Former Attorney General Eric Holder will be visiting Iowa next year — a potential indicator he’s seriously considering a run for president in 2020.
In February, Holder will discuss redistricting, voting rights, and national law enforcement in Des Moines at an event hosted by the the Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement at Drake University.
Although the event isn’t overtly political, the appearance in Iowa, which is home to the nation’s first caucus, could be an early sign of someone seeking out the Democratic nomination.
Holder is open to the idea, and during a June visit to New Hampshire, another early-voting state, he remarked on what it would be like to face off against President Trump in two years. “Two guys from Queens. That would be interesting. New Yorkers know how to talk to other New Yorkers,” Holder said. “The idea of a challenge, yeah that kind of appeals to me.”
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Holder, who served as attorney general under former President Barack Obama, has been a vocal critic of Trump. He faced controversy in October when, during an event in Georgia, he told Democrats to take a more aggressive approach in contradiction to former first lady Michelle Obama’s 2016 line.
“Michelle always says, ‘When they go low, we go high.’ No. No. When they go low, we kick them,” Holder said.
Holder later explained he was not advocating violence and called for the “fake outrage” to stop.
Other Democrats who have visited or plan to visit Iowa in months amid 2020 speculation include New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker and New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
