Politics | Trump and DeSantis Collide for First Time in Iowa, as Fortunes Diverge Give this article Account

2024 Election Who Is Running? First G.O.P. Debate Nears Who Leads the Money Race? G.O.P. Candidates on Immigration

Trump and DeSantis Collide for First

Time in Iowa, as Fortunes Diverge
A contest once viewed as a two-man race between Donald J.
Trump and Ron DeSantis has settled into a new dynamic: Mr.
Trump versus everyone else.

Give this article

Former President Donald J. Trump with supporters at the Lincoln Dinner in Des
Moines on Friday. Jordan Gale for The New York Times

By Shane Goldmacher
Reporting from Des Moines and Osceola, Iowa.
July 29, 2023, 11:58 a.m. ET

When former President Donald J. Trump and Gov. Ron DeSantis of

Florida shared the same stage at an Iowa Republican Party dinner
on Friday, their appearances seemed to capture the basic dynamics
of the 2024 presidential primary.

Mr. Trump played headliner. Mr. DeSantis was reduced to an

opening act.

Even as Mr. Trump has been hit with two criminal indictments,
with more possibly coming , he has only consolidated support in
recent months, flashing the same resilience in Iowa that he has
nationally.

Mr. Trump’s rivals have long circled Iowa as the early state where
Mr. Trump, who finished a disappointing second in the 2016 Iowa
caucuses, might be most vulnerable in 2024. But although some
influential leaders have signaled their eagerness for an alternative,
Mr. Trump arrived on Friday for one of his episodic visits as the
undisputed front-runner, as Republicans look past his political and
legal liabilities.

His mere appearance generated some of the evening’s loudest

applause. Like the 12 other candidates who spoke, he entered to
snippets of “Only in America” by Brooks & Dunn. The lyrics that
blared as he took the stage were:

One could end up going to prison. One just might be president.

Mr. DeSantis arrived in Des Moines after a two-day bus tour that
was aimed at stabilizing his campaign amid two successive rounds
of staff cutbacks and demonstrating his investment in the state,
which comes first on the nominating calendar. There were public
displays of humility — small-town stops, shopping for snacks at a
gas station (he bought a protein bar), taking questions from voters
and reporters — that were previously missing from the governor’s
once higher-flying campaign.

Gov. Ron DeSantis, Republican of Florida, speaking at the dinner on Friday night after
a more humble bus tour of Iowa. Jordan Gale for The New York Times

“Six months ago, you would have said there were two tiers: Trump
and DeSantis, and then everyone else,” Craig Robinson, an Iowa
Republican strategist, said. Now, he said, “you have Donald Trump
in a tier by himself and you have everyone else trying to be the
alternative to Trump.”

While Mr. DeSantis is stuck trying to reset his campaign former ,

Vice President Mike Pence is facing the possibility of not even

qualifying for the first debate next month. The rest of the field is
straining for voters to pay any attention at all .

Mr. Trump has certainly provided openings for his rivals in Iowa.
Against his own team’s wishes, he criticized the popular
Republican governor of Iowa , Kim Reynolds, this month. (He did
not mention her on Friday.) And in a state that has often rewarded
frequent visits, Mr. Trump has campaigned only sporadically.

Yet, he continues to campaign with a sense of invincibility. His

campaign scheduled an office opening that overlapped with the
Iowa Republican dinner. The Trump event diverted security-
creening equipment from the main event, according to three
people who were briefed on the matter. The switch created long
lines at the dinner, which more than 1,000 key party activists
attended.

Mr. Trump, however, did stay for an hour after his speech to shake
hands and take pictures with supporters. Mr. DeSantis mingled
with a crowd down the hall with a Coors Light in hand.

The 2024 G.O.P. Presidential Candidates

Donald Trump. The former president is running to retake the office he lost in
2020. Though somewhat diminished in influence within the Republican Party
— and facing several legal investigations — he retains a large and committed
base of supporters, and he could be aided in the primary by multiple
challengers splitting a limited anti-Trump vote.

