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When is Iowa Caucus? What does it mean for Trump, Haley

Published on January 14, 2024

The Iowa Caucus is almost here.

The crucial early primary contest has long had the power to reshape a presidential race, tripping up frontrunners and giving a boost to fierce political rivals. This year, former President Donald Trump’s Republican challengers are trying to make inroads with Hawkeye State caucusgoers, even as Iowa faces extreme conditions with temperatures sweeping below 0 degrees.

But how did Iowa’s contest becoming a critical hurdle for White House hopefuls? How are Republican candidates making their final pitches?

Keep up with the USA TODAY Network’s live coverage of the upcoming Iowa Caucus as Iowans make their 2024 picks.

Donald Trump gets endorsement from ex-rival Marco Rubio

Donald Trump’s campaign is trotting out endorsements a day before the Iowa caucuses – including one from a former rival who once upon a time described Trump as “a con artist.”

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., one of the candidates who lost the 2016 Republican presidential race to Trump, said Sunday he liked many of the things the former president did in office, such as an expanded child tax credit and sanctions of Cuba and Venezuela.

“We had a President who didn’t cave to special interests or let bureaucrats block us,” Rubio said in a statement put out by the Trump 2024 campaign.

– David Jackson

Iowa Caucuses:Presidential candidates make their final pitches ahead of Caucus Day

What time does the Iowa Caucus start?

7 p.m.

State parties advise caucusgoers to get to their caucus site early to be sure they’re properly registered and inside on time. Doors open at 6 p.m.

– Des Moines Register

Asa Hutchinson is making his ‘last arguments’ to the Iowa ‘jury’

Asa Hutchinson, once the U.S. Attorney for the Western District of Arkansas and governor of the same state, is making his closing arguments to prospective Iowa caucusgoers ahead of the Iowa Caucus on Monday night.

“You have to make the case that our country needs to go a different direction than Donald Trump. And if someone does not say that then … we’re basically saying he’s going to be a great nominee for us,” Hutchinson said during his meet and greet on Sunday at Jethro’s BBQ in Ames, Iowa.

The latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll had Hutchinson at 1%, far below the frontrunner Donald Trump at 48% and second place Nikki Haley at 20%.

“One person in America who really likes the poll numbers where they see Donald Trump 28 points ahead is Joe Biden. He’s sitting there loving it because that’s the one chance he has to win,” he said.

Hutchinson continued to say he believes Republicans can still win the general election if they have the right nominee. “And that’s the case I have to make,” he said.

– Virginia Barreda

‘Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it,’ Donald Trump tells Iowans

Former President Donald Trump made a final plea for supporters Sunday afternoon to show up in the frigid cold to caucus for him, revisiting familiar lines of attack against his political opponents while tempering expectations of his expected margin of victory.

“You can’t sit home,” Trump said. “If you’re sick as a dog … even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.”

Trump, who was scheduled to hold four in-person rallies throughout the state this weekend before scrapping three because of an extended blizzard, spoke to a packed Simpson College auditorium after supporters stood in line for hours in wind chills that reached the mid-negative 40s.

“If this is any indication, the storm has had zero effect,” Trump said. “You’re very hearty people, I’ve heard that.”

– Galen Bacharier

‘Women for Nikki’ leads enthusiastic crowd waiting for Nikki Haley

A crowd of women in fuchsia feather boas and “Women for Nikki” T-shirts cheered “Nikki’s in the house!” while waiting the former governor’s entrance at an event in Ames, Iowa, Sunday afternoon.

Among an audience packed into the backroom of Jethro’s BBQ, the women also held up signs and led chants of “Nikki! Nikki!” The Ames gathering is one of Nikki Haley’s final campaign stops in the state before caucuses begin Monday.

– Savannah Kuchar

‘Heartbreaking news’: Nikki Haley comments on Perry High School principal’s death after Iowa shooting

Nikki Haley praised Perry High School Principal Dan Marburger, who died Sunday morning, 10 days after he was shot multiple times during a school shooting.

