The Republican primary race revved up Saturday as eight GOP candidates hit the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines for Sen. Joni Ernst’s annual motorcycle-themed fundraiser.
With former president — and current front-runner — Donald Trump conspicuous by his absence, Ernst’s Roast and Ride shindig gave the rest of the Republican field a chance to practice their stump speeches and angle for support ahead of the Hawkeye State’s crucial first-in-the-nation caucuses.
None of the contenders attacked Trump by name, but Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, among others, sought to convince the conservative crowd that the former president should no longer be the GOP’s standard-bearer.
“You’ve got a lot of Republicans now taking the side of Disney,” DeSantis said of his ongoing battle with the powerful corporation and its leftist messaging – a fight that Trump has sharply criticized.
“But I can tell you straight up, we stand for the protection of our children,” the governor proclaimed. “We will do battle against anybody who seeks to rob them of their innocence, and on those principles I will not compromise.”
In the wings, DeSantis’ wife Casey turned heads in a black leather motorcycle jacket with a bold back design that touted Florida as the state “Where Woke Goes to Die” – a fashion choice that reminded many of the pointed political topper once worn by former first lady Melania Trump.
The former First Lady wore a jacket reading “I Really Don’t Care, Do U?” to send a message to the media when she made a 2018 trip to visit migrant children in Texas.
Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst hosted eight GOP presidential contenders at an Iowa fundraiser for military veterans. APThe DeSantises, with all three of their kids in tow, used the event as the family’s first foray on the presidential campaign trail.
Daughter Madison, 6, clambered on a shiny green John Deere tractor as her dad, holding 5-year-old Mason on his hip, chatted with voters and her mom tended their youngest, Mamie, 3.
Meanwhile, noted hog fan Mike Pence, decked out in a leather vest emblazoned with patches honoring his home state of Indiana and the American flag, rode his Harley-Davidson Road King in a parade of 250 bikers before he hit the stage.
“I believe we have to resist the politics of personality and the siren song of populism,” Pence said in a gentle rebuke of Trump.
Pence – who will formally announce his presidential bid Wednesday – used his speech to hammer “the failed policies of the Biden administration …. that have weakened America at home and abroad.”
But the former veep refused to criticize his ex-boss.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis greeted Iowa voters in Des Moines Saturday. AP“The president and I have our differences,” Pence told reporters carefully.
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott circulated through the crowd, snapping selfies and glad-handing prospective voters.
“It’s been exciting, it’s been fun,” Scott said of his 10-day-old presidential campaign. “The crowds are bigger and the enthusiasm’s higher, and that’s good news for me.”
Former vice president Mike Pence, set to formally enter the GOP presidential race this week, led a parade of 250 motorcyclists on his Harley-Davidson Road King in Iowa Saturday Getty Images“I love people,” he added. “So this is an easy job.”
Former governors Nikki Haley and Asa Hutchinson, businessmen Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson, and radio personality Larry Elder joined DeSantis, Pence, and Scott for 10-minute on-stage stints at the old-school “cattle call” event.
A Yahoo News/YouGov survey this week found Trump, 76, leading DeSantis by 28 percentage points among likely GOP primary voters — 53% to 25% — with the rest of the field mired in the low single digits.
