DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Ron DeSantis will complete a campaign promise Saturday to visit each of Iowa’s 99 counties, after months of interacting with voters in cafeterias across the state. It’s an outdated tactic for presidential candidates trying to make a mark in leadoff states. , Cookout, and Pizza Ranch.
But the Florida governor’s moment, like much of his campaign, will occur under the towering shadow of former President Donald Trump.
On Saturday afternoon, at about the same time that DeSantis takes the stage in Newton, Iowa, Trump is scheduled to address supporters in Cedar Rapids, about 100 miles away.
With six weeks left until the Jan. 15 Iowa caucuses, DeSantis has said he “absolutely” expects to win. He staked his campaign on the state, winning key endorsements from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and prominent evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats.
“He’s showing up,” Reynolds said in an interview. “He doesn’t just land, do an event and leave. He spent time in this state.”
But Trump is leading in both national polls and early state polls and has held large rallies and events to organize caucus participants throughout the fall. And Mr. DeSantis is facing new internal problems in his political career, with two key officials leaving a major super PAC that backs him and gaining support in early state polls. He faces a stronger challenge from Nikki Haley, the former U.N. ambassador who is gaining support. Americans for Prosperity, the political arm of the powerful Koch network;
Trump is scheduled to speak at two events Saturday encouraging supporters to attend his caucuses, first in the Des Moines area and then in Cedar Rapids in the eastern part of the state.
The Trump campaign said the timing of DeSantis’ 99th county celebration and the event in Cedar Rapids was coincidental. The campaign dismissed DeSantis’ efforts and compared him to little-known Republican presidential candidate Ryan Binkley, a businessman and pastor who said he had already visited all 99 counties.
“If Ron DeSantis can’t even catch Ryan Binkley in Iowa, how can he compete for a distant second place with Nikki ‘Birdbrain’ Haley?” Trump’s campaign said in a statement earlier this week He said this:
Reynolds, who is scheduled to appear in Jasper County with Mr. DeSantis on Saturday, suggested there is still time to cut into Mr. Trump’s lead.
“He’s a die-hard conservative, and he brings it to the table without being dramatic,” she says. “Iowans tend to be slow on breaks. We’re seeing that. I think he’s really starting to come into his own.”
By visiting each county on Iowa’s vast checkerboard, DeSantis’ advisers will be able to squeeze key support from small, rural counties, while also showing a willingness to seek statewide support. claims that it can be done.