Ohio Entrepreneur and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is planning a busy campaign trip through the Hawkeye State this weekend.
Ramaswamy’s four-day bus tour will take him to seven cities around eastern and central Iowa, where he’ll connect with veterans, a Republican women’s group and Iowa’s leading faith coalition.
The political outsider’s third trip to Iowa since announcing his campaign in February begins Friday evening at the Jackson County Republican Central Committee Spring Dinner in Maquoketa and wraps up Monday afternoon with a radio appearance on WHO’s Simon Conway Show.
Doors open at 5 p.m. for the Jackson County event, with dinner beginning at 6 p.m. Ramaswamy will speak at 7 p.m.
Committee member Darla Chappell said she heard Ramaswamy first speak in Davenport earlier this year. She was impressed.
“He has some fabulous ideas,” she said. “I hope that if he doesn’t make it that whoever does make it will take into consideration his ideas.”
Chappell said she’s reading the anti-woke crusader’s second book, Nation of Victims: Identity Politics, the Death of Merit, and the Path Back to Excellence.
“One thing Ramaswamy says is, we have been divided for so long that we’ve forgotten that we’re all Americans,” the Jackson County Republican leader.
Ramaswamy continues his campaign swing through eastern Iowa at 9 a.m. Saturday with a speech at the Monticello Council Chamber Room. He then will address the Iowa Federation of Republican Women First in the Nation Spring Conference, beginning at 1 p.m. at the Wide Rose Casino & Resort in Jefferson. Conference featured speakers include Iowa State Senate President Amy Sinclair (R-Allerton) and State Senator Jesse Green (R-Harcourt). The event will conclude with a Fireside Chat with former Vice President Mike Pence, who is mulling a run for the White House.
“Iowa is First in the Nation, no matter how you cut it! And Iowa is ready for a change from the disastrous Biden Administration,” the Iowa Federation of Republican Women states on its Facebook page.
Ramaswamy will join several declared and presumptive presidential candidates Saturday evening at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition: Road to Victory conference in Clive.
As The Iowa Star first reported last week, former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner thus far in the race for the Republican Party’s 2024 presidential nomination, will address the event remotely at 8 p.m.. Potential and declared candidates confirmed to speak earlier in the evening include: Pence; Ramaswamy; former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson; Michigan businessman Perry Johnson; and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC).
Conservative talk show host and activist Larry Elder and former Hawaii Congresswoman and outspoken critic of the left Tulsi Gabbard also are slated to speak.
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird and Iowa GOP Chairman Jeff Kaufmann will moderate.
On Sunday, Ramaswamy will host Veterans & Pancakes with Vivek at VFW Beaverdale Post 921 in Des Moines, beginning at 9 a.m. The candidate also has scheduled a “Meet & Greet” with Moms for Liberty in Johnston from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m.
At 37, Ramaswamy is the youngest candidate in the crowded field of GOP presidential hopefuls. He has effectively made the kickoff caucus and primary states of Iowa and New Hampshire in particular second homes in a frenetic campaign to reach voters in the early months of race for 2024.
Chappell of the Jackson County Republicans said she’s glad Iowa remains the first-in-the-nation caucus state — at least for Republicans. The Democratic National Committee, in the name of greater diversity, has pushed Iowa toward the back of the line in its nominating process.
“I love Iowa being first,” Chappell said. “It gives Iowa the chance to see the candidate and make a difference. We actually get to talk to them.”
While Trump leads in the polls and is the pick many Iowa Republicans, Chappell said she wants to hear what all of the candidates have to say. She’ll get plenty of opportunity over the next eight months.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Vivek Ramaswamy on Stage” by Vivek Ramaswamy.
