DES MOINES, Iowa — Mark Jan. 10 on your calendars: Four candidates will be participating in three separate events in Des Moines that day.
Former President Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he will participate in a town hall with Fox News, while Gov. Ron DeSantis and former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley will be debating in the CNN GOP Debate at Drake University.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who did not qualify for the CNN debate, took to X, the website formerly known as Twitter, to say that he will be participating in a live audience show with Timcast the same night.
With all of these events overlapping, it's clear candidates are fighting for Iowans support just five days before the Iowa caucuses.
"It's kind of indicative of where this race is," said Kelly Winfrey, an associate professor at the Greenlee School of Journalism and Communication. "There's just a lot of kind of siloed political discussion."
Although Trump was invited to participate in the Jan. 10 debate, he declined to participate. This is the 5th debate in a row he refused to attend, causing controversy among his rivals.
"For all of the reasons that Trump wants to stay off the debate stage, his opponents want him on the debate stage," said Karen Kedrowski, director of the Carrie Chapman Catt Center for Women and Politics. "They know that it would elevate their perception by appearing on the same stage."
Nikki Haley released a statement regarding Trump's absence and upcoming Fox town hall, saying, “With only three candidates qualifying, it’s time for Donald Trump to show up. As the debate stage continues to shrink, it’s getting harder for Donald Trump to hide.”
Ron DeSantis also called on Trump to participate, saying in part, "We understand Donald Trump is scared to get on the stage because he'd have to finally explain why he didn't build the wall, added nearly $8 trillion to the debt, and turned the country over to Fauci."
Experts say the race for second place in Iowa is still important as the race continues. Ultimately, however, Jan. 10 will be a battle for viewers.
"[Trump] believes that he has enough of an audience that will watch his town hall and not the debate, so in some ways it's a good strategic move for him to pull viewers just to watching him," Winfrey said.
In a crucial debate for DeSantis and Haley, experts add that the viewership does matter.
"That might really show . . .even though Trump might have more votes, more voters and likely to win, is there a strong division? Is it really 50/50? And that might tell us more about what will happen on caucus night," Winfrey said.