Ernst’s annual fundraiser features 8 GOP presidential hopefuls

DES MOINES — Eight Republican presidential hopefuls spoke to about 900 likely Iowa Caucus goers this weekend.

Iowa Senator Joni Ernst hosted the event. It started with a convoy of motorcycles riding from a Harley-Davidson dealership to the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Former Vice President Mike Pence, the only candidate to ride in the column of 220 motorcyclists, gave a preview of the campaign he intends to launch this week in Iowa.

“I believe we have to resist the politics of personality and the siren song of populism unmoored to timeless conservative principles,” Pence said during the fundraiser’s Saturday afternoon program. “We need to stand firm on the conservative agenda…that has always led us to victory.”

Pence mentioned the role Iowa’s first in the nation Caucuses play in determining who will be the GOP’s nominee. “Over the last two years Karen and I have spent a lot of time reflecting and praying about everything this country is dealing with and what I might do to serve and I don’t have anything to announce today, but when I’ve got time to announce the coming Wednesday, I’m announcing in Iowa,” Pence said, to cheers.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told the crowd not making “idle promises” on the campaign trail that he’d forget as president. “The one thing you know about me from Florida is when I tell you I’m going to do something, I’ll do it,” DeSantis said. “…I will be an energetic executive. I will go on offense. I will lean to all the issues that matter.”

South Carolina Senator Tim Scott announced at the event that he’ll be on “The View” today, after a co-host of the show said he doesn’t understand systemic racism because he’s a Republican. “I scare the dickens out of the radical left and Joe Biden,” Scott said. “The proof of my life destroys their lies.”

Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley indirectly criticized the debt ceiling deal Iowa’s Republican congressional delegation supported. “We are almost $32 trillion in debt,” Haley said. “…I don’t know that our kids are going to forgive us for this.”

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson, businessmen Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson and former radio show host Larry Elder also spoke at the event. Former President Donald Trump was invited, but chose not to attend. Ernst said Trump has a strong base of support in the state.

“But at the same time, people don’t want to hear about what has happened in the past…They want to know: What are the future decisions that will turn our country around? And who is going to lead us forward? So whether that’s President Trump, whether it’s one of the candidates we saw on the stage, they’re hungry to hear about the future,” Ernst said during a news conference at the conclusion of the event.

Ernst was asked if she’d consider an invitation to serve in a Republican president’s administration or the party’s vice presidential nomination.  “I have visited with various candidates just about their prospects, OK?” Ernst said, laughing. “But I will do whatever I am called to do and continue to serve Iowa and strengthen our country — that’s my role. That’s what I will do.”

Trump considered Ernst as a running mate in 2016, but Ernst said at the time she had a lot more to do in the U.S. Senate. In July of 2016, Ernst was in the middle of year two of her first six-year term.