Marburger has been widely praised for his heroism. He was attacked while trying to distract the 17-year-old shooter, who killed an 11-year-old students and wounded six others.

“Heartbreaking news out of Perry this morning,” Haley shared on social media. “Principal Marburger was a hero who dedicated himself to setting his students up for success and ultimately gave his life to protect them. Rest in peace.”

− Stephen Gruber-Miller

Beyond Iowa: Donald Trump’s rally veers from crucial caucuses

While he spent some of his speech on Sunday urging Iowans to caucus for him, Trump spent a good chunk of his rally on rhetorical ticks he has used for months − and even years.

From re-reciting the lyrics of the song “The Snake” − a text he uses to criticize immigrants − to joking that he has been indicted more times than mobster Al Capone, Trump devoted parts of his speech to topics that have little, if anything, to do with Iowa.

“In conclusion … we’re having a good time,” Trump said toward the end of a speech that lasted a little more than 100 minutes. He also blasted former House Speaker Paul Ryan, calling the one-time vice presidential candidate a member of a failed Republican establishment.

The former president’s walk down memory lane additionally included talk about how he awarded medals to radio talk show icon Rush Limbaugh and Iowa wrestling legend Dan Gable.

− David Jackson

North Dakota’s Doug Burgum endorses Donald Trump

Donald Trump introduced a special guest at his Indianola, Iowa, rally on Sunday: Former presidential candidate and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum.

Burgum endorsed the former president, telling a crowd of Trump’s supporters that the longtime Republican frontrunner will “deliver energy dominance” to the nation. Energy policy was a centerpiece of Burgum’s longshot 2024 bid.

− David Jackson

Iowa caucus results: When will a winner be announced?

Iowa Republicans are expecting a smooth night on Monday as they report caucus results from 1,657 precincts around the state, in contrast to issues that plagued Democrats’ caucuses in 2020 and prevented reports of timely and accurate results.

Patrick Stewart, a consultant for the Republican Party of Iowa, told reporters ahead of the crucial contest that results from the smallest precincts, where only a few people show up to caucus, should be available about 30 minutes or so after the caucuses’ 7 p.m. start. Results from larger precincts should begin coming in over the next few hours.

But, historically, Iowa’s caucus results haven’t always been known right away on caucus night.

− Stephen Gruber-Miller

What happens at the Iowa caucus?

Iowa caucus-goers will hold a binding vote for the party’s presidential nominee at designated caucus sites and elect delegates to county conventions. The event does not require a minimum threshold to qualify for delegates.

Delegates will attend this summer’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where the party’s nominee will be chosen.

The Iowa caucus voting is done with a secret ballot with no set list of candidates to choose from as voters can choose candidate they want. Some caucus sites provide pre-printed names of major candidates and a write-in option but most of the time voters write the name of the candidate on a blank paper sheet.

− Anthony Robledo

Nikki Haley promotes resume in Iowa’s race for second place

After canceling an in-person event Sunday morning in Dubuque, Iowa, due to extreme weather conditions, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley held a telephone town hall on Sunday. One caller, Bryce from Dubuque, asked Haley what to tell people who might be deciding between supporting her and backing Florida Ron DeSantis.

“Ron has been a good governor,” Haley began, before touting her own record as the former governor of South Carolina.

She also detailed her time as the ambassador to the United Nations and her experience as a military spouse, arguing she is overall more qualified for the presidency than some of her rivals.

“There are no foregone conclusions,” Haley said at the end of the virtual event. “We’re already moving up in the polls. Everybody else is moving down. We see the surge.”

A Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll this weekend showed Haley moving ahead of DeSantis by four percentage points, while still trailing former President Donald Trump by almost 30.

