It’s State Fair time in the Hawkeye State, and with a little more than five months before Iowa’s first-in-the- nation primary that means one thing: Presidential candidates galore.
While Thrill Ville still thrills and food on a stick remains cuisine du jour, the Iowa State Fair — as it does every four years — is a showplace for presidential aspirants. And this summer is chock full of hopefuls vying for the Republican Party presidential nomination.
Governor Kim Reynolds will lead a series of “Fair-Side Chats” with most of the GOP candidates beginning Thursday morning at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines.
“I am so proud that I get to have the opportunity to introduce these candidates to Iowans at an event so near and dear to my heart,” Reynolds said. “The Iowa State Fair showcases the best of Iowa – from our people to our culture and wonderful agriculture industry – and it’s the perfect venue for a conversation with the candidates.”
The one exception to the governor’s guest lineup should come as no surprise.
While Reynolds says she has invited all presidential candidates, former President Donald Trump appears to be taking a pass.
Trump, the frontrunner by far in the crowded field of 13 candidates, has criticized Reynolds for what he perceives to be the popular governor’s favoritism toward fellow presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis despite Reynolds’ declaration that she will remain neutral during the 2024 GOP presidential nomination process.
“I don’t invite her to events!” Trump wrote last month on Truth Social, his social media platform. A story last month in the New York Times asserted the former president’s campaign has been frustrated with the governor for appearing with DeSantis and his wife, Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis, at Iowa campaign events.
Reynolds has appeared with other GOP presidential candidates at Hawkeye State campaign stops as well, including former United Nations Secretary Nikki Haley, Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and U.S. Senator Tim Scott (R-SC). DeSantis, however, has said he would consider asking Reynolds to be his running mate.
DeSantis’ campaign blasted Trump again for his decision not to appear at Reynolds’ “Fair-Side Chat.”
“While Ron DeSantis is committed to putting in the work necessary to win Iowa and will be hitting the accelerator in the coming weeks, Donald Trump is proving he’s not up for the fight in the Hawkeye State. What happened to him?” Carly Atchison, a DeSantis campaign official, said in a statement.
Trump, however, appears to have his own plans for the fair.
Bloomberg reported Monday that the former president’s team is planning a rival event, according to unidentified people familiar with his plans, which could coincide with when DeSantis makes his appearance at the fair.
“Trump aims to arrive at the Iowa State Fair this week with a large contingent of VIP surrogates, putting his own imprint on the gathering of Republican candidates,” the publication reported. “His team has been courting high-profile supporters to join him in a show of force, they said, a move that threatens to deprive opponents of the spotlight at a popular event.”
The Trump campaign did not return a request for comment. Trump senior campaign adviser Jason Miller did tell Bloomberg that the former president did make “quite the splash splash when he attended the Iowa State Fair in 2015, and I would expect President Trump to do something fun and unique with regard to some of the people he is bringing to the state fair in 2023.”
“He’s running a path to the nomination that involves communicating directly with voters and avoiding filters and media traps as other candidates have done in the past,” Miller said.
In 2015, then-first-time presidential candidate Trump dropped into the Iowa State Fair riding in a helicopter, and then came through on his pledge to give fair-going kids rides on the copter. He skipped the Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox.
“…[T]he normal rules of politics don’t apply to Donald Trump, who broke all of them during his visit to the Iowa State Fair on Saturday,” CNN reported in August 2015. “The day provided the latest illustration of how Trump, the GOP presidential frontrunner, is upending the race by ignoring conventional wisdom and running his campaign exactly how he wants to.”
Meanwhile, Reynolds will interview the candidates in the coming days at JR’s SouthPork Ranch on the fairgrounds. The Fair-Side Chats will be open to fairgoers and media. Iowans can submit questions for candidates here.
The current full schedule is as follows:
Thursday, August 10:
- 10:30 AM: Larry Elder
Friday, August 11:
- 8:30 AM: Gov. Doug Burgum
- 9:30 AM: Vice President Mike Pence
- 10:30 AM: Mayor Francis Suarez
Saturday, August 12:
- 8:30 AM: Vivek Ramaswamy
- 9:30 AM: Amb. Nikki Haley
- 10:30 AM: Gov. Ron DeSantis
Tuesday, August 15:
- 8:30 AM: Gov. Asa Hutchinson
- 9:30 AM: Ryan Binkley
- 10:30 AM: Sen. Tim Scott
Friday, August 18:
- 9:30 AM: Perry Johnson
- 10:30 AM: Will Hurd
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M.D. Kittle is the National Political Editor for The Star News Network.
Photo “Gov Kim Reynolds” by Gov Kim Reynolds and “Iowa Fair” by Kim Reynolds for Iowa.
