DES MOINES — Participating in chats with the Iowa governor, surveying cattle and hogs across the fairgrounds and rapping an Eminem song, Republican candidates fought for air Saturday as a showdown between Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis largely stole the spotlight.
Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley toured the fair and spoke to voters.
Ramaswamy and Haley are well-liked by Iowa Republicans — their names come up often when potential caucus goers mention their favorite candidates. But they also are in the second-tier pack of candidates when it comes to polling on the primary campaign. Ramaswamy and Haley both typically poll in the low to mid-single digits, far behind Trump and DeSantis. Binkley does not register any support in most polls of Iowa voters.
Both Haley and Ramaswamy spoke about Trump during remarks and with reporters, and made the case that they are best situated to carry his agenda forward or take the party’s leadership in a new direction.
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Ramaswamy has pitched a right-wing agenda and promises to build on the legacy that Trump started. But he said he would not serve as his running mate.
Asked by a woman during his Des Moines Register’s Political Soapbox appearance, Ramaswamy said he would not accept the vice presidency.
“So my friend Donald Trump is arriving, and he and I share something in common. Neither of us do pretty well in a No. 2 position,” Ramaswamy said, adding he expected that Trump “will be my adviser.”
During a news conference after his Soapbox appearance, Ramaswamy said again said that he is focused on winning the GOP nomination and not securing a cabinet position or a vice-presidential nomination.
"If I were building a political career, of course, I would do that," he said. "I'm not building a political career. I'm not a politician. I don't do well in a No. 2 position."
At his “Fair-Side Chat” with Gov. Kim Reynolds, Ramaswamy called his primary opponents “great people” and said he would not disparage them, but he said he was the only candidate who stood for radical changes to the government.
“Do you want reform or do you want a revolution?” he said. “I stand on the side of revolution, the American Revolution.”
After his interview with Reynolds, in which he said Eminem’s “Lose Yourself” was his favorite walkout song, Ramaswamy rapped a verse as the audience cheered him on. Politico reported last month Ramaswamy used to perform the song often at Harvard as his rap alter ego, “Da Vek.”
Between appearances with Reynolds and at the Soapbox, Haley stressed her background as an accountant and said Republicans were as much to blame for the high national debt as Democrats.
She pointed to the $2.2 trillion COVID-19 relief package, passed in 2020 under Trump and with a Republican-led Senate, which she said expanded welfare programs and increased the deficit.
“I would love to tell you Biden did that to us, but I’ve always spoken in hard truths,” she said. “Our Republicans did that to us, too.”
As Haley walked through the fairgrounds with Reynolds, the Iowa governor drew more fans than the former South Carolina governor. People shouted, “We love you, Kim,” and stopped to take photos with the pair.
Jodi Henning, 56, of Decorah, was excited to see Reynolds and snapped a photo, but she said she did not know much about Haley. Henning said she plans to caucus next year, but has not made up her mind on a candidate.
“I have not met Nikki Haley before, or heard her debate before, so that’s another one on my list to listen to,” Henning said. “I’m very interested in what she has to say. I just figure when Gov. Reynolds aligns herself with good people, I’m interested in what they have to say.”
Speaking to reporters after her appearance at the Soapbox, Haley said Trump needs to “earn the support” of Americans by joining the primary debate Aug 23. Trump has not confirmed whether he will participate.
She also made an appeal to electability, suggesting her opponents could not win a general election against President Joe Biden. Haley has taken a moderate position on issues like abortion and during her Soapbox speech stressed the need to increase the party’s appeal to women and minorities.
Binkley drew a small crowd during his speech at the Soapbox, delivering a message of national unity — uniting the country with the love of God.
Binkley’s campaign focuses on four policy issues: reducing the national debt, taking on big pharmaceutical companies, immigration reform and uplifting urban centers through education.
“It’s time for the Republican Party to transcend our party and win more voters in urban America and college students,” he told reporters. “Donald Trump had two opportunities. He maxed out at 46 percent of the vote in the last two general elections. We lost 46 of the Top 50 cities by population. We lost 70 percent of the young people. It’s time for us to connect to college students, the Millennial generation, Gen Zers with a message that resonates with their heart and connects them to other people.”