Iowa governor says she’ll back Trump if he’s nominee

Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) said on Monday that she would back former President Trump if he wins the GOP presidential nomination. 

“I’ve made it clear that I will,” Reynolds, who’s supporting Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, told Fox News’s Neil Cavuto when asked if she shared former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley’s view that she would ultimately support whoever the GOP nominee was.  

“I’m a Republican, and you know, all of the candidates running are going to be better than what we have,” Reynolds continued. 

Cavuto pressed Reynolds, asking if she would support Trump in spire of the former president’s staunch criticism of Reynolds over her endorsement of DeSantis.

“… We’ve got to win. I mean, we are resilient people. This country is in trouble. Look at the southern border,” Reynolds said in response, while expressing confidence that DeSantis would win Iowa.  

“I just think, too, when you look at the direction of the country, I mean I believe it’s going to be Ron,” the Iowa Republican said. 

Trump has cast the Reynolds endorsement of DeSantis as a betrayal.

“I opened up the Governor position for Kim Reynolds, & when she fell behind, I ENDORSED her, did big Rallies, & she won,” Trump said in a post on his Truth Social platform in July before Reynolds announced her endorsement of DeSantis and was staying neutral in the primary. “Now, she wants to remain ‘NEUTRAL.’ I don’t invite her to events! DeSanctus down 45 points!” 

Trump vowed in November it would be “the end of her political career in that MAGA would never support her again” before she formally announced her endorsement of DeSantis. During a rally in Indianola, Iowa, before the Iowa caucuses, he called Reynolds “the least popular governor” and described her as “disloyal.” 

Trump is the heavy favorite in the Iowa caucuses.

An average of Iowa polls from Decision Desk HQ and The Hill shows Trump holding a wide lead over Haley and DeSantis in the Hawkeye State, with Trump at 53 percent, Haley at 18 percent and DeSantis at 16 percent.

Reynolds has previously said she would support Trump if he secured the GOP nomination, though she has spent the last few months touting DeSantis in Iowa.