida governor added to Ernst ‘Roast and Ride’ lineup
Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis return to Iowa this week.
DeSantis kicked off his presidential campaign in Iowa on Tuesday with a rally at Eternity Church in Clive, followed by stops scheduled for Wednesday in Sioux City, Council Bluffs, Pella and Cedar Rapids. It’s part of a four-day tour that will take him to 12 cities in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, the first three states to hold nominating contests in the 2024 Republican race for the presidency.
DeSantis will be back in Des Moines on Saturday for Iowa GOP U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst’s “Roast and Ride” motorcycle ride, hog roast and rally.
Ernst announced this will be her largest “Roast and Ride” fundraiser, with eight announced or prospective GOP presidential candidates speaking at the event.
That leaves Trump as the only major candidate who will not be in attendance.
Trump is scheduled to travel to Iowa on Wednesday and Thursday to meet with supporters, local media and elected officials, and will participate in a town hall with Fox News’ Sean Hannity at the Horizon Events Center in Clive.
A DeSantis-Trump duel failed to materialize earlier this month. The former president and Florida governor, the early front-runners in the 2024 campaign to be the Republican Party’s presidential nominee, were to attend competing campaign events in Iowa on the same day.
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A tornado threat in central Iowa dashed the split-screen moment of the leading presidential prospects courting Republican voters in the proving ground state ahead of Iowa’s first-in-the-nation caucuses.
Trump canceled his planned outdoor rally in Des Moines, citing potential severe weather.
DeSantis poses the most significant challenge to Trump, who currently leads Republican primary polling nationally and in Iowa. A RealClearPolitics rolling average of primary polls shows Trump with a 30 percentage point lead over DeSantis among Republican primary voters.
DeSantis’ two-day trek through Iowa comes after a rocky official campaign launch last week that has raised questions of whether he’s the Republican candidate best equipped to take on Trump in the GOP primary.
DNC rolls out billboard campaign mocking DeSantis’ rocky Twitter launch
The Democratic National Committee announced it is rolling out a Des Moines billboard campaign spotlighting DeSantis’ campaign launch that was plagued by technical glitches, awkward silences and unflattering media coverage.
Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart, during a conference call with reporters Tuesday, said DeSantis’ conservative agenda would strip away Iowans’ freedoms.
“The bottom line is Ron DeSantis is running for president on the same agenda of taking away freedoms that he enacted in Florida — and ignoring the biggest economic issues that face the middle class,” Hart said.
“That agenda is wildly out of step with what people need here in Iowa,” she said of DeSantis signing a bill banning abortions after six weeks of pregnancy — before many women know they are pregnant — along with measures allowing people to carry concealed guns without a permit, banning classroom instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity in schools, and preventing school staffers or students from being required to refer to people by pronouns that don’t correspond to the person’s sex at birth.
“One thing is certain: No matter who wins the Republican primary, it is absolutely clear that another MAGA presidency would be a disaster for Iowans,” Hart said.
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