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

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. 

Read the full story

Haley Says She Doesn’t ‘Trust Government’ with ‘Red Flag Laws,’ Vows to End Gun-Free Zones

Former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley said on Sunday that she doesn’t “trust government to deal with red flag laws” during a CNN Town Hall, and called for addressing mental health and abolishing gun-free zones.

“I don’t trust government to deal with red flag laws,” Haley said in response to an audience member’s question regarding mass shootings. “I don’t trust that they won’t take them away from people who rightfully deserve to have them, because you’ve got someone else judging whether someone should have a gun or not. It is a constitutional right that people can protect and defend themselves.”

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

GOP Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Makes the Cut for the GOP Debates

Republican presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy has risen in the polls to a top 5 candidate. Now the Ohio businessman and political outsider has secured a spot on the Republican National Committee debate stage. 

In fact, Ramaswamy’s campaign crossed the RNC debate stage criteria threshold in May, several months before the debates are set to take place, according to the candidate’s camp.  

Read the full story

Iowa Senator Ernst and Wisconsin Representative Gallagher Introduce Taxpayer Transparency Bill on Dollars Sent to China, Russia

Two Midwest members of congress have joined forces on a bill aimed at creating transparency and accountability for U.S. taxpayer money handed out in China and Russia. 

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) and U.S. Representative Mike Gallagher (R-WI) have introduced the Tracking Receipts to Adversarial Countries for Knowledge of Spending (TRACKS) Act requiring every penny from a government grant paid to any organization in China and Russia to be tracked and publicly disclosed. 

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

Haley Hits Trump and DeSantis over Their Support of ‘Reckless’ Debt Ceiling Deal in 2018

As congress weighs another “deal” to raise the national debt limit, Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley is blasting the two leading contestants for the GOP nomination for their support of a “reckless” debt ceiling agreement in 2018. 

The former South Carolina governor points out that Governor Ron DeSantis was a member of congress who voted for a 2018 bill to increase the nation’s debt ceiling by $1.5 trillion.

Read the full story

Scott, Haley’s South Carolina Roots Aren’t Enough to Secure Victory in the State’s Early Primary, GOP Operatives Say

South Carolina has two natives in the 2024 presidential race, with former Gov. Nikki Haley and Sen. Tim Scott, but Republican operatives from the state don’t believe it’s enough to secure them a victory in the early state primary, they told the Daily Caller News Foundation.

Although the two Republicans have served their state for years, former President Donald Trump still has a stronghold in South Carolina and would likely win the state’s primary if it were held today, several GOP political experts told the DCNF. For either Scott or Haley to be competitive in South Carolina’s primary, which is critical in determining the eventual Republican nominee, the experts said they would need to show a strong performance in key early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire.

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

Exclusive: New Poll Finds Trump with Significant Lead Over DeSantis Among Republican Primary Voters

A new poll from Trump pollster McLaughlin & Associates finds the former president leading Florida Governor Ron DeSantis by nearly 40 percentage points as the chase for the GOP presidential nomination heats up. 

The poll shows Trump at 54 percent, and DeSantis with 16 percent support, as the Florida governor kicks off his campaign for the White House. 

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

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

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.

Read the full story

Nikki Haley Had a Dozen Lucrative Speaking Engagements Since Last Year, Financial Disclosure Shows

Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley received between $100,001 and $1 million for each of her dozen speaking engagements in 2022 and 2023, which means she made at least $1.2 million from speaking honorariums, her financial disclosure report shows. 

Haley, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor, received payments for her speeches in Singapore, Australia and Canada, as well as for talks she gave across the U.S. in cities such as Chicago, New York and Dallas, according to her disclosure filed Monday. The speeches were for a variety of organizations such as the National Automobile Dealers Association and the Canadian Friends of Jerusalem College of Technology.

Read the full story

GOP Presidential Hopefuls Blast FBI, Media as Durham Report Excoriates the Bureau for Breaking Faith

Conservative presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy says special counsel John Durham’s final report on the FBI’s bogus investigation into Trump campaign collusion with Russia underscores his call to shut down the politically “weaponized” federal law enforcement agency. 

The Ohio entrepreneur joined fellow GOP presidential candidates in condemning what the report found to be the FBI’s failure to vet false allegations that former President Donald Trump and his campaign colluded with Russia to influence the 2016 election that Trump ultimately won. 

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

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

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.

Read the full story

GOP Presidential Candidates Weigh in on Comer Committee’s Records Uncovering Possible Biden Family Corruption

Back in the Hawkeye State this week for multi-day campaign tours, Republican presidential hopefuls Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley commented on House Republican committee findings tying the Biden family’s fortunes to suspect foreign entities in China and Romania. 

House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer (R-KY-01) on Wednesday addressed bank records that show payments made to companies connected to President Joe Biden’s troubled son, Hunter.

Read the full story

Morning Consult Poll Shows Trump with 41-Point Lead over Declining DeSantis, Ramaswamy’s Fortunes Rising

A new Morning Consult poll shows former President Donald Trump with his largest lead yet over Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, just as political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy’s political prospects rising.

The poll of nearly 3,600 potential Republican primary voters, conducted May 5-7, finds Trump with 60 percent support, followed distantly by DeSantis, with 19 percent.

