The Iowa caucus is set for next week, one of the most important contests of the 2024 presidential election.
The Hawkeye State's caucuses have long had the opportunity to shape presidential elections. And in 2024, all eyes will be on Iowa to see if Democratic frontrunner Joe Biden and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump's rivals have made any progress in the critical early voting state.
But when exactly is the Iowa caucus? Why does one state's election matter for the rest of the nation? Keep up with the USA TODAY Network's live coverage of the upcoming Iowa caucus as voters make their 2024 picks.
What’s the weather forecast in Iowa today?
Severe wintry weather conditions continue in Iowa, with a blizzard warning still in place for several counties. Temperatures in the capital of Des Moines are near zero but feel like closer to –20 degrees with the wind.
Snowfall and frozen patches have made road travel dicey in areas across the state. Still, some candidates, including Vivek Ramaswamy, appear to be continuing with the day’s campaign events.
-- Savannah Kuchar
DeSantis continues to rip climate protesters who interrupted event this week
Gov. Ron DeSantis used a question-and-answer session after his event in Council Bluffs on Saturday morning to rip protesters who have disrupted his campaign appearances. The governor was interrupted multiple times by climate change protesters during an event in Ames on Thursday.
Security there tackled one protester who unfurled a banner reading “DeSantis: Climate Criminal” and shouted the phrase as he was removed from the event, along with asking DeSantis “how much money are you taking from oil companies?” DeSantis said Saturday that climate change protesters “might not want to do that in the middle of a blizzard.”
The climate change comments came after DeSantis was asked by a volunteer named April about his efforts to restore Florida’s Everglades. A question about helping farmers also prompted DeSantis to criticize climate change policies.
“They view agriculture as like a big problem with global warming, which is going to make you change all your practices,” he said, adding it will lead to a “farm crisis.”
April told DeSantis she traveled to Iowa from out of state to volunteer for his campaign, prompting DeSantis to remark that his GOP primary opponents Donald Trump and Nikki Haley don’t have that kind of committed volunteers. He said Haley’s “billionaire” donors aren’t coming to Iowa to knock on doors in the snow.
At least 42 billionaires contributed to DeSantis’ reelection campaign for governor, according to a USA TODAY Network-Florida analysis.
--Zac Anderson
Trump appears to lobby U.S. Supreme Court over state ballot access case
As snow blankets Iowa, Donald Trump appeared to use his Truth Social media site Saturday to campaign against the U.S. Supreme Court.
Trump did not specifically mention the U.S. Supreme Court by name, but did rail on "Republican judges" as the justices consider efforts by some states to keep him off the president ballot.
"Republican Judges are very often afraid to do the right thing," Trump said in his post. "They go out of their way to show they are totally impartial, to the point of making really bad and unfair decisions."
Trump has expressed similar sentiments on the campaign trail while discussing his appeal of last month's decision by the Colorado Supreme Court; the state court ruled last month that Trump is ineligible for the presidential ballot because of the insurrection of Jan. 6, 2021.
The high court has a Feb. 8 hearing on the Colorado ruling.
--David Jackson
Roy stumps for DeSantis, in defiance of Trump
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, continued his campaign for the Florida governor in Iowa, stopping in Council Bluffs on the western edge of the state Saturday morning.
Roy, an ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus member, breaks with many House Republicans who have either quietly or publicly supported frontrunner Donald Trump.
“Let me just be very clear,” Roy said, pointing to Trump’s COVID policies as top issue, “when you shut down the economy, when you shut down government and when you allow states to create millions of mail-in ballots, you’re going to get the fraud that kills your own election.”
Judges and officials, including from Trump's own administration, have rebuked claims of any significant election fraud in 2020.
-- Savannah Kuchar
How cold and snowy is it? The NFL just postponed a playoff game
How bad is the weather nationwide this weekend?
The NFL has postponed a playoff game once scheduled for Sunday.
The Buffalo Bills, a city like Iowa inundated with snow and wind chill, will now host the Pittsburgh Steelers on Monday afternoon.
Rest assured: The Iowa caucuses are still scheduled to happen Monday night.
