Global Courant
DES MOINES, Iowa – All declared Republican White House nominees, except former President Donald Trump, will gather in Iowa’s capitol on Saturday to face Sen. Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride – an annual motorcycle ride benefiting veterans.
Ernst, in an interview with Fox News Digital on the eve of her rally, praised the appearance of White House hopefuls as a “great testament to Iowa,” the state whose primaries are nearly half the GOP presidential election calendar. led for years. century.
“All roads to 2024 go through Iowa,” Ernst said. “Republicans will gather tomorrow at the Iowa State Fairgrounds to hear from their favorite presidential candidates.”
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A sign in front of Senator Joni Ernst of Iowa’s Roast and Ride, in Des Moines, Iowa on June 2, 2023, on the eve of her annual veterans motorcycle ride (Fox news)
The Roast and Ride will feature Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, Former Ambassador and Former Governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley, Senator Tim Scott of South Carolina, Former Governor of Arkansas, Asa Hutchinson, Entrepreneur and Conservative Commentator Vivek Ramaswamy, Conservative Radio Host and former gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder of California, and businessman Perry Johnson of Michigan.
Also participating in the event – and slated to ride a motorcycle – is former Vice President Mike Pence.
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Pence is one of three Republicans expected to announce their candidacy for president next week — along with former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a 2016 White House contender, and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum — as the field narrows. of GOP contenders continues to expand.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu has said he will make a decision within days on whether to launch a Republican White House campaign in 2024, and former Representatives Will Hurd of Texas and Mike Rogers of Michigan are also seriously considering presidential bids.
Former President Donald Trump arrives to meet with local Republican leaders at the Machine Shed restaurant in Urbandale, Iowa, on Thursday, June 1, 2023. Photographer: Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Trump, who launched his third consecutive White House campaign in November, is currently the overwhelming front-runner for the GOP presidential nomination in the latest polls. And the wisdom of convention is that a growing field of rivals will only increase Trump’s chances of becoming the party’s flag bearer in 2024 — hurting DeSantis, who is firmly second in the polls, ahead of the rest of the field of actual and likely contenders. .
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“Good luck to Senator Tim Scott running in the Republican presidential primary,” Trump said when Scott launched his campaign nearly two weeks ago. “It fills up fast with a lot of people, and Tim is a big step up from Ron DeSanctimonious, who is completely unelectable,” Trump added while using his derogatory nickname for DeSantis.
Trump and his allies, who have long seen DeSantis as the former president’s biggest threat in the 2024 race, have been harassing Florida’s conservative governor for two terms in office for months.
Republican presidential candidate Florida Governor Ron DeSantis speaks at a campaign event on Tuesday, May 30, 2023 in Clive, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall) (AP)
“This is an indictment of DeSantis’ disastrous announcement and his dismal polling results,” Trump spokesman Steven Cheung argued, pointing to the growing field of candidates. “DeSantis’ blood is in the water and every candidate sees how weak and feeble he is.”
DeSantis allies clearly disagree.
“This is a two-man race between Governor DeSantis and Trump — with momentum behind the governor and the former president getting scared,” Dave Vasquez, national press secretary for the pro-Desantis super PAC Never Back Down, argued in a statement to Fox News.
Hutchinson, a former federal prosecutor and congressman who held top positions in President George W. Bush’s administration, welcomes the 2024 expansion of the GOP field.
“It basically means all these candidates are saying we need a different choice than who’s in charge right now, and that’s Donald Trump,” he told Fox News.
And Hutchinson, an outspoken Republican Trump critic, stressed that the growing list of candidates “really adds to the message that the party wants to see a new voice, new leadership, for the party and for the nation.”
There are plenty of political forecasters pointing to 2024 being a repeat of the 2016 cycle, when a crowded and divided field of candidates opened the door to Trump’s nomination victory ahead of his White House victory.
But what expands can also contract.
Sununu recently predicted that when it comes to field size, “there’s going to be a process that’s going to be reduced much more aggressively than in ’16.”
“Everyone understands that it just needs to get smaller, and I suspect it will get smaller at the end of the fall and early next year. And it will get smaller soon,” Sununu told Fox News. “If you told me there’s going to be 10 or 12 people in the race until March and April of next year, yes, that’s going to be a problem. But it’s not going to happen. That’s going to winnow very quickly.”
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Asked if the various 2024 contenders will keep it quiet during the Roast and Ride — one of Iowa’s first major GOP presidential cattle calls of the year — Ernst acknowledged, “I know they’re going to take some swings, and that’s okay.”
But the senator said she will encourage candidates “to remember that we are all Republicans and if we want to move this nation forward and put a Republican in the White House, we have to work together. So whatever blows they take.” We’re pulling now, at the end of this fight we should all be friends.”
Paul Steinhauser is a political reporter from New Hampshire.
