trey: welcome back to sunday night in america. the iowa state fair is one of the oldest state fairs in the country and largest gathering in the state of iowa and also the place for politicians running for president. winning iowa is better than losing iowa. rick santorum and mike huckabee are proof it doesn t guarantee winning the nomination. someone who knows about iowa is senator joni ernst. let us in on the secret, what is the secret to winning the hawkeye state? hi, trey. it is great to be with you. you know in south carolina that these early competitions really matter. to win in iowa, you ve got to
previous state fairs? so, i have been an eye on for ten years. i ve seen quite a few candidates at the iowa state fair. this last weekend, i have to say the energy was unlike anything we have ever experienced. and i talked to a bunch of other veterans, and others, we thought it was gonna be a record. it was just overly crowded. i mean, all the food lines were packed. candidates were just running everywhere. you had a run in with one particular candidate. the desantis campaign team contacted law enforcement to prohibit you and other reporters from starting line from attending his events. first off, how did that play out? and what was the justification? there was even a statement released by the iowa association of african american journalists. what happened? and are used to this sort of hostility from candidates when they come to the state? no, no. you know, i m not used to that hostility at all from any
Former President Donald Trump seized the spotlight at the Iowa State Fair this weekend, swooping overhead in his private plane just as his chief Republican rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, was flipping pork chops and greeting potential GOP caucus-goers.
kind of this trolling that trump and his team are known for. but we listen, the media pays attention to that sort of thing. do you think voters pay attention to that sort of thing? i think that is the kind of thing that voters perhaps not in iowa will pay more attention to than the voters in iowa, because i agree with doug. voters in iowa and new hampshire, they like to see these candidates up front and personal. they pride themselves in being the ones that they re going to their houses, they re going to the coffee clutches, to the diners, going to the state fairs. and so i don t think that matters. but i do think what matters is that while the national polls do have trump right now, again, focused on right now because you never know, a day is a lifetime in politics, as the prohibitive front-runner, the polls in iowa are a little closer but not that much closer. trump is still the prohibitive front-runner in iowa.
Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds is playing a central role in the opening stages of the 2024 Republican presidential contest, with candidates eager to bask in her glow in hopes of elevating their own campaigns. She’s pledging her neutrality in the race – for now, at least.