--David Jackson
Trump promotes endorsement from Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano
While waiting to fly to Iowa, Trump on Saturday promoted a most unusual endorsement: Former mobster Sammy 'The Bull' Gravano.
On his Truth Social account, Trump re-posted an interview in which Gravano said he tried unsuccessfully to influence Trump back in the day: "I tried to get to him; he just wouldn't bite."
"Thank you to Sammy the Bull," Trump said in a post that criticized New York-based judges in the civil bank fraud and defamation cases pending against him.
Trump said he hopes the judges "see this. We need fairness, strength and honesty in our New York Courts."
--David Jackson
On the legal front: Trump ordered to pay NYT reporters nearly $400K in legal fees
Iowa pre-caucus weekend also brought Trump some bad legal news: An order that he pay nearly $400,000 in legal fees to three New York Times reporters he had sued.
New York Judge Robert Reed dismissed the Times' reporters from the Trump lawsuit that included estranged niece Mary Trump over a 2018 story about his wealth and tax breaks.
As the Associated Press reported: "Reed said that given the 'complexity of the issues' in the case and other factors, it was reasonable that Donald Trump be forced to pay lawyers for the Times and the reporters a total of $392,638 in legal fees."
--David Jackson
On the legal front: Trump's classified documents trial may get delayed
The weekend before the Iowa caucuses brought favorable legal news for Trump: Another sign that his federal trial for mishandling federal documents will be delayed from May.
U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon denied a prosecutors' motion to compel Trump's legal team to disclose details about lawyers call his "advice-of-counsel" defense.
The ruling bodes well for Trump's strategy of trying to delay all four of his criminal trials past Election Day on Nov. 5.
On the social media platform X (former Twitter), former federal prosecutor and MSNBC analyst Joyce Vance White said that "Judge Cannon has just refused to enforce a routine deadline."
She added: "It's entirely clear she has no intention of letting this case go to trial before the election or possibly ever."
-David Jackson
When is the Iowa caucus?
The Iowa caucuses are scheduled for Jan. 15, starting at 7 p.m.
The Democratic and Republican contests function function differently. Catch up with the Des Moines Register, part of the USA TODAY Network, on what you need to know about the caucuses.
– Marina Pitofsky
Why does the Iowa Caucus matter?
For 50 years, Iowans have gathered in school gymnasiums, community centers and family living rooms to kick off the nation's presidential nominating process, wielding their outsized influence to winnow and shape the field of contenders.
Ahead of each caucus, presidential candidates flood the state for months, if not years, to try to woo Iowans and gain their support. The national and international media descends on the state, ready to derive meaning from caucus night results.
– Brianne Pfannenstiel
Most candidates head to New Hampshire next - DeSantis goes to South Carolina
While coping with the weather, campaigns are also making post-Iowa plans - and not all of them are heading straight to New Hampshire, the next contest state.
Ron DeSantis plans to first travel Tuesday to South Carolina, the home of rival Nikki Haley and the host of a big Republican primary on Feb. 24.
"You look at South Carolina, Nikki Haley was governor there, and I've got like five times more endorsements from state legislators current and former than she does," DeSantis told Fox News.
DeSantis is also battling Haley for second place in Iowa, and is far behind her and Donald Trump in polls out of New Hampshire, which holds a primary on Jan. 23.
And to be sure: Right after his Tuesday event in Greenville, S.C., DeSantis heads back up to New Hampshire for a town hall.
--David Jackson
Trump: I'll get to Iowa sometime this weekend
Former President Donald Trump says he will get to Iowa sometime this weekend, but when and what he will be doing is up in the air because of the horrible weather.
"One way or the other I'm getting there," Trump said in a video posted on social media late Friday by him and members of his campaign team.
Trump said he would try to get to Iowa on Saturday night, and would be in the Hawkeye State on Sunday and Monday.
"I'll get to see you on Sunday and Monday, and maybe Saturday night late," Trump said.
The video surfaced after Trump's campaign announced that a series of weekend rallies have been replaced by tele-rallies.
Trump, who still has a traditional rally scheduled for Indianola on Sunday, said he wants to make sure his people get to their caucuses on Monday despite the weather.
"We're going to caucus and we're going to do great," Trump said.
--David Jackson
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