

Read this article for free!
Plus get unlimited access to thousands of articles, videos and more with your free account!
Please enter a valid email address.
By entering your email, you are agreeing to Fox News Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, which includes our Notice of Financial Incentive. To access the content, check your email and follow the instructions provided.
DES MOINES, Iowa – Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis starts his Tuesday in his home state, performing his gubernatorial duties as he delivers the State of the State address in Tallahassee.
But hours later, the Republican presidential candidate will return to the campaign trail in Iowa, where he’ll take part in a Fox News town hall.
DeSantis will take questions from “Special Report” chief political anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” executive editor and anchor Martha MacCallum, and also field questions from members of the live audience at the town hall in Des Moines, Iowa’s capital and largest city.
DeSantis, who won an overwhelming victory 14 months ago to clinch a second four-year term steering Florida, was for months solidly in second place in the race for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, behind former President Trump, who’s the commanding front-runner.
HALEY FIRES BACK AT TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND BIDEN AT FOX NEWS TOWN HALL IN IOWA
But after a series of setbacks over the summer, which triggered weeks of negative stories spotlighting his campaign’s overspending, staff layoffs, change of leadership and other issues, DeSantis saw his support in the polls erode.
Rival Nikki Haley, the former South Carolina governor who served as ambassador to the United Nations in the Trump administration, in recent weeks has caught up with DeSantis for second place in the polls in Iowa — whose Jan. 15 caucuses lead off the GOP nominating calendar — and in national surveys.
GREAT EXPECTATIONS: THE PRESSURE’S ON FOR TRUMP, DESANTIS, AND HALEY TO PERFORM IN IOWA’S CAUCUSES
Haley also surpassed DeSantis and surged to second place and narrowed the gap with Trump in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary — just eight days after Iowa.
DeSantis has staked his shot at the nomination on a strong showing in Iowa and has, for weeks, predicted a victory in the Hawkeye State.
“We’re going to win here in Iowa,” he told Fox News Digital on the campaign trail in the eastern part of the state the week before Christmas.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
And he predicted the caucuses “will be very clarifying in terms of who is a real deal and who’s not. So, we look forward to that.”
But in recent days, DeSantis appears to have tempered his expectations, telling Fox News on Sunday that “we’re gonna have a good showing here.”
Haley joined Fox News on Monday for a similar town hall, with Trump taking questions from Baier and MacCallum on Wednesday.
Paul Steinhauser is a politics reporter based in New Hampshire.
Canada's Liberal Party is projected to win the country's federal election for the fourth consecutive time. The Liberals are led by Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney, who took over after Justin Trudeau resigned. As of late Monday, the Liberal Party was also
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C., issued a ruling Monday to restore a lower court’s order barring the Trump administration’s planned mass layoffs at the Consumer Financial Protections Bureau (CFPB). The court ruled 2-1 to restore an earlier ruling
Pakistan’s defense minister on Monday said he believes an incursion by India is "imminent" as tensions remain heightened following a militant attack in India’s Kashmir region last week, which saw the killing of 26 people, first reported Reuters. India, which has