When Iowa Democrats bungled the 2020 caucuses and the Democratic National Committee stripped the state of its first-in-the-nation status, there was a broad consensus that the era of the party’s presidential hopefuls traipsing to Des Moines and Cedar Rapids was over.
And yet, just over two years before the next presidential primaries begin, Democrats are once again parading to the cornfields.
For the earliest of these visitors, it seems to matter not that Iowa’s formal place at the front of the calendar is gone, and with it the state’s influence in picking the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
With President Trump in the White House dominating much of the political conversation and their party mired in the minority in Congress, Democrats in need of a national megaphone have concluded that they are more likely to be heard speaking in Des Moines than by giving another speech in Washington or to their constituents back home. A trip still signals — or shouts — bigger ambitions.
“Obviously, it’s not lost on me that Iowa has played an important role in our politics,” said Senator Chris Van Hollen, a Democrat from Maryland who this month flew to Iowa to criticize his colleagues for their delay in endorsing the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, Zohran Mamdani.
And in doing so, Mr. Van Hollen became the latest entrant in a very long list of Democrats being discussed as possible 2028 candidates.
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The post Iowa Matters Less Than Ever for Democrats, but They Can’t Quit It appeared first on New York Times.
