DeSantis completes his Iowa 99, hoping for a blow against Trump
Ron DeSantis took the stage in Iowa’s Jasper County on Saturday, billing his appearance as the highlight of his tour of the state’s 99 counties and hoping to inject enthusiasm into his well-financed but struggling presidential campaign.
Florida’s governor, who is well behind the front-runner, former President Donald J. Trump, said he was making good on his campaign promise to complete the “Full Grassley” — so named because the state’s long-serving senator, Chuck Grassley, who visits the Iowa county every year — has positioned himself as the candidate of humility, willing to travel the state and meet voters, unlike Mr. Trump, who has largely shunned the state’s retail politics .
“That should show you that I consider myself a servant and not a ruler,” Mr. DeSantis said, speaking to a crowd of hundreds of voters at the Thunderdome, a spacious restaurant and entertainment center in Newton, about 30 miles away. east of Des Moines. . “You are no better than the people who elected you.”
The DeSantis campaign, which hung signs around the venue announcing a “Full DeSantis,” pointed out that each of the past three Republican winners of a contested Iowa caucus — Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, former Sen. Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas – had also completed the 99-county circuit (although none of them ultimately won the Republican nomination).
But the fanfare belied a difficult truth for Mr. DeSantis: Despite meeting all the requirements of a successful campaign in Iowa, including collecting endorsements from prominent state figures, he still trails Mr. Trump by a significant margin in the state polls, and he has even lost ground in recent months to Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina.
“Mechanically, he’s doing it exactly the way you need to do it,” said Doug Gross, a longtime Republican strategist and former candidate for governor of Iowa who has endorsed Ms. Haley. “The problem is he’s just not a very good candidate.”
Mr. DeSantis and Mr. Trump held dueling events on Saturday, with Mr. Trump speaking at a rally less than 100 miles away in Cedar Rapids.
Bob Vander Plaats, an influential evangelical leader from Iowa who endorsed Mr. DeSantis last month, painted a contrast between the Florida governor and Mr. Trump.
“We need someone who fears God, who doesn’t believe he is God,” Mr. Vander Plaats told the crowd in Newton.
The Iowa tour was largely managed by Mr. DeSantis’ super PAC, Never Back Down, which has suffered setbacks in recent weeks, including the departure of both its chairman and CEO.
But Mr. DeSantis’s Iowa storm has generated significant crowds at small-town venues. At each stop he has told his audience how many provinces he has visited so far.
Many Iowans who have appeared at his events have said they expected presidential candidates to make personal appearances to win their votes — and praised Mr. DeSantis for that.
On Saturday, he talked about some of his family’s favorite stops, including playing baseball at the Field of Dreams in Dubuque County and visiting a statue of Albert, the world’s largest bull, a tourist attraction in Audubon County.
But a few visits by Mr. DeSantis to Iowa seemed perfunctory. In August, the governor stopped at a train depot in Manly, Worth County, where about a dozen people watched his young children clamber aboard trains and honk the horn on a truck before the governor, his family and their entourage boarded the bus. for their next destination.
And past caucus winners like Mr. Santorum and Mr. Huckabee were seen as anti-establishment candidates rallying support from evangelical communities to upset more mainstream Republicans. Mr. DeSantis has the unenviable task of taking on a popular former president who appears anything but establishment, yet maintains a strong lead in the state.
Iowa voters have more than a month to deliver a victory to Mr. DeSantis, and many in attendance Saturday said it was important to them that he had made the effort.
“I think that’s neat, if a candidate is willing to leave Des Moines, Cedar Rapids and the big cities and visit people all over the state,” said Richard Roorda, 62. agreement.”
Voters also said they were encouraged that Mr. DeSantis had the support of Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican who popular in the state. Ms. Reynolds appeared on stage Saturday and praised Mr. DeSantis for visiting each county.
“Iowans want the opportunity to look you in the eye, they want the opportunity to put that candidate on the map a little bit,” she said.
Mr. DeSantis also made a new commitment during his remarks, saying that if elected president, he would move the headquarters of the U.S. Department of Agriculture to Iowa as part of an effort to reduce the influence of government agencies in Washington Reduce. “You’ll get your first shot at the Department of Agriculture,” he said.
Mr. DeSantis also tried to convince voters who supported Mr. Trump that he would push for similar policies, but without the drama. One key difference, he told the crowd, was that he could serve two consecutive terms if elected.
“Two terms are critical,” said Tom Turner, 70, adding that he came to the event with some reservations about Mr. DeSantis, but that the governor had dispelled them.
“I was a little concerned about whether he was personally warm – he is,” Mr Turner said.
Nicholas Nehamas reporting contributed.