in Iowa, the weather disrupts the kickoff of the Republican primaries scheduled for Monday

Iowans are the first to vote Monday to choose the Republican presidential candidate in November. Entire Midwestern state is covered in snow

She is the surprise guest of the first official meeting of the American campaign. In Iowa, the weather is disrupting both the first vote in the Republican primaries scheduled for Monday, January 15 in the evening and the final hours of the candidates’ campaign. These 2024 Iowa caucuses are already the coldest in half a century: -21°C is expected Monday in Des Moines, the state capital, where it was “only” 0 degrees four years ago .

Iowa is a predominantly rural state in the center of the country, with three million inhabitants, barely 1% of the American population. Fields as far as the eye can see, vast barns with slightly rounded four-sided roofs, it is a typical American state. All beaten by wind, snow and plunged into fog.

Several tens of centimeters have fallen in a few hours since Thursday due to a cold wave coming from the north, from the Arctic. Everywhere the landscapes are white. Snow squalls cross roads, many of which are not plowed. Trucks and cars park on the shoulder. Voters are rather cool about the idea of ​​traveling in these conditions.

Candidates adapt in the final hours of the campaign

It feels like we went back four years, when Covid prevented campaigning on the ground. Candidates are transforming their events planned across the state in village halls or gymnasiums into video meetings, as if the pandemic were paralyzing everything again.

Donald Trump was the last to go virtual, after his main opponents Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis. On Friday, his main advisor Chris LaCivita appealed to his supporters, telling them: “Put on a coat!” Implied: the weather should not set you back, you must move. Like Donald Trump himself who proudly said on Saturday that he would arrive in Iowa “whatever the conditions”.

The Trump team is well aware that even if he is far ahead in the polls, he is also the candidate who potentially has the most to lose from these climatic conditions. Because its voters are mainly in rural, remote, isolated areas, where it is therefore more difficult to travel. And they might also be tempted to tell themselves that their candidate is far ahead and has already almost won, so they don’t need to go out and vote in this weather. Former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis must cross their fingers that it actually happens this way, that they can finish 2nd and 3rd with the best possible scores for the rest of the primary .