The 2024 GOP Presidential race gets underway in earnest this week, as both President Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis hit the ground in Iowa. Trump is the clear frontrunner. The race is his to lose. But many on the ground in Iowa say he is not a shoe-in to win the Iowa Caucuses. It will be fascinating to see how things unfold, and who else may yet enter the race. Of course, Trump is just fine with a bigger field. Every new entry divides the non-Trump vote up in smaller portions. At this point, it’s hard to see anyone beating President Trump. One thing is for sure: If DeSantis has a poor showing in Iowa and New Hampshire, he’s done. He’d better go all-in in both states to seize the momentum in the race. That is his best chance.
Matt Windschitl, the majority leader of the Iowa state House, said he wants a presidential candidate “focused on the future” and was concerned by former president Donald Trump’s openness to red flag laws for gun owners.
Steve Deace, an Iowa-based conservative talk show host with a large following in the state, said Trump’s recent criticism of a six-week abortion ban hurt his standing with evangelical voters.
And Sen. Joni Ernst (R-Iowa), who’s staying neutral in the 2024 presidential primary, observed that recent endorsements by Windschitl and other state lawmakers for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis reflects a shift they sense among the voters they represent.
“I think he still has a really solid Republican base but Iowans have indicated that they are very interested in hearing from other candidates,” Ernst said of Trump. She added of the lawmakers who endorsed DeSantis, “I think they weighed it with their constituencies and just found it’s time to look at fresh blood.”
Although Trump has taken a commanding lead in national polls and many Republicans are calling him the inevitable nominee, here in Iowa, which will kick off the GOP nominating process next year, a victory is far from assured, according to interviews with local lawmakers, strategists and voters. Already, a slew of prominent Republican voices is challenging Trump and promoting DeSantis. Such support is highly coveted in a caucus that could be decided by a few thousand highly-engaged party activists — record turnout in 2016 was just under 187,000.
Trump and DeSantis will make competing trips to Iowa this week, beginning with DeSantis on Tuesday kicking off his first swing after officially announcing his candidacy last week. Trump will arrive on Wednesday and appear at a breakfast meeting of conservative activists in Urbandale Thursday morning. He will record a Fox News town hall in Clive the same day. . . .
WASHINGTON POST VIA MSN