After months of campaigning, the leadoff Republican presidential voting contest is just hours away.
Voters in Iowa will head to caucus sites across the state on Monday night to register their preference for the 2024 GOP nominee. Conditions are expected to be brutal, and forecasters are warning of the coldest Iowa caucus date on record.
The winner of the state’s caucuses is expected to get a boost heading into New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary next week, but the results don’t always spell success for the rest of the campaign season. Still, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are hoping for a strong showing against former President Donald Trump, the presumed front-runner.
What to know
What to watch as voters weigh in on the first 2024 GOP contest
When will results be known? Here’s what to expect in the Iowa caucuses
Trump’s grip on the GOP is put to the test in Iowa
Who’s running for president? Here are the 2024 candidates
Feeling caucus confusion? Your guide to how Iowa works
Top issues for Iowa GOP caucusgoers: Immigration, economy
About 4 in 10 GOP caucusgoers say immigration is the most important issue facing the country, according to AP VoteCast.
About one-third said it was the economy. Fewer people named other priorities, including foreign policy, health care, abortion or energy.
AP VoteCast is a survey of more than 1,500 voters who said they planned to take part in Monday’s Republican caucuses in Iowa, conducted by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
The vast majority – 7 in 10 – said immigrants were a negative for the country, an indication that they’re not only seeking more order on the U.S. southern border but major cuts on how many foreigners can come into the country.
42-year-old Iowan plans to caucus for the first time
FORT DODGE — Melanie Klaassen, 42, plans to participate in her first caucuses on Monday night.
She and her husband, Michael, were among an engaged crowd of Trump supporters at ShinyTop Brewing who gathered to see surrogates of the former president.
The farmers from Pomeroy supported Trump in 2016 but went to their first rally in 2020 out of “curiosity,” she said. They found camaraderie there with people from “all walks of life,” Melanie said, who had been stereotyped as “bad, backwards people.”
“We’ve always voted, but we didn’t care either way how it turned out,” she said. That’s changed since Trump. “It feels like our voices really matter more,” she said.
‘The world is counting on Iowa,’ Kari Lake says
FORT DODGE — Dozens of Trump supporters are gathered at ShinyTop Brewing to get up close and personal with some of the former president’s best-known endorsers, including Reps. Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz and Marjorie Taylor Greene, as well as U.S. Senate candidate Kari Lake of Arizona.
“I want to tell you how much the world is counting on Iowa tonight,” Lake told the crowd. She added: “What you’re going to do tonight is you’re going to help save this world.”
Iowa voter wants to size up Haley before caucuses
PELLA — Some voters are still waiting to get the right impression from candidates just hours before the caucuses.
Darla De Haan said Monday as she ate lunch at The Bread Board that she had Nikki Haley at the top of her list but wanted to hear from the candidate in person. Haley was set to appear later Monday afternoon at the Pella restaurant.
De Haan, a psychotherapist, said that she had not caucused in years but was looking forward to participating this time.
“For me, it’s really about character,” De Haan said. “I want to see people who have integrity, who keep their word. … I kind of get a sense when you’re around someone, if they’re going to do what they say.”
De Haan said she had not seen other 2024 candidates as they have campaigned through Iowa over the past year but was interested to hear what Haley had to say during her round of closing arguments to the state’s caucusgoers.
‘It’s caucus day. Get excited!’ Haley tells supporters
DES MOINES — Dozens of people packed into a diner near Drake University as they waited for Haley.
“It’s caucus day. Get excited!” Haley said to a crowd of several dozen, many of whom drank coffee from cups festooned with “Pick Nikki” stickers.
Speaking directly to those serving as caucus captains, Haley asked them to “speak from the heart” in their Monday night speeches.
The GOP candidate plans to make several stops in central Iowa ahead of Monday night’s votes, including making an appearance at a caucus location before heading to her campaign celebration.
Trump starts caucus day by trash-talking rivals
DES MOINES — Trump is stepping up his attacks against his rivals on the morning of Iowa’s kickoff caucuses.
On his Truth Social site, Trump is knocking Haley, his former U.N. ambassador, as “an unwanted Globalist” and calling her “weak on the Border.”
Trump is also going after Vivek Ramaswamy, the tech entrepreneur who has run as a steward of his Make America Great Again movement.
“A vote for Vivek is a wasted vote,” Trump wrote in all caps. “I like Vivek, but he played it too ‘cute’ with us. Caucus tonight, vote for Donald J. Trump, build up the numbers!!!”
Trump spent much of the race praising Ramaswamy for saying nice things about him. But Trump turned on him this week after Ramaswamy posted a photo of himself posing with supporters wearing “Save Trump, vote Vivek” T-shirts.
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