The 2024 Republican presidential race is playing out in close quarters Saturday at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, as former President Donald Trump and his top-polling rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, join the crowd of thousands of potential caucus-goers.
The Iowa State Fair in Des Moines has been a quintessential stop on the presidential campaign trail since the Democratic Party moved the state to the first position in its nominating calendar in 1972 and Republicans made the same shift four years later.
Trump and DeSantis are both skipping one state fair mainstay – making their pitches to crowds gathered around The Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox. But DeSantis, like most other GOP contenders, is participating in a one-on-one “fair-side chat” with Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds. Trump, who has repeatedly questioned Reynolds’ neutrality in the race and accused the popular governor of cozying up to DeSantis, is skipping the chat with her.
The former president, meanwhile, is traveling to Iowa with an entourage largely designed to troll DeSantis. It’s made up of members of Congress from Florida who have endorsed Trump over their state’s governor: Reps. Gus Bilirakis, Byron Donalds, Matt Gaetz, Carlos Gimenez, Brian Mast, Cory Mills, Anna Paulina Luna, Greg Steube and Mike Waltz.
It’s not clear whether the two will cross paths at the fairgrounds. DeSantis is beginning his visit Saturday morning, while Trump is scheduled to arrive at 1 p.m. Central time.
Still, it’ll be the closest to a direct confrontation the two 2024 contenders have come, less than two weeks from the GOP’s first presidential debate – one Trump has not yet said he’ll participate in.
A recent New York Times/Siena College poll of likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa, conducted before the news of Trump’s third indictment, found the former president at 44%…
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