Candidates, Start Your Engines: Iowa GOP Schedules First-in-the-Nation Presidential Caucuses for Jan. 15

The Iowa Republican Party announced the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses that kick off the presidential nominating process will be held on January 15, 2024.

Summary

The Iowa Republican Party announced the first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses that kick off the presidential nominating process will be held on January 15, 2024.

• The party plans to hold the caucuses on the third Monday in January – better known to its friends as Martin Luther King Day, a federal holiday. This date is earlier than recent caucuses but not quite as early as 2008, which was held just after New Year’s Day.
• Iowa Republican Party Chair Jeff Kaufmann said the caucus could go forward “After our state legislature and governor took needed action earlier this year to preempt Iowa Democrats’ plans to derail the Iowa Caucus by running a de facto primary election instead.”
• Kaufmann continued, “We remain committed to maintaining Iowa’s cherished First-in-the-Nation Caucuses, and look forward to holding a historic caucus in the coming months and defeating Joe Biden come November 2024.”
• The GOP primary calendar before Super Tuesday – March 5, 2024 – appears close to being finalized. New Hampshire is expected to vote before the end of January, Nevada plans to hold its caucuses in early February, and the South Carolina GOP will vote on February 24.

• The New York Times reported on the efforts of Trump and DeSantis to court Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds ahead of the caucuses. While the popular Reynolds has vowed to stay neutral, she is friends with DeSantis and a series of missteps by the Trump campaign may have alienated her.
• The Washington Post covered Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann’s statement about the caucus timeline. The Iowa GOP is “proud to affirm that Iowa will continue to honor our half-century-old promises to the other carveout states” – New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada.
• NBC News outlined the candidates who have campaigned in Iowa in the last week alone: Trump, DeSantis, “former Vice President Mike Pence, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and radio host Larry Elder.”

• The Wall Street Journal reported on DeSantis’ “stalled” presidential campaign amid static poll numbers as “signs also have emerged that he is struggling to gain traction in the states that will hold the first nomination balloting.” One Iowa GOP activist pointed to the “real conflicted nature to the DeSantis messaging” as a reason for his apparent failure to launch.
• Breitbart noted the Iowa GOP’s decision “could have implications for both parties. Iowa Democrats had been waiting for the GOP to set a date as they try to adjust to new DNC rules on their primary order.”
• National Review’s Philip Klein highlighted Mike Pence’s response when he was confronted by a Iowa voter who believed Trump’s fact-free assertions that Pence could have sent electoral votes back to the states, a power no vice president has under the constitution. Klein concluded: “Pence deserves tremendous credit for standing up to the pressure he was facing that day, risking his political career and even his life, to carry out his sworn duty to uphold the Constitution. And he deserves kudos for standing by his decision on the campaign trail, even when pressed by voters who have been led to believe that President Biden would not be in power were it not for Pence’s actions on January 6.”

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© Dominic Moore, 2023