Not every politician traveling to Iowa runs for president — but every politician who runs for president travels to Iowa.
So who’s making the early rounds as conversations about 2024 begin to take shape?
Trump has publicly flirted with another run for president in 2024, telling a Sioux City crowd Nov. 3, “I will very, very, very probably” run.
On Tuesday night at his Mar-a-Lago Club in Florida, he followed through with his promise.
“In order to make America great and glorious again, I am tonight announcing my candidacy for president of the United States,” Trump said from the gilded halls of Mar-a-Lago as onlookers cheered and whistled.
He’s also remained active in Iowa. His leadership PAC announced in August 2021 it had hired two Iowa operatives, and he made his first visit back to Iowa for one of his signature rallies in October.
Trump easily won Iowa in the 2016 and 2020 general elections, and he remains popular among many Republicans here. According to a July 2022 Des Moines Register/Mediacom Iowa Poll, 57% of Iowa Republicans hope Trump decides to run for president in 2024. Another 33% hope he does not, and 10% are not sure.
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The former vice president traveled to Iowa often while he was in office to tout the Trump administration’s policy agenda. He made his first return since losing the 2020 general election in July 2021 when he attended the Family Leadership Summit, a gathering of Christian conservatives and evangelicals.
He’s returned several more times, attending events with U.S. Rep. Randy Feenstra in Iowa’s heavily conservative 4th Congressional District, touring the 2022 Iowa State Fair with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley and speaking at a meeting of the Bremer County Republicans in Waverly.
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Pompeo attended a series of events across the state in March 2021, and he spoke at the Family Leadership Summit in July 2020 and July 2021. During his recent stops, he’s made a point of hinting slyly at the subtext of his visits.
“My wife Susan was born in Iowa City, but she was raised in Wichita. She spent her summers at Coralville and Strawberry Point,” he said at the 2021 Family Leadership Summit. “So that’s why I’m back, I don’t know why some of these other folks coming back now. I can’t figure it out.”
In February of 2022, Pompeo was in Des Moines to discuss America’s standing on the international stage on a panel that included U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, Iowa’s junior senator, and Terry Branstad, the former Chinese ambassador and Iowa governor.
More:Mike Pompeo, Joni Ernst, and former Gov. Terry Branstad speak on Bastion Institute panel
Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, headlined an event for the Republican Party of Iowa in suburban Des Moines in June 2021. She also attended a slew of other events on behalf of local party operations and Iowa elected officials.
At a June 2022 event in Sioux Center, Haley said she will run for president in 2024 “if there’s a place for me.”
“What I’ve always said is, I love this country,” she told reporters. “I had the pleasure of serving the state that raised me and defending the country I love so much. And if it looks like there’s a place for me next year, I’ve never lost a race. I’m not going to start now. I’ll put 1,000% in and I’ll finish it. If there’s not a place for me, I will fight for this country until my last breath.”
More:Stumping in West Des Moines, possible 2024 presidential candidate Nikki Haley says ‘there are a lot of reasons to come to Iowa’
Scott has made at least five public trips to Iowa since 2019 to help campaign for Iowa Republicans. At a June Cedar Rapids event, he touted Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds’ “school choice” agenda.
And in August, he headlined an event for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson, who is seeking reelection in November. Midway through his speech at that event, a member of the audience shouted, “Tim Scott for president!” “Of my homeowners’ association, yes!” Scott replied.
Cruz leveraged a sophisticated ground game and widespread evangelical support to defeat Trump and win Iowa’s 2016 GOP caucuses. He told Newsmax in July 2021 that he is “certainly looking at” running for president again in 2024.
He campaigned on behalf of U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst in October 2020, and he returned to headline a fundraiser for U.S. Rep. Ashley Hinson as she prepared to run for reelection in 2022. He traveled to Iowa in August to hold a fundraiser with U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley.
More:Possible 2024 presidential contender Ted Cruz says ‘the road to revival’ comes through Iowa
Hogan was flipping pork chops and shaking hands at the 2022 Iowa State Fair, a key stop on the Iowa caucus campaign trail. Hogan, a Republican who was elected twice to lead the blue state of Maryland, has been answering questions about whether he will run for president since he visited Iowa in 2019 as vice chair of the National Governor’s Association.
“I’ve said that I really am focused on finishing out my term as governor until next January,” Hogan told the Register. “But you know, I care about country and I care about our party and I definitely want to be a voice and I want to play some role in the future. Exactly what that is, I’m not quite sure.”
Rubio, who came in third place during Iowa’s 2016 GOP caucuses, returned for events in Mason City and Ames in August 2021. He told reporters he’s focused on helping the friends he made in the first-in-the-nation caucus state while gearing up for his own reelection Senate bid.
“Having done this once, there’s no purpose of being coy about it, I’m running for reelection in Florida to serve in the United States Senate,” he said. “I’m not having any conversations about running for president, but I have friends here.”
Democratic President Joe Biden has said he plans to seek a second term in 2024, so there’s unlikely to be a competitive primary process among the Democrats. But even if there were, it’s unclear whether Iowa Democrats will continue to hold their traditional first-in-the-nation caucuses in 2024 and beyond.
The Democratic National Committee has spent months weighing the presidential nominating calendar, indicating it plans to impose changes. Iowa is a primarily white, agricultural state that has trended farther to the right in recent years. National Democrats say they want to launch the presidential nominating process in a state that is more broadly representative of the party’s base. The DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee has said it will make a decision after the midterms.
More:What does it take to be first? These states want to replace Iowa on the presidential calendar
The next presidential election is in 2024, but like in years past the start of the campaign trail begins early.
After the midterms, more speculation on who will and who won’t run for president until official candidacy announcements are made.
The 2024 election will be the 60th quadrennial presidential election and is scheduled for Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024.
USAToday contributed to this report.
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.