DES MOINES, Iowa – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is planning his first visit to Iowa next week, making a stop in the top Republican-voting state ahead of an expected 2024 presidential announcement later this year.
DeSantis has scheduled events on March 10 in the eastern Iowa city of Davenport and in the state capital, Des Moines, to promote his new book, «The Courage to be Free.» She will be joined by Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who has said she plans to remain neutral ahead of the 2024 Iowa caucuses.
The plans were confirmed by two aides to Republican officials who spoke to The Associated Press Thursday on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to pre-empt DeSantis’s announcement.
DeSantis has been ramping up trips around the country as part of his book tour and as he prepares to launch a bid for the White House, likely in late spring or early summer.
After a slow January, Republican presidential candidates began ramping up travel to Iowa last month and plan to continue this month. Notably absent so far have been DeSantis and former President Donald Trump, who announced his candidacy in November.
On Wednesday, Trump’s aides announced that he planned to make his first visit to Iowa of the 2024 campaign this month, though his team did not provide details about the trip.
Former United Nations ambassador Nikki Haley, who announced her candidacy last month, was in Iowa in late February and plans to return next week to host two public meetings and participate in a foreign policy event with Republican Senator Joni Ernst in DesMoines.
As for other potential candidates, former Vice President Mike Pence was in state last month rallying conservative parents against a gender-affirming policy in an eastern Iowa school district at issue in a federal lawsuit. Pence is expected to return to Iowa on March 18. South Carolina Senator Tim Scott was in the Des Moines area last week to deliver a speech at Drake University and headline a GOP dinner in the state’s most populous county.