距离提名竞争开始还有六个月，总统候选人再次聚集在爱荷华州，这是全国第一个共和党初选州，其令人垂涎的提名仍然有待争夺。
周五晚上，共和党候选人将蜂拥至该州首府得梅因参加由爱荷华州共和党主办的林肯晚宴。有13名候选人出席，这次活动标志着今年以来该州最大的竞选集会之一。每位候选人将有10分钟时间向人群发表讲话。
这一事件的高潮是前总统唐纳德·特朗普，他在爱荷华州的存在自他开始以来一直受到密切关注本月早些时候与爱荷华州州长金·雷诺兹的口角。特朗普已经在社交媒体上批评雷诺兹在提名竞争中保持中立，声称他的支持让她在2018年赢得了办公室。
从那以后，特朗普拒绝参加该州的几个高调活动，如上周的保守的福音派家庭领袖峰会，并在很大程度上没有与当地领导人接触的情况下开展竞选活动。特朗普计划参加8月份的爱荷华州博览会，同时拒绝与雷诺兹坐下来进行一对一公开谈话的邀请，这是对州长的最新冷落。
据报道，特朗普在该州仍保持健康领先截至5月38日，全州范围内的民意调查已经完成在爱荷华州共和党人中获得了约50%的支持。佛罗里达州州长罗恩·德桑蒂斯位居第二，支持率约为15%，其次是南卡罗来纳州参议员蒂姆·斯科特，支持率约为10%。
唯一缺席周五晚上节目的主要候选人是前新泽西州长克里斯·克里斯蒂，他说他的竞选努力集中在新罕布什尔州，共和党初选中的第二个州，而不是爱荷华州。
与此同时，在城市的另一边，副总统卡玛拉·哈里斯将参加一个圆桌会议，与当地活动家讨论堕胎权利。爱荷华州最近颁布了一项法律，禁止在大多数人知道自己怀孕之前怀孕六周堕胎。哈里斯的一名发言人将该法律称为“共和党极端主义”的一个例子。这法律当前被阻止随着一场法律诉讼在法庭上进行。
除了即将到来的林肯晚宴，多名候选人正在爱荷华州举行其他竞选活动。
德桑蒂斯本周将在爱荷华州南部举办五场竞选活动。分析人士一度猜测，德桑蒂斯将是特朗普最强有力的挑战者。但是这场运动已经与争议斗争了几个星期——最近，包括佛罗里达州的新非裔美国人历史课程批评者说这淡化了人类奴役的恐怖，并揭示了一部以纳粹形象为特色的支持德桑蒂斯的视频是由他的一名现已被解雇的员工创建的。
虽然德桑蒂斯的竞选活动试图“重启”，斯科特似乎正在民意调查中接近佛罗里达州州长。斯科特将于周四与爱荷华州州长金·雷诺兹一起主持一场活动。
2022年11月15日，在佛罗里达州奥兰多举行的共和党州长协会会议上，爱荷华州州长金·雷诺兹参加了小组讨论。
Phelan M. Ebenhack/AP，文件
周五，特朗普将在得梅因郊区的厄本代尔举行活动，庆祝他在爱荷华州的新竞选办公室的开幕。
同样在周五，一个专注于创业的论坛将迎来四位不太知名的候选人:电台名人拉里·埃尔德、前阿肯色州州长阿萨·哈钦森、商人佩里·约翰逊和迈阿密市长弗朗西斯·苏亚雷斯。
Presidential candidates converge on Iowa for a week full of events
With six months until nomination contests begin, presidential candidates are once again converging on Iowa, the first-in-the-nation Republican primary state whose coveted nomination remains up for grabs.
On Friday night, GOP candidates will flock to the state's capital of Des Moines for the Lincoln Dinner, an event hosted by the Iowa Republican Party. With 13 candidates in attendance, the event marks one of the largest campaign gatherings in the state so far this year. Each candidate will have 10 minutes to address the crowd.
Capping off that event is former President Donald Trump, whose presence in Iowa has been closely watched since he begana spat with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds earlier this month. Trump hascriticized Reynolds on social mediafor remaining neutral in the nomination contest, claiming that his endorsement allowed her to win the office in 2018.
Since then, Trump has declined to attend several high-profile events in the state, like last week's conservative evangelical Family Leadership Summit, and has been campaigning largely without engagement with local leadership. In the latest snub to the governor, Trump plans to attend the Iowa State Fair in August while declining an invitation to sit down with Reynolds for a one-on-one public conversation.
Trump remains a healthy lead in the state, according tostatewide polling amassed by FiveThirtyEight, garnering about 50% support among Iowa Republicans. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is the next most popular with around 15% support, followed by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott with about 10%.
The only major candidate absent from Friday night's program is Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor who says his campaign efforts are focused on New Hampshire, the second state in Republicans' primary lineup, rather than in Iowa.
Meanwhile, across town, Vice President Kamala Harris will attend a roundtable discussion about abortion rights with local activists. Iowa recently enacted a law that would ban abortion as early as six weeks of pregnancy, before most people know that they are pregnant. A Harris spokesperson has called the law an example of "Republican extremism." Thelaw is currently blockedas a legal challenge moves through the courts.
Aside from the upcoming Lincoln Dinner, multiple candidates are holding other campaign events in Iowa.
DeSantis will host five campaign stops throughout southern Iowa this week. Analysts once speculated that DeSantis would be the strongest challenger to Trump. But the campaign has battled controversy for weeks – most recently, over issues including Florida's newAfrican American history curriculum, which critics say downplays the horrors of human slavery, and the revelation thata pro-DeSantis video featuring Nazi imagerywas created by one of his now-fired staffers.
While the DeSantis campaign attempts a "reboot," Scott appears to be gaining on the Florida governor in the polls. Scott will host an event with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds on Thursday.
On Friday, Trump will hold an event celebrating the opening of his new Iowa campaign office in Urbandale, a suburb of Des Moines.
Also on Friday, a forum focused on entrepreneurship will see visits from four lesser-known candidates: Radio personality Larry Elder, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, businessman Perry Johnson, and Miami Mayor Francis Suarez.
