Ohio entrepreneur and GOP presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is back in the kickoff caucus state this week, barnstorming eastern Iowa in five stops in 24 hours.
In fact, the Hawkeye State will be a hive of presidential campaign activity in the coming days — leading up to and through Saturday’s packed Faith & Freedom Coalition Town Hall featuring most of the crowded field of Republican Party presidential candidates.
Ramaswamy, the political outsider who is running third in RealClearPolitics average of national GOP presidential primary polls, will host a 7 p.m. rally Wednesday at the Tanglewood Hills Pavilion in Bettendorf. On Thursday, the author and anti-woke crusader will embark on a four-city swing through eastern Iowa, including a breakfast event in Dubuque, a lunch rally in Decorah, a 3 p.m. event at Upper Iowa University in Fayette, and a 6 p.m. dinner rally at the Elks Club in Waterloo.
The 38-year-old Ramaswamy has effectively made the Hawkeye State a second home since launching his bid for the White House in February. As The Iowa Star reported earlier this month, Ramaswamy has made more campaign trips to Iowa than any of the other presidential candidates. As of late August, he had made 88 appearances in Iowa.
Ramaswamy will be back in Iowa again this weekend, joining most of his rivals at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s 23rd Annual Fall Banquet and Presidential Town Hall. The event begins at 5:30 p.m at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines. Doors open at 3:30 p.m.
Coalition president Steve Scheffler said it appears most of the candidates on last month’s first GOP presidential primary debate stage will be in attendance — Ramaswamy, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, South Carolina U.S. Senator Tim Scott, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, and possibly North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum.
Scheffler said former President Donald Trump will not attend. Neither will former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who has forsaken Iowa to concentrate on other early-nominating states. Christie finished at the back of the pack in the 2016 caucuses.
Saturday’s banquet marks the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition’s third town hall of the 2024 presidential campaign season. Scheffler said 1,200-plus people are expected to attend.
“I am pretty impressed and excited we are going to have a packed house,’ he told The Iowa Star. “It shows that Iowans take this process pretty seriously. They don’t take our first-in-the-nation caucus for granted. They know it’s a special thing that’s been lent to us to vet these candidates.”
Iowa is set to host its caucuses, kicking off the Republican Party presidential nominating process, on Jan. 15. With four months before the big day, the candidates are amping up their presence — on the ground and on the airwaves.
Trump, DeSantis, Ramaswamy, Hutchinson and Burgum turned out Saturday for tailgate parties outside Jack Trice Stadium in Ames before the annual matchup between intra-state rivals the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones. But Trump, per usual, stole the show.
Before heading to the big game, the former president showed up at the Alpha Gamma Rho frat house on the ISU campaign. Students cheered, “Trump!” “Trump!” “Trump!” He remains the alpha dog in the polls, leading the field by nearly 40 points or better.
Haley, who has seen her poll numbers edge up since the debate, plans a six-stop, two-day swing through the Hawkeye State beginning Friday. According to her campaign site, the former South Carolina governor will participate in a farm tour, agricultural community discussion, town hall, a fundraiser with U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller Meeks (R-IA-02), a Q&A with former Iowa Governor Terry Branstad, before her appearance at the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition town hall.
Scott will host campaign events throughout the state on Saturday and Monday, in between his stump speech at the Des Moines cattle call. He’s scheduled to stop in Dubuque on Saturday, and in Ames, Fort Dodge and Mason City on Monday.
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
As these “also-ran” candidates start to drop out, it will be interesting to see if President Trump’s support grows, or if their followers move to other “also-ran” candidates. I think we will see Johnson, Burgum, Elder, Scott and anyone who doesn’t meet the 3% required for the next “debate” (I again won’t be watching) drop out first. In a few months we’ll see Haley, and maybe Pence drop out. I think narcissist Christie will stay in (and near the bottom) until the end. Eventually DeSantis will drop out – it will be interesting to see if he backs Trump at that point.