CLIVE, Iowa — National Republicans are gathering in Iowa as the presidential campaign season gets into full swing.
The Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition held their first "cattle call" of potential candidates on April 22 at the Horizon Events Center in Clive.
There's still a few months before anyone casting their ballots, but many attendees were already looking ahead.
Hundreds of Republicans, from everyday voters to presidential candidates, were on hand for the event. Many of those voters were looking to decide who they want to support when the caucuses roll around.
"There's a lot of issues that we need dealt with. But you know, what's their priority gonna be? I wanna hear their priorities because we need to focus on problem solving and priorities for our nation," said Kris Ranney, who attended the cattle call.
So, who was around to share their priorities? Presidential candidates like Perry Johnson, Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson were in attendance — and even former president Donald Trump made a virtual visit.
Hot topics ranged from preserving religious liberty to banning abortion in the country. The message resonated with several voters, who said that their faith was a big factor when deciding who to support.
"We want to restore the Judeo-Christian American Republic, which the other side wants to destroy," said Bud Hockemberg, who also attended the cattle call.
An analysis from Project FiveThirtyEight found that Trump is still the frontrunner for the Republican nomination, with an average of around 51% of likely voters supporting him across national polls.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who has not formally declared his candidacy, is the closest potential rival, averaging around 25%.
In a statement released ahead of the event, the Democratic National Committee said:
"This cattle call is just the latest gathering of MAGA Republicans who’ve spent their entire careers pushing for an extreme agenda — from banning abortion to gutting Social Security to wanting to rip away affordable health care access from millions of Americans. Each and every 2024 Republican has doubled down on their exceedingly extreme positions that are out of step with hard working Americans and can count on being held accountable by voters.”