What’s a better sign of a presidential cycle kicking into full gear than a slew of candidates descending on Iowa?
That’s what we saw on Thursday, when news broke that three different politicians would head to the Hawkeye State soon — former President Donald Trump, Florida Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and former Ambassador Nikki Haley.
Haley (who already traveled to the state as part of her recently announced bid) will return for events on March 8, 9 and 10 for town halls and a foreign policy event with Iowa GOP Sen. Joni Ernst. She’ll overlap slightly with DeSantis, who will promote his book in the state on March 10 and appear with the state’s governor, Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has said she’s staying neutral ahead of her state’s nominating caucus.
And Trump heads to the state for the first time during his 2024 bid on March 13, where he’ll speak at an education event.
In other campaign news:
De$antis: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is setting a goal of $1 million for a fundraising event in order for him to make a special trip to show up in person at the event, in a sign that DeSantis is in high demand for donors, NBC News’ Jonathan Allen and Natasha Korecki report.
Focused on Ron: Trump is planning to attack DeSantis over five different areas, including his past support for entitlement cuts and his response to the Covid pandemic, per Axios.
Building Biden’s team: Biden’s team is building a “national advisory board” of campaign surrogates ahead of his expected re-election run, per the Washington Post. The group already includes more than 20 high-profile figures in the party including multiple governors.
Uninvited from the party: Texas’ state GOP is voting to censure Rep. Tony Gonzales for votes on protecting same-sex marriage and in favor of a bipartisan deal on gun legislation.
Friends like these: Former Vice President Mike Pence repeatedly would not commit to backing Trump if he wins the GOP presidential nomination during an interview with CBS.
Florida man: Six years after Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., won the closest Senate race in the country, Democrats admit that defeating Scott will be difficult, per National Journal. Potential candidates who could take on Scott include former Democratic Reps. Stephanie Murphy and Debbie Mucarsel-Powell and state Sen. Sevrin Jones.
Opting out: Rep. Mark Amodei, Nevada’s only Republican member of Congress, told the Nevada Independent that he will not challenge Democratic Sen. Jacky Rosen next year.
