COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa — Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley trekked through frigid Iowa on Saturday to find voters open to an alternative to former President Donald Trump, just two days before the state’s caucuses opened the Republican primaries.
Trump canceled his two in-person rallies Saturday due to a snowstorm that blanketed much of the state, planning two virtual “tele-rallies” instead. That gave DeSantis and Haley, the two strongest candidates among the other Republicans competing in Iowa, a chance to meet voters in person at different locations. Both planned to end the day with events in the Mississippi city of Davenport.
Trump is the big frontrunner in Monday’s caucuses. Perhaps even more important than the margin of Trump’s projected victory is whether any of his remaining top rivals can claim a clear second place and gain momentum as the race moves on to New Hampshire and other states. DeSantis in particular is under a lot of pressure in Iowa, given his campaign’s heavy commitment to a strong finish in the caucuses.
“You’re going to pack so much more punch on Monday night than any other election you’ll ever be able to participate in,” Florida’s governor told about 60 voters at his first event in Council Bluffs, Iowa, on the West Coast. edge of the state.
DeSantis is hoping for more voters like Michael Durham, a former Trump supporter who braved subzero temperatures to hear the Florida governor and plans to rally before him Monday night.
“He’s just kind of no-nonsense,” said Durham, a 47-year-old from Council Bluffs. Durham praised DeSantis for opening Florida schools during the COVID-19 pandemic and challenging the power of the federal government. “He is who he is. He makes no apologies for his way of thinking.”
Other Iowans showed why DeSantis and Haley, the former U.N. ambassador and governor of South Carolina, still have work to do in their respective final steps.
Courtney Raines, a special education teacher, came to hear Haley Saturday morning and said she would try to see DeSantis later in the day. “I would like to know how she is going to address the border crisis and close the racial divide,” said Raines, who says she was adopted from South Korea at the age of two and worries about the divisions she sees among Americans today .
Haley told Raines and other potential caucusgoers in Cedar Falls that they have a chance to “make history” and “right the ship in America.”
Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the Koch Brothers’ conservative network, guided the state through the winter storm on Haley’s behalf.
Patti Parlee, a 65-year-old accountant from Urbandale, was among the Iowans visited at home by AFP canvassers on Saturday. But Parlee said she must choose between Trump and DeSantis and likely won’t make a decision until Monday night, when she will hear the two candidates’ representatives make a pitch on their behalf at her caucus location.
“That’s what the caucuses are about: people get to speak on behalf of their candidates,” Parlee said. “And we must remember: this is not the last election. It goes on from here.”
Parlee said she believes DeSantis has not received fair treatment from the political media, while Trump has not been treated fairly by prosecutors who have charged him in four separate criminal cases. She said she loved Trump’s policies during his administration but thinks he sometimes acts like a “fifth grader.”
“I almost want to vote for DeSantis just to say yes, he should have more support than it seems,” Parlee said. “I almost want to vote for Trump just to say, we know all this nonsense out there is nonsense.”
Trump, meanwhile, is looking for the largest possible margin of victory on Monday, with his campaign aides arguing for months that the former president could become the presumptive nominee early in the primaries, with wide margins keeping DeSantis and Haley from squeezing out a victory. persistent threat. But his advisers have also privately reminded reporters that no Republican presidential candidate since Bob Dole in 1988 has won a contested Iowa caucus by more than 12 points.
As Trump was delayed in his return to the state and his Saturday rallies were canceled, Kari Lake, the failed Arizona gubernatorial candidate now running for Senate, visited the campaign headquarters in Urbandale, Iowa, where dozens of volunteers were gathered to make phone calls.
Lake, who grew up in Iowa and is one of Trump’s most outspoken supporters, made several calls herself after making remarks and answering questions from the crowd, which included volunteers from Florida and Texas.
“The Republican caucus that will take place on Monday evening will cause a shock wave. We are going to see such huge numbers,” she said.
After days of stormy weather, Monday is expected to be the coldest weather for any caucus day in history, with temperatures dipping below 0 degrees Fahrenheit as Republicans must head to their caucus locations to hear candidate pitches and cast their votes.
Republican Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks was hit from behind by a semitrailer Saturday on her way to Haley’s event in Iowa City, according to fellow GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson, who addressed the crowd in Miller-Meeks’ place. Miller-Meeks said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter, that she did not require medical attention.
Staffers from multiple campaigns and longtime political observers in Iowa have suggested the weather could sharply depress turnout. Republican caucus attendance peaked at more than 180,000 in 2016, Trump’s first campaign. Texas Senator Ted Cruz narrowly won the caucuses that year. Trump’s campaign has put significantly more effort into building a turnout structure for the caucus this time around.
Carroll Hinchion, a 30-year-old independent voter, is considering a meeting with Republicans on Monday. Hinchion voted for Democratic President Joe Biden over Trump in 2020, but is now exploring alternatives and says she wouldn’t support Trump but could ultimately support Biden.
She came to hear DeSantis on Saturday morning and explained that she is particularly interested in candidates’ plans for mental health care in America.
But after DeSantis spoke, she said she was unmoved: “Nothing he talked about resonated with me.”
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Kinnard reported from Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Colvin reported from Urbandale, Iowa. Barrow reported from Atlanta. Associated Press writers Thomas Beaumont in Iowa City, Iowa, and Hannah Fingerhut in Davenport, Iowa, contributed to this report.