−Savannah Kuchar

Comedy group interrupts Vivek Ramaswamy’s speech

A day after attempting to present Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with a “participation trophy,” members of the comedy duo “The Good Liars” took a turn at entrepreneur and author Vivek Ramaswamy during his Sunday morning speech in Ankeny.

It was difficult to hear what they told the Republican presidential candidate. But as Ramaswamy typically does with protesters, he told the men they could ask a question respectfully later. When they continued to interrupt, Ramaswamy said, “Then you can get the hell out.” The men were then led out of the event.

“The Good Liars” comedy duo has been comprised of Jason Selvig and Davram Stiefler since 2011. They are known for interrupting political events. On Saturday, a video of the duo went viral after they interrupted DeSantis with the trophy, and said he would not become president.

Ramaswamy has been part of several contentious exchanges with protesters over the past week. On Wednesday, protesters with the Sunrise Movement, a group which advocates to mitigates the effects of climate change, were removed after interrupting a Ramaswamy event in the Iowa State Capitol Rotunda.

Sunrise Movement protesters showed up to a Ramaswamy speech on Friday night in West Des Moines and were removed on three separate occasions.

− Paige Windsor

Is there a Democratic caucus in Iowa?

Yes, Democrats will hold a caucus in Iowa this year too, which President Joe Biden is currently expected to win.

But Democrats will not be choosing a presidential candidate in-person on Jan. 15. Instead, they will be conducting party business, including electing delegates and alternate delegates to county conventions, electing county central committee members and submitting platform resolutions for county conventions.

In an effort to simplify their process and make it more inclusive, Iowa Democrats have moved to an entirely mail-in system of casting their presidential preferences. Iowa Democrats can request an absentee presidential preference card, which functions like a ballot, that they can fill out and return to the state party until March 5, when results will be announced.

The last day to submit a request for a preference card is Feb. 19. Cards can be requested online at iowademocrats.org/caucus.

− Des Moines Register staff

Ron DeSantis blasts Donald Trump ahead of Iowa caucus

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis hit out at former President Donald Trump on Sunday, issuing a warning to Republican voters just one day before the crucial Iowa Caucuses.

DeSantis in an interview with ABC’s “This Week” was asked to deliver his closing argument to Iowa voters on the eve of the first GOP contest of the 2024 presidential election. The Florida governor said the former president is “running for his issues,” while he’s “running for your issues and your family’s issues.”

DeSantis accused the former president of failing to deliver on his signature 2016 and 2020 campaign promises, such as building a wall along America’s southern border. He also accused Trump of being distracted by his four sets of criminal charges, investigations into the Capitol riot on Jan. 6 and other legal challenges.

“I think that ends up focusing the election on things that are going to be advantageous for Democrats because you’re not going to be talking about the border. You’re not going to be talking about the economy. You’re going to be talking about all these things to make the election a referendum on Donald Trump,” DeSantis said.

− Marina Pitofsky

Donald Trump interrupted at Iowa rally

A woman yelled at Trump during his Indianola, Iowa, rally for “taking in millions,” presumably a reference to foreign countries who checked into Trump hotels during his presidency.

As the crowd responded with chants of “Trump, Trump, Trump,” the former president said “go home to Mommy.”

As other 2024 candidates have encountered, protestors also called Trump a “climate criminal.” They were booed by the crowd as Trump responded, “Go home to mommy, your mommy’s waiting. … So young.”

− Paige Windsor, David Jackson

Donald Trump to caucusgoers: ‘Dress warmly’

Donald Trump has taken the stage in a small but crowded ballroom at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa − and issued a caucus warning about the weather.

“Dress warmly tomorrow night,” he told supporters.

This is Trump’s only scheduled public speech on Sunday, though he has a “tele-rally” set for later in the day. Temperatures in the Iowa city dropped to -10 degrees Sunday afternoon.

− David Jackson

Donald Trump greets volunteers at Des Moines hotel before heading to rally

The former president met with campaign volunteers on Sunday morning, before his motorcade departed for a rally in Indianola south of the capital city.

