DAVENPORT, Iowa — Former President Donald Trump and current Florida Governor Ron DeSantis are stopping in Davenport for several hours in the coming days.
Their visits are independent of each other — Gov. DeSantis is scheduled to speak about his new book at the Rhythm City Casino on Friday, March 10 at 8:00 a.m. President Trump is set to talk about "education" at the Adler Theater three days later on March 13 around 6:30 p.m., according to Scott County Republican Party Chairwoman Jeanita McNulty.
"We're very excited," McNulty told News 8's Collin Riviello. "The fact that Governor DeSantis — it's his first trip to Iowa, and his first stop is Scott County. So we're excited about that. And then President Trump, it's his first trip to Iowa since he announced [his 2024 presidential bid] and he's coming to Scott County. So we're very, very excited."
The last time a majority of voters in Scott County voted for a Republican presidential candidate was in 1984. That's when President Ronald Regan was facing re-election against Democratic challenger Walter Mondale.
With the Democratic National Committee finalizing in February that it would no longer give Iowa the first-in-the-nation caucus status, McNulty said she hopes they'll be able to turn some independent voters red.
"We have a very large no-party population in Scott County and that could very well drive more of those to our caucus and we look forward to that," McNulty added.
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