Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA) is set to interview a swath of 2024 Republican presidential candidates five months ahead of her state’s kickoff voting event — with a conspicuous absence.
Former President Donald Trump, leading the GOP field, hasn’t committed to sitting down with Reynolds as most of his rivals have. Trump recently bashed Reynolds for staying neutral in the GOP nomination fight, which starts Jan. 15 with the Iowa caucuses. Trump claims she owes him political loyalty after choosing her boss, former Gov. Terry Branstad, as U.S. ambassador to China in early 2017. That elevated then-Lt. Gov. Reynolds to governorship, an office she won on her own in the 2018 and 2022 midterm elections.
A BURNING ISSUE: BIDEN AND DEMOCRATS LOOK TO COMBAT EXTREME HEAT ACROSS THE US
Trump, after losing to President Joe Biden in 2020, is seeking to be the first White House returnee since Grover Cleveland in the 1892 presidential election. Most polls give him a commanding lead for the GOP nomination, but Republican rivals aren’t conceding the contest. And Reynolds’s interview sessions will help give them valuable exposure.
Reynolds invited the entire field of more than a dozen Republican White House hopefuls to join her for mid-August “Fair Side Chats” at the Iowa State Fair. The Iowa State Fair, held annually in August at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines, has been a must-stop for decades for presidential contenders of both major political parties in the year ahead of the nominating contests. Democrats, though, have banished Iowa to the middle of their 2024 nominating calendar, making the Republican contest a focal point of attention.
Reynolds’s interviews will take place at JR’s SouthPork Ranch at the fairgrounds.
First up on Thursday, Aug. 10, at 10:30 a.m. CST is radio talk show host Larry Elder, a 2021 California recall election gubernatorial candidate. That coincides with the Iowa State Fair’s first day of operations.
On Friday, Aug. 11, Reynolds is set to interview Gov. Doug Burgum (R-ND) (8:30 a.m. CST) and former Vice President Mike Pence (9:30 a.m. CST). Then it’s Miami Mayor Francis Suarez (10:30 a.m. CST).
Saturday, Aug. 12, brings interviews with businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (8:30 a.m. CST) and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (9:30 a.m. CST). Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) (10:30 a.m. CST) rounds out the day of interviews with Reynolds.
Then, on Tuesday, Aug. 15, Reynolds is scheduled to interview former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (8:30 a.m. CST), Texas-based businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley (9:30 a.m. CST), and Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) (10:30 a.m. CST).
Finally, on Friday, Aug. 18, there are Reynolds’s interviews with Michigan businessman and 2022 gubernatorial candidate Perry Johnson (9:30 a.m. CST) and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd (10:30 a.m. CST).
Political Soapbox
The Iowa State Fair will brim with political action beyond the governor’s candidate interviews. The Des Moines Register is hosting presidential hopefuls at its Political Soapbox. Candidates are offered 20 minutes and a microphone to make their pitches. The event will be held along the Grand Concourse in front of the Horner Service Center.
It’s not just Republicans, as the event features a pair of Democrats challenging Biden for their party’s presidential nomination — Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a scion of America’s most famous political family who is often criticized for espousing vaccine conspiracy theories, and self-help guru Marianne Williamson. Along with Chase Oliver, who is seeking the Libertarian Party presidential nomination. In the 2022 Senate Georgia race runoff, Oliver earned 2.07% of the vote, a notable margin in a close contest where Sen. Raphael Warnock (D-GA) won a full, six-year term by narrowly beating GOP rival Herschel Walker 49.44% to 48.49%.
Here’s the Political Soapbox speaking schedule so far, each CST.
Thursday, Aug. 10
1:30 p.m.: Burgum
4:30 p.m.: Pence
Friday, Aug. 11
11:15 a.m.: Suarez
12 p.m.: Johnson
1:30 p.m.: Elder
Saturday, Aug. 12
11:15 a.m.: Binkley
12 p.m.: Ramaswamy
1:30 p.m.: Williamson
2:15 p.m.: Kennedy Jr.
3 p.m.: Nikki Haley
Friday, Aug. 18
12 p.m.: Hurd
Saturday, Aug. 19
2:15 p.m.: Oliver
4:30 p.m.: Hutchinson
South Carolina opportunity for DeSantis
DeSantis, whose presidential campaign has of late had to contend with negative press over poor fundraising and falling poll numbers, is set to headline an Aug. 28 barbecue billed as South Carolina’s largest annual gathering of Republicans.
DeSantis, long considered the lead rival to Trump for the 2024 Republican nomination, will make his case to the party faithful at the Faith & Freedom BBQ in Anderson, a northwestern South Carolina community of about 29,000 midway between Atlanta, Georgia, and Charlotte, North Carolina. The event is hosted by Rep. Jeff Duncan (R-SC), previously a House colleague of DeSantis for nearly six years, though Duncan has not made an endorsement in the Republican presidential primary.
“I served with Gov. Ron DeSantis in Congress and know how committed he is to restoring the values that made America the envy of the world,” Duncan said in a statement. “South Carolina is known as the proving ground for GOP presidential candidates, and I’m humbled that Faith & Freedom BBQ has become the No. 1 stop as candidates contend for the vote of South Carolinians,” he added.
The South Carolina primary is set for Feb. 24, 2024. It will be the fourth voting contest, after the Iowa Caucuses, New Hampshire primary, and Nevada caucuses, with the latter two voting events’ dates still in flux.
Ramaswamy’s Palmetto State star turn
Ramaswamy, a political newcomer after a lucrative career as a biotech investor, is slated to headline a GOP fundraiser in South Carolina. The candidate, who frequently slams “wokeness” in the corporate sphere, will be the featured speaker at the third annual Dorchester County GOP’s Faith, Family & Freedom Dinner. The event is scheduled for Aug. 19 in Summerville, a Palmetto State town of about 50,000, 24 miles northwest of Charleston. It’s at the Dorchester Shrine Club — 2150 Beech Hill Road, Summerville, SC 29485.
Ramaswamy has been stumping heavily in other early-voting states, including Iowa and New Hampshire. But the candidate hasn’t been back to South Carolina since May, when he spoke at the state Republican Party convention.
While Trump remains broadly popular in South Carolina, Ramaswamy and other GOP candidates are trying to make inroads with the primary electorate. That primary battle isn’t just against Trump, but also a pair of home state candidates — Scott, senator for a decade-plus after two years in the House and a 15-year political career in local and state government. And Haley, governor from 2011-17 before being the Trump administration’s U.S. ambassador to the United Nations for just under two years.
Hutchinson to make his case in New Hampshire
Trump has dominated the GOP field to date, and most primary rivals have been silent about the former president’s growing legal troubles. One exception is Hutchinson, Arkansas governor from 2015-23 after holding high-level positions in former President George W. Bush’s administration and a nearly five-year House career before that.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Hutchinson also was the U.S. attorney for the Western District of Arkansas during President Ronald Reagan’s first term. And he’s now one of the more outspoken critics of Trump, along with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and ex-Rep. Will Hurd.
Hutchinson, like the other candidates, is focusing heavily on New Hampshire, which holds the first-in-the-nation Republican primary. Capping a series of early August events in the Granite State, Hutchinson on Wednesday, Aug. 9, is set to appear in Nashua at the Pine Tree Public Policy Institute Center Right Meeting. The event runs from 8-9 a.m. at 1 Elm St., Suite 201, Nashua, NH 03060.
