Trump set to attend first day of Iowa State Fair in August

CBS News

a day ago

Washington — President Trump intends to open the Iowa State Fair on the first day of the 11-day event in August, according to sources familiar with the plan, revisiting a presidential campaign ritual in a state that helped deliver his return to the White House.
Mr. Trump's visit, marked on the White House calendar for Aug. 7, is seen as an effort to shore up farm country for Republicans and to help celebrate the 250th anniversary of the nation's independence.
Vice President JD Vance is also planning to attend the fair, but on a different day, according to one of the sources. Further details are expected to be locked in by late June.
White House spokespeople declined to comment.
Mr. Trump was last at the Iowa State Fair in August 2023, five months before the first votes in the GOP presidential primary contest, when his campaign was overshadowed by legal troubles, including an election conspiracy case.
He has told advisers that he had a great time on that visit on the third day of the fair, relishing the spectacle that included a flyover in his private jet as his chief competitor, Ron DeSantis, was in the middle of an event, surrounded by reporters. On a stroll around the fairgrounds, Mr. Trump was mobbed with people, and attendance spiked to a record for the year with more than 118,000 visitors. He won the Iowa caucuses in January 2024 by about 30 points.
Former President Donald Trump tossed a hat in the air while supporters cheer for him during the 2023 Iowa State Fair on Saturday, Aug. 12, 2023.
Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images
A year ago, Mr. Trump said that if he were elected again, he would organize a big bash ahead of the nation's semiquincentennial on July 4, 2026, with a year-long exhibition that he hoped would be hosted at the Iowa State Fairgrounds with "pavilions from all 50 states."
The state fair is a summer reunion for Iowans that showcases agriculture and middle America, with a life-sized cow sculpted out of butter, vendors selling deep-fried treats, carnival rides and animal shows.
Iowa, the first state in the GOP primary calendar, has already attracted other politicians from both parties in recent weeks.
Mr. Trump has repeatedly said his supports want him to run again, but he signaled in a May interview with NBC News that he wouldn't try to seek a third term, which is barred under the 22nd Amendment to the Constitution.
"It's something that, to the best of my knowledge, you're not allowed to do," Mr. Trump said in May.
"I'll be an eight-year president," he added. "I'll be a two-term president."
Sen. Rand Paul, a Republican from Kentucky, spoke at a state party event in Cedar Rapids on May 29. Sen. Bernie Sanders, a n independent from Vermont, delivered remarks in February in Iowa City, as part of his "Fight Oligarchy" tour. His team also held organizing calls in competitive congressional districts in April.
In 2023, the Democratic National Committee stripped Iowa of its "first in the nation" status in the party's nominating process. The DNC has not yet set its primary calendar for 2028.
Mr. Trump first attended the fair as a reality television star, real estate mogul and presidential hopeful in 2015, when he gave children a ride on his personal helicopter and sought to outshine Democratic presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Sanders, who were there at the same time. He returned to the fairgrounds to speak at a fundraising event for Sen. Joni Ernst in 2016 and held a rally there in fall 2021.