Tag: Iowa

New Polls Show Trump with Significant Lead over DeSantis, Republican Presidential Field in Iowa, Nationally, Despite Latest Indictment

M.D. Kittle

The federal indictment against former President Donald Trump doesn’t seem to be eroding his support among conservatives. New polling shows “Teflon Don” continues to hold a substantial lead over his closest Republican presidential nomination rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, in Iowa — the first-in-the-nation caucus state — and the rest of the nation.

A poll by Victory Insights shows Trump leading DeSantis by 23 points in Iowa, 44.3 percent to 21.3 percent in a full-ballot contest. When the field is narrowed to just Trump and DeSantis, the spread between the two candidates decreases, but not by much.

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Trump and DeSantis to Join Full Lineup of GOP Presidential Candidates at Iowa Republican Party’s Lincoln Dinner

M.D. Kittle

Most of the GOP presidential candidates have committed to attending next month’s Republican Party of Iowa’s Lincoln Dinner, including former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis

The annual fundraiser, scheduled for July 28, is a must-attend event for those vying for the Republican Party nomination in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

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Pence Launches Presidential Campaign in Iowa, Skewering Former Running Mate in Partial Break from Trump

M.D. Kittle

Former Vice President Mike Pence launched his long-anticipated run for the White House Wednesday in suburban Des Moines by taking aim at his old boss, former President Donald Trump, the leading candidate in the race for the Republican Party presidential nomination. 

Pence laid out his vision for America, but he also used his campaign launch in Ankeny to differentiate himself from Trump — and to explain to conservative voters why he believes the former president let him and the country down on Jan. 6, 2021. 

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GOP Presidential Candidates, Sans Trump, Descend on Iowa for Senator Joni Ernst’s Annual Roast and Ride

M.D. Kittle

In many ways, the start of the 2024 presidential election year began Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines — with Iowa U.S. Senator Joni Ernst’s annual Roast and Ride. 

Eight Republican presidential hopefuls assembled all under one roof, making their case to some 750 Iowans on why they’re best suited to lead the most powerful nation in the world. 

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Trump’s Message to Iowa Voters on Latest Campaign Trip: ‘We Have to Win. It’s Not a Game’

M.D. Kittle

Former President Donald Trump stormed back into Iowa Thursday with an urgent message for voters in the kickoff caucus state: I’m here to win. 

The frontrunner Republican — by far — in the Republican presidential nomination chase made several campaign stops in the Des Moines metropolitan area. But this latest swing through Iowa found Trump eschewing his usual massive campaign rallies for more intimate venues with smaller crowds, perhaps recognition that winning in the first-in-the-nation caucus state will require the kind of face-to-face retail politics Iowans have grown accustomed to. 

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Ramaswamy Returns to Iowa, Pushes Importance of Citizenship, American Revival

M.D. Kittle

While Liberal-led LinkedIn may want to silence Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy, Iowans have welcomed the Ohio businessman with open arms. 

Ramaswamy preached American revival with Iowa voters Saturday morning at the rustic, farmer-themed Machine Shed restaurant in suburban Des Moines, part of a multi-city trip to the Hawkeye State this Memorial Day Weekend.

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Trump and DeSantis Heading Back to Iowa for Another Clash of Campaigns

M.D. Kittle

The two titans in the race for the Republican Party presidential nomination will be back in Iowa next week, setting up a clash of campaigns that didn’t quite come to pass earlier this month. 

After announcing his bid for the White House on Twitter this week, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis plans to make his first official campaign stops in the kickoff caucus state, and former President Donald Trump will follow on his top rival’s heels with a Fox News town hall even in Des Moines. 

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Pancakes with Vivek: GOP Presidential Candidate Back in Iowa This Memorial Day Weekend

M.D. Kittle

Ohio entrepreneur and political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy is heading back to Iowa, spending the first part of the Memorial Day weekend getting to know more voters in the critical kick-off caucus state.  

The Republican presidential candidate’s fifth trip to the Hawkeye State since declaring his candidacy in February will take him across eastern, central and southern Iowa. 

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U.S. Senator Tim Scott Launches Presidential Campaign as Living Example of the Land of Opportunity

M.D. Kittle

U.S. Senator Tim Scott made it official Monday, launching his campaign for president in the North Charleston, SC, hometown that informed his core belief: That the United States of America is “the land of opportunity, not a land of oppression.” 

Joined on stage by the single mother who raised him and the wife of the mentor who entered his adolescent life at a critical time, the Republican spoke of the opportunities that made him the man — and the presidential candidate — he is today.