Read the full story

Outsider GOP Presidential Candidate Ramaswamy’s Political Stock Rising in Palmetto State

As his polling numbers climb nationally, Ohio businessman and anti-woke crusader Vivek Ramaswamy’s political stock appears to be rising in South Carolina, as well.  

The youngest GOP candidate in the field “enjoyed another well-received visit to the Palmetto State,” one of the first presidential nominating states,  according to the latest FitsNews Palmetto Political Stock Index. 

Read the full story

Republican Presidential Candidate Nikki Haley Calls for ‘Consensus’ on Abortion

In a major speech Tuesday before one of the nation’s most prominent pro-life groups, former South Carolina governor and Republican presidential hopeful Nikki Haley said Americans must find consensus on abortion law. 

Haley didn’t offer specifics on precisely what “consensus” means to her in terms of policy, although she did say the federal government has a role to play in the post-Roe v. Wade world of life, liberty and abortion. 

Read the full story

CNN Fires Don Lemon After Liberal Host Attacks GOP Candidates on Age and Race

CNN has fired Don Lemon in the wake of the controversial liberal talk show host’s disparaging remarks about the race and age of GOP presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley. 

As the left-leaning cable news network reported, Monday’s announcement came without explanation and “astonished the media industry.” News of Lemon’s departure followed word that conservative host Tucker Carlson and Fox News had parted ways. 

Read the full story

Republican Presidential Candidates Preach Faith, Freedom and ‘Revival’ to Iowa Evangelicals and Veterans

In a campaign conversation Sunday with veterans in Des Moines, biotech entrepreneur and GOP presidential hopeful Vivek Ramaswamy called for a rejection of the idea of a “national divorce” in favor of the beginning of a national revival. 

Ramaswamy, who describes himself as an unapologetic America First candidate, told a packed VFW Post 9127 hall in the city’s Beaverdale neighborhood Sunday morning that his is more than a presidential campaign —  it’s a mission to reclaim the soul of America. 

Read the full story

Trump Dominates Latest Georgia Poll of Republican Presidential Candidates

Former President Donald Trump only seems to be getting politically stronger since his arrest in Manhattan earlier this month — at least in the Republican Party presidential nomination chase. 

The opening poll of the 2024 campaign season by the University of Georgia School of Public & International Affairs (SPIA) shows Trump with a huge double-digit lead over his nearest rival, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (50.7% to 29.8%).

Read the full story

Republican Presidential Candidate Vivek Ramaswamy Wows NRA Crowd in Second Amendment Defense

Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy said he would shut down a Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives  (ATF) that is “beyond repair” and expand Second Amendment rights if he is elected president. 

The political outsider vying for the Republican Party’s nomination laid out his gun rights agenda in a speech Friday to the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting in Indianapolis. 

Read the full story

Trump Asks NRA Members for Their Votes to End the Radical, Gun Control Left’s Reign

Reminding gun owners what he did for the protection of the Second Amendment and pledging to do much more, former President Donald Trump closed the National Rifle Association’s main event Friday with a stemwinder that brought the crowd to its feet. 

In a full-on campaign speech, the Republican presidential frontrunner told those assembled at the NRA-Institute for Legislative Action Leadership Forum that he was running for another term to right the ship listing from “nation-wrecking, globalist marxists, RINOs (Republicans in Name Only) and tyrants.” 

Read the full story

New Poll Shows Trump, DeSantis Lead in New Hampshire, Followed by Granite State Favorite Son

A new poll in the first-in-the-nation presidential primary state shows former President Donald Trump leading the pack, followed at a distance by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and a New Hampshire native son. 

The Saint Anselm College Survey Center poll also shows the youngest candidate in the race, 37-year-old Ohio entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy picking up a bit of momentum in the Granite State. 

Read the full story

Nikki Haley Visits Border, Delivers Her ‘Catch and Deport’ Plan to Solve Border Crisis

by Jennie Taer   Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and 2024 Republican candidate Nikki Haley visited the U.S.-Mexico border Monday, delivering her proposal to solving the illegal immigration crisis. Haley proposed a mandatory E-Verify program for employers to ensure they’re not hiring illegal immigrants, firing 87,000 IRS agents to hire “at least” 25,000 Border Patrol and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, ending taxpayer funding of illegal immigrants and defunding sanctuary cities during a press conference with Republican Texas Rep. Tony Gonzales in Eagle Pass, Texas. U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) has documented a record surge in illegal immigration at the southern border. “And then the one thing that could make the biggest difference, stop catch and release and go to catch and deport. When you start deporting illegal immigrants, they will stop coming,” Haley said. Federal authorities recorded more than 2.3 million migrant encounters in fiscal year 2022 and more than 1 million between October 2022 and February 2023. Haley also said she’d bring back “Remain in Mexico” to force illegal immigrants to await their court dates south of the border and keep Title 42, the Trump-era expulsion order used to mitigate the spread of COVID-19. “Why are we doing this? Stop the insanity…

Read the full story

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

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.

Read the full story

Ohio GOP Chairman Discusses Vision for State to Bring ‘Strong Conservative’ Leaders to Washington

Alex Triantafilou, the newly elected head of the Ohio Republican Party, stopped in Hillsboro for the Highland County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day Dinner on Wednesday to discuss his positive vision for the Ohio Republican Party moving forwards.

According to Triantafilou, one of his primary focuses for the party is removing U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown (D-OH) and President Joe Biden from office.

Read the full story