Mr. Trump’s growing strength in national polling — he has surged

above 50 percent in many surveys — has reinforced an emerging
dynamic in which he is being treated as the de facto incumbent,
both by party insiders with years of reluctantly falling into line
under their belt and by risk-averse donors, according to interviews
with numerous Republican strategists and officials.

Mr. Trump greeting supporters at his new Iowa campaign headquarters on

Friday. Christopher Smith for The New York Times

The first primary debate, scheduled for late August, is widely

viewed as the critical next date for Mr. DeSantis or anyone else to
upend the current dynamic, even if Mr. Trump does not attend.

For now, outside groups looking to slow down Mr. Trump have
focused on Iowa. The new political action committee Win It Back,
which is tied to the Club for Growth, has run negative television
ads worth $3.5 million this month in Iowa and South Carolina.

The ads themselves reveal much about the current state of the
race. Each features testimonials from Republican voters describing
both their affection for the former president and their interest in
moving on.

“I love what he did,” the narrator in one ad says. “He definitely was
the right man in 2016,” the narrator in another says, before
pivoting, “It’s just time for new blood.”

Mr. Trump’s enduring popularity with the Republican base has

meant that even his competitors often sandwich the gentlest of
criticism with praise. Few of his rivals mentioned his name on
Friday, while Mr. Trump repeatedly used a derisive nickname for
Mr. DeSantis. “I wouldn’t take a chance on that one,” he said.

One rival who addressed Mr. Trump directly was Will Hurd, a
former Texas congressman running a long-shot campaign. He
declared that Mr. Trump was running for president again to avoid
prison. He was booed as he exited the stage.

Former Representative Will Hurd was booed as he left the stage for suggesting that
Mr. Trump was running for president again just to avoid prison. Jordan Gale for The New
York Times

Mr. DeSantis himself has generally avoided direct criticism of Mr.

Trump.

He did not say the former president’s name on Friday, and when he
was asked about the criminal charges facing Mr. Trump in an
interview with CBS News on Thursday, Mr. DeSantis answered
with only a vague generality: “I think voters have to make this
decision on that.”

Some prominent Trump critics have questioned such a delicate

approach, especially as his criminal problems have mounted.

“If you’re down 20 points in the polls to anybody, you’ve got to be

able to hit them,” said Gov. Chris Sununu of New Hampshire, who
decided against a 2024 run for president but attended the dinner in
Iowa.

Mr. Trump has been indicted by the Manhattan district attorney

and a Justice Department special counsel already this year, and he
may face another special counsel indictment for his role in the Jan.
6, 2021, attack on the Capitol. A separate investigation into efforts
to interfere with the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia
could result in yet another charge.

Many Republicans who are leery of entering another turbulent

cycle with Mr. Trump atop the ticket remain intrigued by the
Florida governor but not yet sold.

“I think people are just waiting for DeSantis to close the deal for
them,” said David Kerr, a DeSantis supporter who attended an
event in Osceola with the governor at a distillery this week.

Mr. DeSantis during a stop at a center for wounded and disabled veterans in Albia,
Iowa, on his bus tour on Friday. Christopher Smith for The New York Times

Mr. DeSantis has now committed to visiting all 99 of Iowa’s

counties (he is at 17, according to a campaign aide), an arduous
task for a candidate who is trying to compete across all the early
states and must travel the country to fund-raise for a campaign
supported heavily by big-money bundlers.

“This caucus demands that you earn it,” Mr. DeSantis said on
Friday. Mr. Trump has mostly focused on visiting more populous
areas rather than every county.

For Mr. DeSantis, the goal is to come in first — or a strong enough

second to prove that Mr. Trump can be beat and narrow the contest
to a two-person race. But some of Mr. DeSantis’s allies worry that
the heavy emphasis on Iowa could prove a self-inflicted knockout
punch — that after investing so much, his campaign will have a
less than compelling case to carry on if he falters badly in the
opening state.

Kathy Kooiker, a Republican activist in Clark County, Iowa, had a

Trump flag in her yard for years but said she had folded it folded
up and put it away. She is trying to explore the other candidates to
decide who to support instead of Mr. Trump, and she went to the
DeSantis event in Osceola.

