Dem
51
GOP
49
Last Friday, Casey DeSantis was on Fox News and said: "You do not have to be a resident of Iowa to be able to participate in the caucus." She encouraged moms and grandmoms from North Carolina and South Carolina to descend on the state and join in. Our take is that she didn't do well in geography in elementary school. The closest points in those states are almost 600 miles from Keokuk, the closest point in Iowa to them. She seems to have missed the fact that six states (Minnesota, South Dakota, Nebraska, Missouri, Illinois, and Wisconsin) actually border Iowa. Why not ask moms and grandmoms from those states to show up to caucus? Somebody ought to send Casey a map of the U.S.
The reaction was nearly instantaneous. The Iowa Republican Party tweeted to X (Twitter): "Remember: you must be a legal resident of Iowa and the precinct you live in and bring photo ID with you to participate in the #iacaucus!" Talk about an unforced error.
DeSantis tried to recover later in the day by saying that residents of other states could help by volunteering in Iowa, but the damage had been done. The Trump campaign issued a statement reading: "The Trump campaign strongly condemns their dirty and illegal tactics and implores all Trump supporters to be aware of the DeSantises' openly stated plot to rig the Caucus through fraud." The Trump campaign also called on Gov. Kim Reynolds (R-IA), who supports DeSantis, to reaffirm the caucus rules. In addition, Trump's super PAC issued a statement on "Casey DeSantis' embrace of voter fraud." Trump has often bellowed about voter fraud, but this time he might actually be right. Casey DeSantis should have checked with the lawyers and geographers before urging women to travel 600 miles to commit fraud. (V)