‘There’s something missing’: DeSantis can’t escape Trump’s shadow in Iowa

DES MOINES — Ron DeSantis had just spent two days riding on a bus all over Iowa, popping into convenience stores, shaking hands at roadside stops and recording a podcast at a bar.

But then, on Saturday, just after the Florida governor finished flipping pork burgers at the Iowa State Fair, Donald Trump’s plane arced overhead — and once again, the presidential campaign in Iowa was all about Trump.

Heckling DeSantis as he worked the grill, supporters of the former president chanted, “We love Trump!” while spectators on a nearby hillside turned their attention to the sky.

It was a stark reminder both of Trump’s dominance in the 2024 primary and of how far behind DeSantis remains despite all of his hustle in Iowa in recent weeks.

In Iowa, where DeSantis is polling somewhat closer to Trump than he is nationally, the Florida governor is still trailing the former president by more than 20 percentage points. And here at the fair, even Republicans disillusioned with Trump remained skeptical of DeSantis’ prospects in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

“If I had a bet, I’d bet Trump's gonna kick his butt,” said Mike Meyer of Independence, Iowa, sitting in a shady spot by a talent show stage. “Sorry, I don't like Trump. But I don't like the other guy,” he continued, referring to DeSantis as “dumb as a rock.”

Bob Kruse, who was wearing a “Fire Biden” shirt, stopped to listen to DeSantis’ remarks at the fair. He called DeSantis a “good, good man,” but said he plans to caucus for Trump.

“You know the best thing that could happen?” Kruse said. “If he would run as a vice president.”

DeSantis is turning out curious Republicans to his campaign events. He is a third of the way through a tour of all of Iowa’s 99 counties. The super PAC supporting him has organized bus tours and said this week that it has knocked more than 236,000 doors and is signing up thousands of Republicans who say they’ll caucus for DeSantis. Among the roughly 10 people gathered for DeSantis at a little-advertised event next to a painted roadside rock for veterans Friday, a few said that they plan to do just that.

“I’ve done 32 years as a state trooper here on this highway,” said Clel Baudler, a former state representative, pointing to IA-25. “And I’ve done 20 years in the Iowa legislature. So I know how hard it is to get controversial bills passed, and he's passed them in Florida.”

“And Trump’s a goddamn bully,” Baudler continued. “We got to beat him.”

But the crowds for DeSantis remain smaller and more subdued than Trump’s. And even at DeSantis’ events, not all in attendance are sure, yet, that he is the candidate to beat Trump.

Sitting next to Baudler in a Vietnam veteran cap, Gene Hardisty, who came to the DeSantis meet-up out of curiosity, said he hasn’t yet decided on who he’ll back.

“I’ve been reading everything about the governor of Dakota,” Hardisty said, referring to North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, who has already spent $2.5 million on television ads in Iowa. He said he has been reading up on Nikki Haley, too.

“I’m just keeping an open mind right now,” he said.

None of Trump’s supporters — and there were throngs of them — were looking for alternatives. Unlike his rivals, Trump did not sit down with Kim Reynolds, the popular Iowa Republican governor he had previously insulted. Nor did he speak at the Des Moines Register Political Soap Box, a staple for presidential candidates at the fair.

Instead, eight years after he touched down here and offered helicopter rides to children, Trump waltzed into the packed Steer N’ Stein ski-themed bar at the fair and climbed atop a small platform, vowing to keep returning Iowa ahead of the caucuses. A fawning crowd had withstood Secret Service searches and waited hours to greet him.

“We set a record for people today,” Trump declared, without elaborating. “2020 was fantastic, 2016 was fantastic, … but this blows it away.”

Trump was followed around the fair by a mob of supporters, shaking hands and signing autographs outside the pork tent and walking though the animal center to examine cattle. A crush of people gathered around him, with some climbing on top of a parked work van to glimpse the former president.

Everyone else — DeSantis included — was still laboring to draw attention. In the hours before Trump arrived in Des Moines, Vivek Ramaswamy performed Eminem’s “Lose Yourself.” Haley’s scheduled walk-around with Sen. Joni Ernst coincided with the start of Trump’s event, and she went on to flip pork burgers and play fair games.

But when DeSantis sat for a chat on stage with Reynolds, those in the crowd couldn’t help but look up at the sky: For more than an hour, a plane had been flying around with a banner: “Be likable, Ron!” it said, in a font reminiscent of Jeb Bush’s widely mocked 2016 campaign logo.

Matt Wells, the Washington County, Iowa, chair for DeSantis’ super PAC, fumed as he looked up.

“Trump people are degenerates,” he said.

An official with MAGA Inc., the super PAC supporting Trump, said the group was not behind Saturday’s banner in the sky. Steven Cheung, Trump campaign spokesperson, did not directly say whether they had funded the plane.

“I direct all inquiries to Generra Peck,” Cheung said, referring to DeSantis’ former campaign manager who was recently replaced.

A series of DeSantis campaign shakeups have dominated news coverage of the race this summer, coming in several waves. But his stalled momentum isn’t for a lack of trying in Iowa, where DeSantis has campaigned heavily in recent weeks.

Last weekend, DeSantis and his wife attended church with the conservative evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats, just after making a grand entrance into a state representative’s wedding reception with the bride and groom. Vander Plaats said lines formed at the church after the service with members eager to meet Florida’s first couple, and he predicts caucus night results will look much different than current polling.

“If this church service is any indicator about the Iowa caucuses, he’s doing way better than what the polls are indicating,” Vander Plaats said on conservative radio host Steve Deace’s show.

At a stop outside of a restaurant in Atlantic, DeSantis on Friday answered question after question from the audience — even after his staff signaled for him to wrap up — going into policy-heavy answers about international interventionism and Covid vaccine mandates while making the case for why he could defeat President Joe Biden.

“I don’t see any of the others who I like right now,” Ed Ford, of Red Oak, said from the patio where DeSantis spoke. “DeSantis all the way.”

One woman there, wearing a camouflage DeSantis cap that was handed out by his aligned super PAC, rose to ask the Florida governor what Republicans should do differently to discuss abortion. Dressed in an American flag dress, the woman cited the GOP’s disappointing midterms and a recent vote in Ohio that dealt a blow to conservatives on the issue of abortion. Some prominent Republican strategists have cautioned that the party must move away from an emphasis on opposing abortion access, and Trump has also sought to distance himself from the anti-abortion rights movement in recent months.

Not DeSantis, who said being unapologetic about his own support for abortion restrictions had worked well for him.

“I think contorting yourself into a pretzel to try to match whatever current may be out there, ultimately, it just doesn't work,” DeSantis said. “So just say what you believe.”

What was unclear for DeSantis in Iowa on Saturday was whether that will be enough.

Wearing an “I Miss Reagan” T-shirt at the fair, Brian Patterson of Des Moines said he likes both the former president and Florida governor. He said he has concerns about Trump’s electability in November. But Patterson, who regularly attends Republican political events, could see DeSantis isn’t catching fire.

“There's something missing,” he said of DeSantis, noting he is “trending downward a little bit.”

“It seems like the more indictments that Trump gets,” Patterson continued, “the better his numbers do.”