SIOUX CENTER, Iowa — Former President Donald Trump urged his supporters over the weekend not to be complacent in the face of a commanding polling lead as he kicked off the sprint to the Iowa caucuses with his first events of the election year.
“The people of this state are going to cast the most important vote of your entire lives,” Trump told several hundred supporters gathered in Sioux Center. He implored them to turn out on caucus night, warning, “Bad things happen when you sit back.”
Trump held a pair of commit-to-caucus events, one in the far northwest corner of the state on the border with South Dakota and one in north-central Mason City. He spent Saturday in Newton in central Iowa before heading to Clinton in the state’s far east.
Trump’s team is hoping for a knockout win in Iowa on Jan. 15 that will deny his rivals an opportunity to seize momentum and set the table for him to lock up the nomination by the spring. They also hope to turn out a wave of new voters who have never caucused before in a show of strength ahead of an increasingly likely general election rematch against Biden.
“You have to get out and vote because it sets the tone. It even sets the tone, frankly, for November,” Trump said in Mason City.
While he remains far ahead in Iowa and other early state and national polls, Trump also continued to lash out at his top Republican rivals, unleashing some of his most pointed attacks to date against former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who has seen growing support in recent months following a series of well-reviewed debate performances.
Trump tried to cast both her and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who was once the only rival he criticized, as “establishment pawns,” alleging they would “sell” voters “out.” DeSantis, who has staked his campaign on Iowa, entered the race with sky-high expectations but has struggled to gain traction against Trump.
“Sadly, the establishment losers and sellouts lagging far behind us in the Republican primary cannot be trusted on taxes, on trade, or anything else,” Trump charged. “They’ll betray you just like they betrayed me.”
Haley’s campaign has been celebrating Trump’s recent attention — including a new attack ad — arguing it reflects his growing concern that she is gaining on him.
DeSantis and Haley needled each other at their own events in Iowa, with DeSantis leaning into his opponent’s flippant comment about the role of Iowa among the early-voting states. DeSantis, appearing with Texas Rep. Chip Roy and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie, hounded Haley for “insulting” Iowans by suggesting New Hampshire voters could “correct” the caucus results.
Haley, who held morning and evening events in Des Moines, described the comment as good-natured ribbing among early-voting states. She is the former governor of South Carolina, which will vote third.
DeSantis, campaigning across central and northeastern parts of the state, also repeatedly told his crowds of about 100 people that Trump failed to follow through with his previous campaign promises and accused the former president of running a campaign all about himself.
While Trump last visited Iowa before Christmas, his allies have been fanning out across the state, holding their own events on his behalf. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, who are both considered potential vice presidential picks, have been working to get out the vote in recent days, as has his son Eric Trump.
Trump’s team has repeatedly argued that any margin of victory larger than 12 percentage points would be a historic win in an open caucus. Trump lost the state in 2016 to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz but ultimately won the nomination and the presidency.