Presidential Candidates at the Iowa State Fair
Twenty-three presidential hopefuls descended upon the Iowa State Fair to eat turkey legs, flip pork chops, and meet fair-goers.
One stop they all made was at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox to pitch their plans to Iowans (and the national media) at the State Fair.
The Daily Iowan covered all 22 Democratic hopefuls and the sole Republican in Iowa vying for the nomination throughout the last two weeks. Click each photo below to see a summary and tweets from the Soapbox.
In other coverage, the DI talked to longtime fair volunteers about what advice they’d give to candidates traversing the fair.
Most candidates visited the State Fair less than a week after the shootings in El Paso and Dayton in early August, and gun control policy was a frequent topic on the minds of both fair goers and presidential hopefuls.
In Iowa’s largest agriculture expo of the year, most presidential hopefuls kept their agriculture policy positions brief during their Soapbox speeches. When broached, candidates focused on trade and climate change.
Twenty-two Democrats competing for the party’s presidential nomination visited the State Fair (former Gov. John Hickenlooper pulled his presidential bid Aug. 15 after his stop by the State Fair). Although there are so many Democrats to keep track of, fair-goers The Daily Iowan interviewed said they weren’t yet fatigued by the caucus fanfare.
And, of course, DI photojournalists followed the presidential hopefuls as they ate fried fair food, caught glimpses of Iowa politicians, interviewed a few cute animals, and video journalist Ryan Adams even toured the best of the State Fair food and interviewed fair-goers along the way.
Photos: Iowa State Fair (8/8/2019)
Photos: Iowa State Fair (8/9/2019)
