Who’s visiting Iowa in the 2022 campaign season?

The Iowa presidential caucuses are still a long way off, but potential presidential candidates and other national politicians are visiting the state ahead of the Nov. 7 midterm election.

No top politicians have officially announced plans to run for president in 2024. President Joe Biden has indicated he plans to run for re-election, but has not launched a campaign. Former President Donald Trump, who Biden defeated in the 2020 election, has also not said if he’s running again.

Still, Iowa Republican candidates in the upcoming midterm elections have been joined on the campaign trail by a flurry of national politicians, some of who may be looking at the 2024 caucuses. Iowa Democrats, in contrast, have seen far fewer high-ranking visitors.

Follow this feed for news about upcoming visits and recent appearances:

Earlier visits

In July, U.S. Sen. Tom Cotton visited Iowa in support of Nunn, who is campaigning to defeat U.S. Rep. Cindy Axne, and headlined a Story County GOP Dinner in Cambridge.

Nikki Haley, former U.N. Ambassador, came in June. Her stops included a private fundraiser for Gov. Kim Reynolds, who is running for re-election, and campaign stops for Republican U.S. House candidates.

Trump last visited Iowa in October 2021, holding a rally in Des Moines where he endorsed Grassley. He’s not the only Iowa caucus veteran to come back to the state ahead of the midterm elections. U.S. Sens. Marco Rubio and Ted Cruz, who ran against Trump in the 2016 Republican presidential nominating cycle, also visited the state last year.

Caucus questions

It’s still unclear what’s in store for the Democratic presidential nomination process come 2024. The Democratic National Committee is requiring Iowa and other longtime early nominating states to compete with other states for first-in-the-nation positions. Iowa Democrats made their case to the national party in June, but the 2024 line-up will not be decided until after the midterm elections.

Regardless of whether Iowa is one of the first states in the nomination process, it’s unclear whether Democrats’ 2024 primary cycle will be an incumbent race or a free-for-all field. A July New York Times/Siena College poll found 64% of Democrats said they wanted to nominate a new candidate for president in 2024.

Biden has said recently that he plans to run for re-election in the next election cycle. No prominent Democrats have announced plans to run against him.

Republicans’ upcoming presidential nominating cycle looks comparatively normal. The party has already committed to holding the first-in-the-nation caucuses in Iowa in 2024.