As the six-month sprint to the Iowa caucuses begins, the sprawling field of Republican presidential candidates is facing growing pressure to prove they can become serious challengers to former President Donald Trump.
The urgency is particularly acute for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who entered the race in May with expectations that he would quickly become Trump’s top rival. For now, however, he has struggled to generate the level of enthusiasm that Trump commands from the GOP base, contributing to uncertainty that DeSantis will become the threat to the former president that he was once billed to be.
“The reason making inroads is he’s doing the real hard work of retail politics in Iowa, doing small groups with pastors and churches and leading to bigger and bigger meetings and venues,” said Mike Demastus, a Des Moines evangelical pastor who has met several times with Scott and sat in on private meetings between other candidates and politically active clergy. “That’s why the needle is moving for him.
“There’s no question Donald Trump is winning Iowa right now,” said Josie Albrecht, a former top Iowa GOP Statehouse communications adviser who is advising the state party but is neutral in the 2024 campaign. “I think there has been a lot of support for him for many years, and that’s a hard wall to crack.”
But a central challenge for Republicans is to hone a message that resonates with voters who back have backed Trump, but are open to others in 2024. Candidates who are the most blunt in knocking Trump aren’t making inroads in Iowa. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, for instance, hasn’t visited the state as a 2024 candidate and is not among the summit speakers Friday. He is instead focusing his energy on the more libertarian voters in New Hampshire.
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