Trump, donning a white-and-gold “caucus captain” hat in addition to his usual blue suit and red tie, remarked that some observers have predicted he might eclipse 50% of support on caucus night. He pointed to the record Republican margin of victory in the Iowa caucuses – a 12-point win by Bob Dole in 1996.

Trump has frequently set sky-high expectations on the caucus trail, telling supporters to show up for a “historic” and “landslide” victory on Monday. The new Iowa Poll released Saturday night showed him leading the field by 28 percentage points.

He also tempered his concerns about turnout in the weather, with snow mostly passed but wind chills expecting to result in record-low temperatures for a caucus night: “We seem to have a lot of good enthusiasm,” Trump said. “I don’t know, maybe the weather is not going to be that big a deal.”

– Galen Bacharier

After slipping to third place in Des Moines Register Poll, Ron DeSantis says Iowans ‘roll their eyes at these polls’

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis told WHO 13 News on Sunday that he’s skeptical about the latest Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, where 16% of likely Republican caucusgoers selected him as their first-choice candidate.

“I think a lot of the Iowans, they just roll their eyes at these polls. I mean, the idea that you’re gonna know in a caucus with negative-20-degree temperatures what that electorate’s gonna look like, you just can’t do it,” DeSantis said. “So it’s basically shooting into the wind.”

DeSantis and his endorsers have waved away poll results for months, telling crowds in Iowa that polls are part of a “media narrative” that Trump is unbeatable. In a Sunday email, the DeSantis campaign assured its donors and supporters that the Register’s Iowa Poll has “an incredibly bad track record of predicting the results of the Iowa Caucus.” The email notes that Donald Trump was ahead in the final Iowa poll before the 2016 caucus, but Ted Cruz was the victor on caucus night.

Cruz and Trump were within just five percentage points of each other in the final poll before the 2016 caucus. As gold-standard pollster J. Ann Selzer said then: “The drill-down shows, if anything, stronger alignment with Cruz than Trump, except for the horse race.”

In this year’s pre-caucus poll, Trump is the first-choice candidate for 48% of likely Republican caucusgoers. That puts him 28 percentage points ahead of Nikki Haley and 32 percentage points ahead of DeSantis.

In the history of the Iowa Poll, no candidate with a double-digit lead over second place has gone on to lose the caucuses.

“I’ve been down big right before an election and won before. So we’re doing it right,” DeSantis said on WHO. “Our voters are going to turn out. They are gonna be there and they’re excited to be there.”

— Katie Akin, Tim Webber

Nikki Haley pulls ahead of DeSantis for second place in Iowa poll, Donald Trump leads

Donald Trump retains a commanding lead in the final Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll before Monday’s caucuses, with Nikki Haley sliding past Ron DeSantis into second place.

The former president is the first choice of 48% of likely Republican caucusgoers, while former United Nations Ambassador Haley is at 20% and Florida Gov. DeSantis drops to 16%. No other candidate reaches double digits.

The poll of 705 likely Republican caucus goers was conducted Jan. 7-12 by Selzer & Co. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.7 percentage points.

– Stephen Gruber-Miller

‘Looking for momentum’: Nikki Haley supporter says Iowa is just the beginning

Sanford Owens, 67, travelled to Iowa from Portland, Oregon, to support Haley during the caucus. Yet, he said he doesn’t expect her to come out on top.

“I think she’s going to have a good showing, but no I don’t think she’s going to win. I think Trump will win,” Owens said.

Thinking Iowans will already be “pre-set” on a candidate, Owens said he believes Monday’s outcome will simply get “the ball rolling” for Haley heading into the New Hampshire primary next week.

“We’re looking for momentum,” Owens said. “If Nikki gets momentum into New Hampshire, I think we’re going to do extremely well.”

A registered Republican and foreign policy officer for 25 years, Owens said he started supporting the former UN ambassador about a month or two ago, largely due to her stances on overseas issues, including aid to Ukraine.

