The 2024 Republican presidential contenders are growing increasingly concerned about the dangerously frigid weather that Iowans will be confronted with when they head to the polls on caucus day, acknowledging that temperatures could negatively impact anticipated turnout.
Iowa will have their coldest caucuses ever on Monday, as a dangerous Arctic blast dives into the central US this weekend and lasts through early next week. Monday is expected to be the coldest January day for Iowa in at least five years, with wind chills as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
The GOP campaigns are now scrambling to ensure their ground game strategy, and the expectations for what success will look like in Iowa, can withstand the bitter weather, according to a series of conversations with the candidates and their top advisers.
Iowans will wake up to temperatures more than 15 degrees below zero on Monday morning. Nearly the entire state will fail to climb above zero degrees Monday afternoon, the exception being the far southeastern portion of the state that may reach a degree or two above zero. This would be the first time since February of 2021 that the high temperature in Des Moines fails to reach zero degrees.
Add winds to this bitter cold and wind chill will reach life-threatening levels at minus 20 to minus 40 degrees for the entire day.
These extreme conditions could be dangerous for Iowans waiting to caucus and could also present accessibility issues — with some campaigns fearing caucusgoers’ cars will fail to start or break down on their way to their locations.
Holly Moeller, a 65-year-old Republican voter from Rock Rapids, Iowa, told CNN as she waited on the edges of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ town hall in Rock Rapids on Thursday that she doesn’t know if she’ll caucus Monday evening because of the weather. Moeller said she’s wary of venturing…
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