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Iowa Roundup: Tim Scott’s Tennessee Champion, Joe Manchin Courts Iowans Amid Speculation of Third-Party Run

M.D. Kittle

U.S. Senator and presumptive GOP presidential candidate Tim Scott has tapped a former popular Republican governor to head up his national campaign. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis gets a little help from Mother Nature on Mother’s Day weekend. And is Joe Manchin opening doors in Iowa for a third-party presidential run? 

Here’s the roundup from the Hawkeye State presidential campaign trail. 

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Millennial GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Proposes Amendment to Raise Voting Age at Iowa Campaign Rally

M.D. Kittle

Making the case for America-first principles, Ohio entrepreneur and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy told a campaign rally in suburban Des Moines Thursday evening that, as president, he would seek a constitutional amendment raising the voting age to 25. 

Ramaswamy, the first millennial Republican candidate to seek the White House, has been known to shake things up on the campaign trail.

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Indiana Expands School Choice to Nearly All K-12 Students as Republican-Led States Continue Momentum

Susan Berry, PhD

Indiana scored the latest school choice victory with nearly all, save for 3.5 percent of families with school-age children, qualifying for the state’s new voucher program, The Wall Street Journal editorial board noted last week.

“The hits keep coming on school choice in Republican-run states,” The Journal editors observed, detailing:

The new law raises the income cap to 400% of the free- and reduced-price lunch income level, which is now about $220,000 for a family of four. The bill also removes the other criteria for eligibility so that any family under the income limit can apply. Tens of thousands of additional students could qualify, and a legislative analysis projects that some 95,000 students might use the program in 2025, up from about 53,000 in 2023.

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Georgia’s Republican Secretary of State Foils Democrats’ ‘Diverse’ Primary Plans

M.D. Kittle

Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger has set the Peach State’s 2024 party primary elections for March 12, foiling the Democratic National Committee’s plans to move Georgia’s vote toward the front of the presidential nominating line.

Raffensperger says the DNC acted “unilaterally” in its bid to make their nominating process more “diverse” by bumping predominantly white states like Iowa and New Hampshire back and pushing more “racially inclusive” states like Georgia and Michigan to the front of the primary line. 

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POS Poll Shows DeSantis Faring Better Than Trump Against Biden in the Badger State Despite Many Polls to the Contrary

M.D. Kittle

Public Opinion Strategies is out with yet another poll showing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis faring better against former President Donald Trump, this time in battleground Wisconsin. 

But just who is paying for the polling that paints a picture of DeSantis’ presidential strength despite Trump’s significant lead in primary polls remains unclear. 

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DeSantis Coming to Wisconsin as Trump Pounds the GOP’s No. 2 Presidential Contender

M.D. Kittle

As he moves closer to a presidential campaign announcement, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has scheduled a trip to the Badger State next month. 

DeSantis, who is expected to officially launch his run for the White House after the Florida legislative session ends in early May, will speak at the Republican Party of Marathon County Lincoln Day Dinner on May 6.

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Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Challenges Biden, Shakes Up Iowa Caucuses

M.D. Kittle

Democrat Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a leading national anti-vaccine voice, is launching a long-shot campaign for president and stirring the troubled Democratic Party waters in the Iowa caucuses. 

A former Iowa congressman and long-time state Democratic Party leader tells The Iowa Star the entry of a prominent Kennedy family scion into the race will prevent the national nominating process from turning into a coronation for President Joe Biden. 

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Iowa U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Demands Biden Administration Release All Information on China Spy Balloon

M.D. Kittle

Recent reports that China’s claimed “weather” balloon was taking multiple images of U.S. military sites and sending them back to the communist nation are raising greater national security alarms. 

U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R-IA) is demanding the Biden administration release all information available on the spy balloon that invaded U.S. air space in late January and early February. 

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Methodology and Motive Questions Surround Poll Showing DeSantis Ahead of Trump in Iowa

M.D. Kittle

Two polls showing Florida Governor Ron DeSantis “running more competitively” against former President Donald Trump in first-in-the-nation nominating states Iowa and New Hampshire are missing some key data, raising questions about the validity of the surveys. 

The polls, conducted by Public Opinion Strategies (POS) from March 21-23, were provided exclusively to Axios.

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Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP’s Youngest Presidential Candidate, Showing His Energy on Latest Swing Through Iowa

M.D. Kittle

While Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy may be lagging in the polls, in his first month on the campaign trail no one has outworked the Ohio businessman to connect with voters. 

In the words of Geoff Mack and Johnny Cash, Ramaswamy has been everywhere, man — from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina and Maryland. He’s made the media rounds, too, from the smallest small town newspapers to the network talking heads. 

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GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Barnstorms Western Iowa as His Political Star Appears to Rise

M.D. Kittle

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is back in the Hawkeye State this weekend for several campaign stops, just as his star appears be rising in the GOP nomination chase. 

