The parade of Republican presidential candidates continues this week in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson is making his first trip to Iowa since announcing his campaign for the White House earlier this month. His itinerary includes stops in the Hawkeye State , Kentucky and Tennessee.
Hutchinson will be in Des Moines on noon Thursday at a Veterans of Foreign Wars Meet and Greet before attending the Fentanyl Crisis in the Heartland forum hosted by the Dallas County Republican Party. The event begins at 5:30 p..m. at the West Des Moines Marriott. Speakers include Governor Kim Reynolds, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, and U.S. Rep. Zach Nunn (R-IA-03).
On Friday, Hutchinson will be at the Northside Conservatives Club Breakfast, beginning at 7:15 a.m., before leaving for campaign stops in Indianapolis and Bowling Green, KY. On Saturday, he is scheduled to attend the Republican National Committee Spring Donor Retreat in Nashville.
Hutchinson, deemed by most pundits as a long-shot candidate for the Republican presidential nomination, is positioning himself as a moderating force — and an alternative to frontrunner former President Donald Trump.
Hutchinson, who served as 46th Governor of Arkansas and was a key official in President George W. Bush’s administration, told The Iowa Star earlier this month that his travels and conversations with Americans over the past six months inspired him to seek the Republican presidential nomination. He said he’s convinced the American people want leaders that “appeal to the best of America and who do not simply appeal to our worst instincts.”
“The American people deserve good leadership rooted in common sense and consistent conservatism that is optimistic about our great country,” Hutchinson said in a press release announcing his campaign. “I know I can bring that leadership and I look forward to sharing my message with the rest of the country.”
He joins a cavalcade of Republican presidential contenders in the Hawkeye State in the coming week, including U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-South Carolina), former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Michigan businessman Perry Johnson. Scott, who is mulling a run, is in Cedar Rapids on Wednesday. Johnson, who announced his campaign last month, will be at the Westside Conservative Club meeting at 7:15 a.m. at the Iowa Machine Shed in Urbandale. Haley’s campaign trip includes stops in western Iowa and Des Moines.
At a town hall Monday in Salix, Haley called for a ban on the purchase of American farmland by interests tied to the Chinese Communist Party. As The Star News Network reported last month, land grabbers from the communist nation purchased nearly 400,000 acres of U.S. agriculture land as of 2021 amid growing American acquisitions.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Asa Hutchinson” by Governor Asa Hutchinson. Background Photo “Iowa Capitol” by Bohao Zhao. CC BY 3.0.
