Record-breaking cold threatens to complicate Iowa's leadoff caucuses as snowy weather cancels events
WAUKEE, Iowa (AP) — Snow was still piling on top of the 8 inches that had already accumulated when Kadee Miller trekked out to see Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in Waukee.
“There were moments on the drive up here, I was like, ‘What are we doing?'” Miller said about her 7-mile (11-kilometer) drive from Adel on Tuesday. “The reason we drove up here is to really see who she is.”
Miller isn’t sure who she’ll vote for in Iowa's leadoff caucuses on Jan. 15, but she’s sure she’ll be there — despite a frigid, slap-you-in-the-face cold night in the forecast.
“It’s important. It’s kind of our civil duty, right?" said Miller, a 49-year-old human resources worker. "So that’s what we have to do.”
Iowa Republicans will likely confront temperatures dipping below zero degrees Fahrenheit when they kick off the 2024 election cycle, a record-breaking forecast that might complicate candidates’ hopes of making their own history if the cold depresses voter turnout.
The candidates are publicly expressing optimism that their supporters will show up no matter how bad the weather is. But the snow and cold have already wreaked havoc on the candidates' schedules, thwarting their plans to crisscross Iowa and make their final pitches to voters.
Donald Trump 's campaign had to cancel events featuring surrogates advocating for the former president, including Mike Huckabee and Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders. Mike Huckabee, who won the caucuses in 2008, posted on social media that the expected snowstorm grounded their plane.
Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy said his car got stuck in a ditch while driving in snowy weather Monday night to Des Moines from northwest Iowa. Ramaswamy canceled his event Tuesday morning, saying it was “effectively impossible to safely get from Des...