Governor Ron DeSantis says his home state of Florida is “southeast of Iowa.” Gov. Kim Reynolds says Iowa is “north of Florida”. The Republican-dominated Iowa legislature, in a special session convened by Reynolds, passed a law the day before yesterday banning abortions after the first six weeks, when many women don’t know they’re pregnant, following a site by DeSantis in Florida that commended Governor Reynolds is against it, while Donald Trump has said he is against those rules.
There are only six months left before the caucus at which Iowa Republicans will choose among the candidates for the party’s nomination for the White House: they will be the first in the country, according to tradition.. DeSantis hopes to use Iowa as a buffer, and must succeed if he has any hope of stopping Trump, who has trailed him by 31 points in the national poll average, from sweeping individual challengers and securing the nomination; On the other hand, the former president aims to make it clear in Iowa, once and for all, that he has no rivals (and wants to win where he lost in 2016).
In addition to vying for voters, Trump and DeSantis are vying for the support of Iowa’s governor. Reynolds, 63, who enjoys 90% support among Republicans, has traditionally not been given an endorsement. And he introduced many visiting candidates: Trump, Nikki Haley, Vivek Ramaswamy, Tim Scott … But the warmth with which he introduced Ron DeSantis and his wife Casey, in addition to the fact that they have a joint advisor. The friendship was forged during the pandemic, when both governors wanted to open up their states and challenged federal guidance. The former boss considers Reynolds his creation (“He wouldn’t have won without me”) and yells betrayal (like when DeSantis took the field). At Trump’s most recent rally in Iowa, the governor wasn’t there.
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