Sioux Center, Iowa: With hamburgers and handshakes, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis sought to weaken former President Donald Trump's grip on the Republican Party on Saturday as the GOP's leading presidential prospects collided in battleground Iowa.
DeSantis, expected to announce his 2024 presidential campaign any day, waded into Iowa's hand-to-hand politicking at a congressman's fundraiser in Sioux Center where several hundred conservatives ate burgers while surrounded by classic Corvettes.
DeSantis later planned to attend a state party fundraiser in Cedar Rapids, while Trump, a candidate since November, hoped to demonstrate his political strength with a large outdoor rally in Des Moines, the capital.
Although Trump and DeSantis were scheduled to be hundreds of miles apart, the split-screen moment in the GOP's leadoff primary state marked a first for the two Republican powerhouses.
The day offered an early preview of the match-up between Trump, well ahead of his rivals in early national polls, and DeSantis, viewed widely as the strongest potential challenger.
DeSantis has largely ignored Trump so far, while Trump has been almost singularly focused for much of the year on tearing down DeSantis.
It was DeSantis' second trip to the early testing ground over the past two months, but his first since the GOP-controlled Florida Legislature adjourned last week.
Lawmakers delivered him victories on abortion, guns and anti-LGBTQ rights, among other cultural conservative priorities that make up his "anti-woke” agenda.
Trump, meanwhile, was returning to the comfort of the campaign stage after a tumultuous week.
On Tuesday, a civil jury in New York found him liable for sexually abusing and defaming advice columnist E. Jean Carroll and awarded her $5 million. A day later, during a contentious CNN town hall, he repeatedly insulted Carroll, reasserted lies about his 2020 election loss and minimized the violence at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
DeSantis has burnished his reputation as a conservative governor willing to push hard for conservative policies and even take on a political fight with Disney.
But so far, he hasn't shown the same zest for taking on Trump, and even before he's entered the race, he's facing questions about his ability to court donors and woo voters.
His visit to Iowa tested his personal appeal as he mingles with local Iowa Republican officials, donors and volunteers, all under the glare of the national media.
DeSantis made his first visit to Iowa in March, promoting his memoir at events that drew more than 1,000 people in Davenport and Des Moines. Although DeSantis shook hands along the rope line near the stage after the events, he didn't have a lot of interaction with voters.
This time, he can expect a crush of introductions to influential caucus activists in a more conversational setting who will be taking his measure for the first time.
More than 600 people attended DeSantis' first appearance at a car museum. Billed as a family picnic for U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra, the event was actually an indoor luncheon, although grills outside smoked with hundreds of hamburgers.
Most of the action was inside, where a pro-DeSantis super political action committee had set up a table where prospective supporters for his yet-to-be-announced presidential campaign could sign up. The road outside the museum was flanked with DeSantis 2024 campaign signs.
Trump was set to headline a, evening rally expected to draw several thousand people at an outdoor amphitheater in Des Moines’ Water Works Park.
Trump aides said the Des Moines event was in the works before DeSantis' plans were made public, and they hope a large crowd draws comparisons to the scale of their respective events.
At least for Trump, their emerging rivalry has turned increasingly personal.
DeSantis has largely ignored Trump’s jabs, which have included suggesting impropriety with young girls as a teacher decades ago, questioning his sexuality and calling him "Ron DeSanctimonious.”
DeSantis’ most pointed barb at Trump came in March. Asked by reporters about the prospect of an indictment, DeSantis said, "I don’t know what goes into paying hush money to secure silence over some type of alleged affair. I just can’t speak to that.”
Trump’s campaign began airing an ad mocking DeSantis for yoking himself to the former president in 2018 when he ran for governor, even using some Trump catchphrases as a nod to his supporters in Florida.
Trump’s super PAC, MAGA Inc., also has aired spots highlighting DeSantis’ votes to cut Social Security and Medicare and raise the retirement age. The group even targeted DeSantis' snacking habits, running an ad that called for him to keep his "pudding fingers” off those benefits.
That was a reference to a report in The Daily Beast that the governor ate chocolate pudding with his fingers instead of a spoon on a plane several years ago. DeSantis has said he does not remember doing that.
A pro-DeSantis super PAC, Never Back Down, has hired Iowa staff and begun trying to organize support for the governor before a 2024 announcement.
The group announced Thursday that state Senate President Amy Sinclair and state House Majority Leader Matt Windschitl would endorse DeSantis' candidacy.
On Friday, it rolled out roughly three dozen more state lawmakers who would endorse him.
The super PAC also has been providing a more forceful response to Trump, suggesting that he should leave Florida if he's unhappy with DeSantis' governance, accusing Trump of not sufficiently supporting gun rights and siding with liberal Democrats.