– Savannah Kuchar

A very low high in Iowa as the candidates campaign

The overnight temperature at Des Moines International Airport on Saturday into Sunday, minus 17 degrees, didn’t set a record. But the forecast daytime high Sunday could match the coldest high for Jan. 14: 9 degrees below zero.

The last time Iowa shivered through a high that low on Jan. 14 was in 1888, 136 years ago, Allan Curtis, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Johnston, said Sunday morning. With gusty winds, the wind chill could hover around minus 40.

Regardless, campaign events are set today for all the Republican presidential candidates.

– Bill Steiden

Nikki Haley wins endorsement from former Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan

Nikki Haley of South Carolina picked up an endorsement Sunday from a fellow former Republican governor: Larry Hogan of Maryland.

“It’s time for the party to get behind Nikki Haley,” Hogan said on CNN’s “State of the Union,” claiming she has “momentum” in her uphill primary battle against frontrunner Donald Trump, with whom Hogan has repeatedly clashed.

Hogan who considered a 2024 presidential run of his own, also had discouraging words for Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and other Trump challengers.

Hogan on X, formerly Twitter, said: “Since I decided not to run for president, I’ve been saying that we don’t want to see a multi-car pile-up that would just enable Donald Trump.”

– David Jackson

Which campaign events are still on? Our Candidate Tracker has all the updates

Republican presidential candidates have been canceling events right and left in recent days because of a massive blizzard blanketing Iowa.

Snow started falling in Des Moines just before midnight on Friday, and travel was not advised in the Des Moines metro area or areas to the east ahead of the weekend.

So, what’s still being held with the Iowa Caucuses just one day away? The exclusive Des Moines Register Candidate Tracker has all the latest information.

You can find all the presidential candidates’ public visits in Iowa through Caucus Day.

This year’s Iowa Caucus race has been remarkably, and for some, frustratingly, static — with the winner seeming all but certain.

But Iowa Republicans say there’s still plenty of drama and intrigue to be gleaned on caucus night.

What can the results in Sioux County tell us about the fractured nature of modern evangelicals? And what does it mean if Nikki Haley can pull off a win in central Iowa’s Webster County?

There are nine questions on our mind going into Caucus Day, and what their answers might say about the state of the Republican race for president.

− Brianne Pfannenstiel

More Nikki Haley supporters would vote for Joe Biden over Donald Trump, Iowa poll says

Likely Republican caucusgoers in Iowa who support former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley are more skeptical than other caucusgoers that former President Donald Trump, beset by legal challenges, would be able to win the general election — and they’re more likely to vote for President Joe Biden instead of Trump in November.

A new Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll asked likely Republican caucusgoers how they would vote in this year’s general election, if front-runner Trump is the Republican nominee. Most respondents, 71%, say they would vote for Trump if November is a Trump-Biden rematch, while 11% say they would vote for Biden.

Six percent of likely Republican caucusgoers say they would vote for independent candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and 8% say they would vote for some other third-party candidate. One percent say they would not vote, and 3% aren’t sure.

– Katie Akin

When is the Iowa Caucus?

The Iowa Caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15, starting at 7 p.m.

The Democratic and Republican contests function function differently. Catch up the the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, on what you need to know about the caucuses.

– Marina Pitofsky

Why does the Iowa Caucus matter?

For 50 years, Iowans have gathered in school gymnasiums, community centers and family living rooms to kick off the nation’s presidential nominating process, wielding their outsized influence to winnow and shape the field of contenders.

Ahead of each caucus, presidential candidates flood the state for months, if not years, to try to woo Iowans and gain their support. The national and international media descends on the state, ready to derive meaning from caucus night results.

– Brianne Pfannenstiel

What is a caucus?

A political caucus is simply a group of people with shared priorities or beliefs. But the Iowa Caucuses are local meetings held across the Hawkeye state where people can conduct party business and tally support for a presidential nominee.