Democrats with ambitions for the White House have their sights set on Iowa, The Hill reports.
"Iowa has taken on an outsized importance in the last several years for Democrats," David Wade, Democratic strategist and former aide to presidential nominee John Kerry, said Monday. "There used to be a myth that a Democrat could skip Iowa and win the nomination anyways, because Bill Clinton skipped the caucuses in 1992. But John Kerry in 2004 and Barack Obama in 2008 demonstrated that an early and unlikely win in Iowa could set the story for almost the entire primary season.”
In 2017, prominent Democrats including New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, and Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent who caucuses with the Democrats, all visited the state.
"You have to start early," Wade added. "It’s a state that rewards on-the-ground time and investment of resources and with a large Democratic field expected, every supporter in every precinct and county really counts. You want to be building those inroads early."
Although other high-profile potential candidates, including Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand of New York, Cory Booker of New Jersey, and Kamala Harris of California, have not ventured out to the Hawkeye State yet, Pat Rynard, the founder of Democratic news site IowaStartingLine.com, told the Hill that they’ll make appearances soon.
"Back before the 2016 cycle, Hillary Clinton's potential run scared a lot of people from dipping their toes in Iowa waters," Rynard said. "It's definitely different this time for a number of reasons. For one thing, the 2020 primary is going to be a free-for-all and if you're running for president, you might as well jump in now."
"Anytime you have a party out of power and the talk of so many candidates, it would make sense that some would get an early start," added Adam Parkhomenko, the Democratic strategist who co-founded Ready for Hillary. "Organizing does not take place overnight and for many that are looking at running for president the first time, they don’t have the existing relationships there. And it’s a state where you really have to prove yourself."