“He hasn’t been in Iowa as much as the other candidates, so I’m

glad to see — I think it’s a mistake not to do that,” Ms. Kooiker said.

Republicans in Iowa, both those who support Mr. Trump and those
who oppose him, see the race there as at least slightly more
competitive than national polls would suggest.

Amy Sinclair, the president of the Iowa State Senate, who has
endorsed Mr. DeSantis, acknowledged, “it’s a tough uphill battle to
fight against a machine like Donald Trump.”

But she said Mr. Trump’s swipe at Ms. Reynolds had damaged him.
“He’s not doing himself any favors if he wants to win Iowa
behaving that way,” she said. “You don’t insult our family.”

Ryan Rhodes, who served as Iowa state director for Ben Carson’s
presidential campaign in 2016, agreed that the episode had broken
through among conservative activists.

“Trump needs to get out there and talk to Iowans again,” Mr.
Rhodes said.

Mr. Trump may not yet have personally worked aggressively for
votes in Iowa, but he has professionalized what in 2016 was a
scattershot political operation. His campaign had secured its
keynote slot on Friday night by being the fastest to confirm its
attendance with the state party.

Shane Goldmacher is a national political reporter and was previously the chief political
correspondent for the Metro desk. Before joining The Times, he worked at Politico,
where he covered national Republican politics and the 2016 presidential campaign.
More about Shane Goldmacher
A version of this article appears in print on July 30, 2023 , Section A , Page 19 of the New York edition with the
headline: Trump and DeSantis Share Stage for the First Time in Iowa . Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

Give this article

The Run-Up to the 2024 Election

Donald Trump
The Republican front-runner is facing a growing tangle of criminal and civil
trials that will overlap with next year’s presidential primaries, raising extraordinary
logistical, legal and political questions .

Since leaving the White House, Melania Trump has mostly retreated from public
view , steering clear of the campaign trail and her husband’s court appearances.

President Biden
Wealthy Democrats have thrown their money behind the president’s re-election
bid, but the small donors that helped him break fund-raising records during his
2020 campaign have yet to step up their contributions .

Biden and his advisers are elevating Future Forward, a new outside group, as the
leading super PAC to help re-elect him in 2024, making it the top destination for
large sums of money from supportive billionaires and multimillionaires.

The G.O.P. Field

Ron DeSantis : The Florida governor is seeking to reboot his presidential
campaign with a leaner operation and more controlled spending But donors have .

their doubts .

Tim Scott: How is the South Carolina senator’s campaign spending the millions it

has raised? It’s a mystery .

Nikki Haley : The former South Carolina governor was asked a thorny question at
a town hall in New Hampshire: Should women who get illegal abortions be
punished? Here’s how she responded .

Vivek Ramaswamy: The biotech entrepreneur released a list of potential choices

for the Supreme Court , in an effort to highlight his conservative credentials to
early-state voters.
Will Hurd : Hoping to break through a crowded G.O.P. field, the former Texas
congressman is pitching himself as a modern, moderate Republican with a
bipartisan vision .

Go to Home Page »

news Opinion Arts Living More Subscribe

Home Page Today's Opinion Today's Arts Automotive Reader Center Home Delivery
World Columnists Art & Design Games The Athletic Digital Subscriptions
Coronavirus Editorials Books Education Wirecutter
Games
U.S. Guest Essays Best Sellers Book List Food Cooking
Politics Letters Dance Health Headway Cooking
New York Sunday Opinion Movies Jobs Live Events Email Newsletters
Business Opinion Video Music Love The Learning Network Corporate Subscriptions
Tech Pop Culture Magazine Tools & Services Education Rate
Science Television Parenting Podcasts
Mobile Applications
Sports Theater Real Estate Video Replica Edition
Wildfire Tracker Video: Arts Style Graphics International
Obituaries T Magazine TimesMachine Canada
Today's Paper Travel Times Store Español
Corrections Manage My Account 中文网
Trending NYTLicensing

© 2023 The New York Times Company NYTCo Contact Us Accessibility Work with us Advertise T Brand Studio Your Ad Choices Privacy Policy Terms of Service Terms of Sale Site Map Help Subscriptions