Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the first major Republican presidential primary candidate to complete the "Full Grassley" 99-county tour across Iowa, capping it Saturday with a rally in Jasper County.
"I think you have go to show up everywhere," DeSantis said in a campaign video posted to X. "I think you have got to meet people, and you have to earn support from Iowans.
"I think it's important that you show up, you ask them for the vote, you tell them what you're going to do."
The "Full Grassley" was a term coined by Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, who has long urged national primary candidates to reach all the counties of the first-in-the-nation caucus state.
"I compliment any candidate that holds meetings in all 99 counties and completes what's now called the 'Full Grassley,'" Grassley wrote in a statement, congratulating DeSantis. "I have found it is the best way to show Iowans everyone is important to hear from and no one is forgotten."
Grassley has completed the full tour of his home state 43 times.
DeSantis' campaign has homed in on a strong grassroots campaign in the state, hoping to catch polling leader Donald Trump in the opening of the primary cycle. Trump did not win Iowa in 2016, though, so the state is more of a momentum builder than a primary decider.
DeSantis has built some momentum this week after a debate versus California Democrat Gov. Gavin Newsom, hailing Florida for receiving disenfranchised Californians as new residents in his state, including ones from Newsom's extended family.
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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