The two Republicans most likely to emerge as the party’s alternative to former President Donald Trump in 2024 will make their cases Wednesday night to voters in Iowa, with just a week and a half to go until Hawkeye Republicans head to their caucus sites for the first contest of the GOP presidential primary season.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley have emerged from a field that once counted nearly 20 candidates as unofficial semi-finalists in the race to take on Trump, who continues to enjoy a healthy lead over both in state and national polling.
In back-to-back CNN town hall events at Grand View University in Des Moines, Iowa, Haley and DeSantis will face questions from likely GOP caucus-goers and anchors Kaitlan Collins and Erin Burnett about their visions for the future – and why they, more than Trump or anyone else, are best-positioned to defeat President Joe Biden in the fall.
Trump will not be in attendance at Grand View, but the specter of his winning a third consecutive GOP presidential nomination will animate the proceedings with DeSantis and Haley both ratcheting up their attacks on Trump in recent weeks – even as they steer clear of the kind of firm denunciation that could cost them points with undecided conservatives.
DeSantis is up first at 9 p.m. ET with Collins, and Haley is scheduled to follow at 10 p.m. ET with Burnett.
Here are five things to watch during their conversations with Iowa voters:
After flying into 2023 as the early favorite to challenge Trump, DeSantis enters 2024 stumbling, hoping to scratch out a respectable performance in Iowa to rejuvenate his messy, cash-bleeding campaign.
The Florida governor has more aggressively gone after Trump in recent appearances, criticizing the former president for sitting out the GOP debates and making the argument that he’s…
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