Trump campaign slams Casey DeSantis’s push for out-of-state help in Iowa

Former President Trump’s campaign called out Casey DeSantis, the wife of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, over her push for out-of-state supporters to participate in next month’s Iowa caucuses. 

During an appearance alongside her husband on Fox News Friday, Casey DeSantis claimed that people don’t have to be residents of Iowa to participate in the upcoming caucus. She also encouraged mothers and grandmothers from other states to be part of the caucus. 

“We’re asking all of these moms and grandmoms to come from wherever it might be North Carolina, South Carolina and to descend upon the state of Iowa to be a part of the caucus because you do not have to be a resident of Iowa to be able to participate in the caucus,”  DeSantis told Fox News host Martha MacCallum. 

The Trump campaign slammed her call, accusing the DeSantises of “engaging in play-pretend politics.”

“Safe and secure elections are the bedrock of our democracy, and either the DeSantises are purposefully spreading false information or they are too uninformed about the Iowa Caucus to properly educate caucus-goers on how to participate in the process,” Trump’s campaign said in a statement on Saturday. “These people have no idea what they’re doing and are simply engaging in play-pretend politics.” 

The former president’s campaign also urged Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) — who recently endorsed DeSantis’s presidential campaign last month — to clarify the caucus rules and reaffirm that the DeSantises were wrong with what they claimed. 

“The DeSantises specifically said they were calling on their campaign coalition groups of out-of-state, non-Iowa residents to illegally ‘descend on the caucus’ and try to cast a vote,” Trump’s campaign statement reads, adding that it “strongly condemns their dirty and illegal tactics and implores all Trump supporters to be aware of the DeSantises’ openly stated plot to rig the Caucus through fraud.”

Trump’s MAGA political action committee (PAC) also had its own response to DeSantis’s claim. 

“Casey DeSantis’ embrace of voter fraud to salvage her husband’s failing campaign is not just wrong, it risks compromising the integrity of the Iowa Caucus,” Make America Great Again Inc. spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said in a statement. 

“This type of irresponsible and desperate rhetoric must be addressed by both Ron DeSantis and Governor Kim Reynolds, who campaigned for election integrity and was elected to protect the votes of Iowans. Both Governors DeSantis and Reynolds must reject and condemn these comments and apologize to the great people of Iowa!”

Casey DeSantis’ remarks also prompted the Iowa Republican Party to write in an X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter, post that people must be a “legal resident” of Iowa to participate in the state caucus.

In her own X post, DeSantis, while noting the residency requirements for caucus-goers, said that there are other ways for non-state residents to participate in the upcoming caucus, encouraging them to volunteer and sign up.

When reached for comment, the DeSantis campaign directed The Hill back to the Florida first lady’s previous comments.