Good Afternoon from a chilly Des Moines, Iowa!
The Hill’s Julia Manchester is in the Hawkeye State, where temperatures are in the mid-20s and more snow is expected later tonight. Most of Iowa is under a winter storm warning tonight through Friday.
But that isn’t stopping the campaigns and the candidates from crisscrossing the state today. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is holding events in Rock Rapids, Le Mars, Ames and Clive. Meanwhile, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will head to Ankeny and Cedar Rapids.
And while former President Trump is not due back in Iowa until Saturday, his campaign surrogates are out and about. Donald Trump Jr. will campaign for his father in Urbandale today and Arizona Republican Senate candidate Kari Lake will stump for the former president tomorrow night in Pella.
About last night…
Des Moines was the site of one of the busiest nights in politics this year so far last night, with Trump taking part in a Fox News town hall in downtown Des Moines and Haley and DeSantis taking part in their first one-on-one debate at Drake University in Des Moines.
And just hours before the candidates took to the stage, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie threw a curveball into the race when he announced he was dropping and had this hot mic moment.
Haley and DeSantis spent the majority of the debate lobbing insults at each other, with DeSantis painting Haley as a “corporatist” Republican and Haley hitting DeSantis over the handling of his campaign.
Julia and The Hill’s Caroline Vakil and Jared Gans have five takeaways from last night’s DeSantis-Haley debate. The Hill’s Niall Stanage has the night’s winners and losers.
The debate stage at Drake University was in stark contrast to Trump’s town hall stage in downtown Des Moines where the mood was much more relaxed. The former president reacted to news of Christie dropping out of the race and hinted that he knows who he would choose as his running mate in the case he gets the nomination. One notable moment, in particular, was when Trump took credit for the overturning of Roe v. Wade but warned Republicans to take a cautious approach on the issue.
But what are the insiders saying?
David Polyansky, deputy campaign manager for Ron DeSantis: “Every debate the governor has improved, and frankly, I think every debate Gov. Haley has actually regressed. I think tonight she looked very defensive. I thought she was visibly frustrated and I thought that was bad imagery to close a caucus campaign push and frankly, a debate leading into New Hampshire for her as well.”
Preya Samsundar, spokesperson for the pro-Haley Stand for America PAC: “I think it was a great night. I think Nikki did exactly what she needed to do. I think this was an opportunity to set the bar ahead of the Iowa Caucuses, make that closing message. Right now, this debate was the opportunity that Ron had to make his closing pitch and really move the needle. I don’t think he did that.”
