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

Ahead of Expected Illegal Immigrant Surge, Iowa Senator Joni Ernst Urges Bill Allowing States to Finish Border Wall

U.S. Senator Joni Ernst (R-IA) blasted the Biden administration for its ongoing failure in addressing the southwest border crisis, which is about to get a whole lot worse when Title 42 ends later this week.

The Iowa Republican said it’s time to move on her Build It Act, legislation allowing states to finish the border wall by using previously purchased materials.

Read the full story

Iowa Democratic Party Plan Mails It in, Changing Traditional In-Person Caucus to Mail-In Vote

The quaint caucus process where voters meet in school gymnasiums, churches, and restaurants to debate the merits of their candidates would be a thing of the past under a draft plan by the Iowa Democratic Party to reinvent the state’s storied presidential nominating system. 

Instead, the plan calls for a mail-in caucus in which registered Democrats would request presidential preference cards by mail or online and send them in.

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

Iowa to Vote in 2024 on Gubernatorial Succession Amendment

The Iowa State Legislature referred a constitutional amendment to the 2024 ballot that would create a system of succession in the case of temporary or permanent disability of the governor. The amendment would provide that if the governor dies, resigns, or is removed from office, the lieutenant governor would assume the office of governor for the remainder of the term, thereby creating a vacancy in the office of lieutenant governor. Under the amendment, if the lieutenant governor assumed the office of governor, they would have the authority to appoint a new lieutenant governor.

Read the full story

Commentary: Iowa Senator Joni Ernst Says It’s Time to Hit the Brakes on Biden’s Boondoggle Gravy Train

If you paid a contractor to build a house and you agreed to a price and timeline, but the builder blew through the timeline and racked up the price tag, you’d be pretty upset. I bet you’d demand accountability, maybe even a discount.  

Well, when it comes to the federal government and your tax dollars, President Biden seems to be okay with projects that bust the budget, fly past the deadline, and are completely derailed.

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

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

GOP Presidential Hopeful Ramaswamy Says Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s Alleged Involvement In Hunter Biden Laptop Scandal Would be ‘Prosecution-Worthy’

Campaigning in Des Moines’ Beaverdale neighborhood Sunday, Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy told The Iowa Star that Secretary of State Antony Blinken should face serious consequences if it turns out he was the point man for a disinformation campaign on Hunter Biden’s notorious laptop. 

“It’s prosecution worthy,” the Ohio businessman told The Iowa Star after speaking to veterans at the Beaverdale VFW Post 9127. 

Read the full story

Numbers and Methodology Questions Surround Polls Showing DeSantis More Competitive Against Biden Than Trump

New polls in battleground Arizona and Pennsylvania suggest Florida Governor Ron DeSantis — not former President Donald Trump — could prevail in a matchup against President Joe Biden. 

But the Public Opinion Strategies (POS) polls again are raising questions about methodology — and the people behind the DeSantis-friendly poll. 

Read the full story

Americans for Prosperity Warns Wisconsin Lawmakers Against Spending Too Much

There was one group at Wisconsin’s budget hearing pushing for less. Americans for Prosperity warned Wisconsin lawmakers about spending too much of the state’s record $7.1 billion surplus.

Americans For Prosperity Wisconsin this week waited through hours of requests for more money at the legislature’s public budget hearings to make the simple case to spend less.

Read the full story

Great Lakes States’ Social Security Disability Backlog Increased Between Five and 130 Percent Since 2019, Report Finds

Nearly every U.S. state recognized increased backlogs for new Social Security disability benefit applications since 2019, And the Great Lakes states were no different. 

In fact, Wisconsin’s backlog more than doubled, ranking in fifth nationwide for increased backlogs.  From 2019 to 2023, Wisconsin’s backlog grew 130 percent, with an increase of 11,500 backlogged applications. It has the fifth highest backlog increase in the nation.

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

Conservative Trans Agenda Critic Matt Walsh Coming to University of Iowa, Liberals Planning to Protest

Conservative commentator and activist Matt Walsh is coming to the University of Iowa, and the far-left is already up in arms. 

Walsh, as part of his “What is a Woman?” documentary national tour will speak at 7 p.m. Wednesday, April 19, at the university’s Iowa Memorial Union Main Lounge, according to event host, Young Americans for Freedom.

Read the full story

Trump’s Former New Hampshire Campaign Co-Chair Defects, Joins GOP Rival Vivek Ramaswamy’s Camp

Long-time New Hampshire State Representative Fred Doucette (R-town of Salem), who helped run former President Donald Trump’s campaigns in the Granite State, is leaving the Trump “drama” and joining forces with political outsider Vivek Ramaswamy. 

Doucette will serve as senior strategist and co-chair of Ramaswamy’s New Hampshire campaign, Fox News reported. 

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

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

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. 

Read the full story

Exclusive: Newly Declared GOP Presidential Candidate Asa Hutchinson Says Indictment of Trump a ‘Sad Day for America’

In an interview Tuesday with The Star News Network, former Arkansas Governor and freshly declared Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson said a Manhattan grand jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump is a “sad day for America.” 

Hutchinson, the latest Republican to announce his run for the White House, talked about his campaign, the border and the “tainted” prosecution of Trump in a conversation with The Star. 

Read the full story

GOP Presidential Challenger Vivek Ramaswamy Calls ‘Politically Motivated’ Indictment of Trump ‘Dark Moment in American History’

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy is strongly condemning a New York Grand Jury’s indictment of former President Donald Trump, calling it a “dark moment in American history.” 

Thursday’s indictment follows a years-long investigation of Trump in connection with a $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels who claims to have had an affair with Trump years ago.

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

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

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. 

Read the full story

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

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.

Read the full story

Iowa Evangelicals with Long Memories Could Be a Problem for Trump in the Kickoff Caucus State

Former President Donald Trump’s run for the White House could run into trouble in Iowa from evangelicals unhappy about his criticisms of the pro-life movement following mostly disappointing midterms for Republicans. 

Iowa’s Bob Vader Plaats, a leading voice among the Hawkeye State’s evangelical voters, certainly hasn’t forgotten what Trump said in early January. 

Read the full story

Iowa Suspends New DEI Policies in Higher Education, Launches Probe into Current Ones

The Board of Regents overseeing Iowa’s public universities has paused implementation of any new diversity, equity and inclusion programs at the state’s three major public universities as officials launch a review of them.

The March 14 announcement comes in the wake of a recently introduced bill in the Iowa House of Representatives that aims to halt spending on DEI initiatives in higher education.

Read the full story

Pence Tells Iowans U.S. Must Continue to be ‘Arsenal of Democracy’ in Ukraine

Taking a different position than his old boss on a key foreign policy issue, former Vice President Mike Pence told a gathering of Iowans Saturday that the U.S. must continue to help provision Ukraine in its war against Russian aggression. 

While he repeatedly trumpeted “Trump-Pence” successes, the presumptive Republican presidential candidate definitely differs with potential top presidential race rivals, former President Donald Trump and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, on U.S. involvement in the war-torn European country. 

Read the full story

Iowa U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley Grills Biden’s Treasury Secretary on Social Security, Inflation During Biden Budget Hearing

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-IA) on Thursday grilled Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen on whether she still believes inflation is a positive for Americans and the economy. 

During the Senate Finance Committee hearing on President Joe Biden’s $6.9 trillion budget proposal,  Grassley also asked Yellen whether her boss has it in him to rise about politics and lead on shoring up a troubled Social Security system headed down the road to insolvency.  

Read the full story

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

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.  

Read the full story

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

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.” 

Read the full story

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

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.

Read the full story