DeSantis Is Marquee Speaker at Biker Rally After Trump Opts Out
- Iowa holds the first-in-the-nation Republican caucuses
- Most 2024 GOP presidential hopefuls attended Joni Ernst event
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Donald Trump skipped a motorcycles-and-barbecue fundraiser that’s the marquee Republican political event of the early summer in Iowa, ceding the stage to a gaggle of contenders led by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis.
DeSantis, faced with pressure to improve his retail politics, worked crowds at US Senator Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride on Saturday — he stopped for ice cream with his children at a stand his super PAC set up in the parking lot at the Des Moines event, signed the side of his team’s touring bus and posed for pictures.