The Ohio businessman and anti-woke crusader that former President Trump has billed as “young Vivek Ramaswamy” will barnstorm western Iowa in a three-day, three-county tour beginning Friday evening with a town hall in Mills County.

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Vice President Kamala Harris to Visit Iowa for Roundtable Discussion on Abortion Rights

M.D. Kittle

Vice President Kamala Harris, who hasn’t been to Iowa in years, is heading back to the Hawkeye State this Thursday for a roundtable discussion on abortion rights, according to the White House. 

Harris will be in Des Moines to talk about “extreme” measures to limit abortion across the country in the wake of last June’s U.S. Supreme Court ruling overturning Roe v. Wade, according to multiple media outlets.  

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Former President Donald Trump Stumps in Iowa, Vows to Evict Biden from the White House and ‘Prevent World War III’

M.D. Kittle

Former President Donald Trump was back in Iowa Monday night and he was loaded for bear, taking aim at woke liberals, the mainstream media, the Deep State, “Paul Ryan RINOs” and the current unpopular top resident of the White House. 

And Trump, arguably the leading contender for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, made the crowd packing Davenport’s 2,400-seat Adler Theatre some big promises. Chief among them:  He’ll always have Iowa’s back and he’ll “stop World War III.” 

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Florida Governor Ron DeSantis Wows Iowans at Packed ‘Book Tour’ Event

M.D. Kittle

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may still be mulling over a run for president, but the Republican looked and sounded every bit a contender for the GOP presidential nomination Friday evening in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

DeSantis joined fellow Republican, Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. at a packed, standing-room only stop at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, ostensibly to promote his new book, The Courage to Be Free: Florida’s Blueprint for America’s Revival.

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At Iowa Foreign Policy Event, GOP Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Says War in Ukraine is a War ‘We Have to Win’

M.D. Kittle

Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley asserts the war in Ukraine is about freedom and “one we have to win.” 

The former South Carolina governor discussed national security and foreign policy with U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) Friday morning in suburban Des Moines at an event sponsored by the Bastion Institute.

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Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Back in Iowa Next Week

M.D. Kittle

Republican Presidential candidate Nikki Haley is heading back to Iowa next week to host two town hall meetings and participate in a foreign policy event with U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA). 

The former South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador under President Donald Trump announced a schedule that includes a town hall-style event at 6 pm. Wednesday, March 8, at the Thunderbowl in Council Bluffs.

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Governor Kim Reynolds Looks to Rightsize Iowa Government

M.D. Kittle

WEST DES MOINES, Iowa — It’s been a busy start to what Gov. Kim Reynolds is calling a “big and bold” legislative session. The first bill the Republican signed into law was the Students First Act, a historic universal school choice bill allowing parents and guardians to tap into publicly funded education savings accounts to help cover the cost of private school tuition. Reynolds then signed a major medical malpractice tort reform bill capping noneconomic damages, a bill hated by personal injury lawyers but heralded by health care providers, hospitals, insurers and others who say costly litigation has helped push up health care costs. Now, Reynolds has her eye on big government. “We’re fighting hard every day to make government smaller,” the governor said at a recent Iowa campaign stop for Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley. Reynolds’ mission: Trim Iowa’s 37 executive branch cabinet-level departments from 37 to 16. The plan calls for reducing state government office space footprint to “align with industry standards and generate cost savings” and consolidating technology systems and services. Reynolds also wants to align regionally operated community-based corrections programs within the Iowa Department of Corrections. The aim, the governor says, is to strengthen the corrections…

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New Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Barnstorms Iowa to Campaign on His Unapologetic Message of American Exceptionalism

M.D. Kittle

Running on four hours of sleep from his trip to New Hampshire the day before, newly announced Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy crisscrossed central and eastern Iowa Thursday, bringing the first-in-the-nation caucus state an unapologetic message of American exceptionalism he believes will take him all the way to the White House. 

The 37-year-old Ohio entrepreneur crowned by The New Yorker as the “CEO of Anti-Woke Inc”, paid a call on Republican lawmakers Thursday morning at the Iowa Statehouse, then joined a Republican Women’s group for lunch in the Quad Cities, was back in the Des Moines metro for an afternoon business roundtable at a production plant in Ankeny before capping the day at a Polk County Republicans event in Urbandale. 

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Seven Questions for ‘Capitalist and Citizen’ Vivek Ramaswamy as He Jumps Into the Race for President

M.D. Kittle

Vivek Ramaswamy just went from “strongly considering” to a headlong plunge into the race for the White House. 

The 37-year-old biotech entrepreneur and crusader against corporate wokeism on Tuesday filed paperwork for a presidential run — the latest Republican to join former President Donald Trump in what’s expected to be a crowded 2024 GOP nomination chase. 

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