Iowa GOP to hold caucuses January 15

The Iowa GOP caucuses are slated for Jan. 15, 2024, making the Hawkeye State’s election again the first in the nation for the party.

Iowa is the first early primary state to announce the date of its GOP election. It has traditionally been first on the calendar, followed by New Hampshire.

Democrats opted to make South Carolina the first of its primary election process in 2024, bucking Iowa. The Democratic South Carolina primary will take place Feb. 3.

“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, we are also proud to affirm that Iowa will continue to honor our half-century-old promises to the other carveout states,” Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.

“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,” he added.

The Iowa caucus tradition, where voters physically move around in a room to cast their vote instead of using ballots, began before Iowa became a state and started being the first presidential primary for both parties in the 1970s. 

New Hampshire law requires that its primary be the “first in the nation,” but has generally gone second to Iowa in terms of casting its votes, since the state’s primary is still technically first given that Iowa uses a caucus system instead.

GOP candidates have generally split time between Iowa and New Hampshire so far in the campaign process. A majority of candidates spent their Independence Day holidays in the two states campaigning.

Recent polls of the GOP field show former President Trump with a wide lead, followed by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy placed third in a recent poll, a large jump from earlier in his campaign.

Former Vice President Mike Pence has garnered about 6.5 percent support in recent polling averages. Other big-name candidates — former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C), former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and Ramaswamy — have averaged between 2 and 4 percent support.

More than a dozen candidates have announced their intentions to seek the GOP nomination in 2024.