Donald Trump continued his fall push in Iowa on Saturday, October 7, with presidential campaign events planned in two of the leadoff caucus state's larger cities. Trump's afternoon stops in Waterloo and Cedar Rapids will be his third and fourth in a little more than two weeks, part of a stepped-up campaign schedule as the opening contest for the 2024 Republican nomination approaches.
Trump drew 1,700 people in Waterloo for an event aimed at encouraging attendees to pledge to support him in the caucuses, which are scheduled for January 15, 2023. Hundreds more people waited outside, a sign of his dominance in the state and nationally. "We have to win this. We have to win it big," he told the crowd. "We’re going to do numbers we’ve never done."
Campaign advisers have said they expect Trump to win the caucuses, which are precinct-level, party-run meetings where party members also register the first votes of the 2024 GOP campaign. But other campaigns are trying to cut into his lead in Iowa.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis ' team announced this past week that it was moving roughly 20 of his Florida-based national campaign staff to Iowa, emphasizing the effort to beat Trump there. Nikki Haley, a former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina governor who has drawn increased attention due to her noteworthy debate performances, is beginning to build out her Iowa team.
"My sense of it is that there is lots of time left," said strategist David Kochel, a senior Iowa and national adviser to previous Republican presidential candidates. "And Iowa is going to tell us something really meaningful and Trump shouldn’t take it for granted."