Casey DeSantis shared some amusing anecdotes about her husband, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, and their children. She then spoke about her battle with cancer in a more serious tone.
Vivek Ramaswamy brought his 3-year-old son, Karthik, on stage and talked about his Hindu faith.
Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, sat alongside her daughter, Rena, who recently got married. Haley reminisced about Rena’s childhood days with pigtails.
At a “faith and family” event held at Dordt University in Sioux Center, Iowa, Republican presidential candidates aimed to present a kinder and gentler side of themselves. This event took place just days after a contentious debate and a month before the Iowa caucuses, the first nominating contest.
The candidates gathered in Sioux Center, a small town in rural northwestern Iowa, to appeal to conservative voters and seek the endorsement of Representative Randy Feenstra, a popular Republican congressman in the region. Each candidate was interviewed by Feenstra and his wife in front of approximately 400 community members and college students at the B.J. Haan Auditorium, where banners read “Glory to God Alone.”
Feenstra stated that the event’s more positive tone was intentional.
“We wanted to avoid bickering,” he said. “People simply wanted honest answers to their questions without interruptions or limited speaking time.”
However, once away from the crowd and religious symbolism, the candidates resumed attacking each other, albeit mildly.
This shift in rhetoric highlighted the challenging position of any candidate who isn’t Donald J. Trump. Trump continues to hold a significant lead over his rivals, and even Haley, who has gained ground as DeSantis has slipped, trails far behind.
Ramaswamy, who lags behind in most national polls, expressed confidence in a surprising comeback victory.
“Our strategy is to shock expectations on Jan. 15,” Ramaswamy told reporters outside the auditorium. He made this statement after doing 30 push-ups on the cold concrete alongside a member of Dordt’s football team, who came out to support him.
Regarding the contentious debate in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he accused Haley of being “corrupt” and a “fascist,” Ramaswamy suggested that Haley had stooped even lower.
“She called me ‘scum’ and ‘dumb’ in the two debates. I didn’t call her dumb. I did reveal that neither she nor Chris Christie know the first thing about the countries they supposedly want to send our resources to fight for,” he said, referring to the former governor of New Jersey who is also running for the Republican nomination.
While DeSantis struck a bipartisan tone on stage, expressing his willingness to find common ground with political opponents, he criticized Haley’s recent donation from Reid Hoffman, a billionaire Democratic donor and co-founder of LinkedIn, in a conversation after the event.
Linda Kreykes, 63, mentioned that she was leaning towards supporting DeSantis but appreciated Ramaswamy’s onstage comments about the shared teachings of Christianity and Hinduism. Ramaswamy is of Indian descent.
“He highlighted the similarities between the two faiths,” she said. “Ultimately, we’re not so different from each other.”
When it was Haley’s turn to speak, she discussed the 2015 shooting at a historic Black church in Charleston, South Carolina, where a white gunman killed nine Black worshipers. Haley mentioned her decision to remove the Confederate flag from the Statehouse after the shooter was seen posing proudly with the flag, and a racist manifesto he had written was discovered.
However, while recounting her decision to call for the flag’s removal, Haley criticized the national news media, claiming they “wanted to make it about race.”
“Half of South Carolinians saw the Confederate flag as tradition and heritage,” Haley said. “The other half of South Carolinians saw slavery and hate. This wasn’t about me judging either side.”
Most of Iowa’s statewide politicians have remained neutral in the Republican primary, although Governor Kim Reynolds has endorsed DeSantis. Feenstra is also considering making an endorsement but didn’t do so on Saturday.
However, the event’s congeniality made an impact on voters who expressed their exhaustion with the debates’ hostility.
Steve Rehder, 59, who is deciding between Haley and DeSantis, stated, “Instead of allowing them to squabble onstage, tell the candidates to answer the question and move on.”