DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) 鈥� will visit Iowa on Tuesday, marking his first visit since taking office to the state where Republicans will cast the first votes to pick their party鈥檚 next presidential nominee.
Vance, who is seen as for president in 2028, is making the trip to campaign on behalf of Republican Rep. to keep his Des Moines-area seat in the .
But the visit offers Vance an opportunity to test his reception before Iowa鈥檚 voters, whose give them an outsized role in determining the next presidential nominee. Campaigning for a local congressman in his role as the sitting vice president gives him an opening chance to make an impression on Iowa Republicans, seasoned evaluators of those who seek the nation鈥檚 highest office before the campaign begins in earnest.
Vance鈥檚 appearance comes days after Texas , who is also considered a possible 2028 candidate, spoke to a group of evangelical Christians who are influential in Iowa鈥檚 GOP contest.
Des Moines-based Jimmy Centers, a Republican political consultant, said the 2028 contest is 鈥渓ight-years away,鈥� but said the Republicans who hear Vance speak on Tuesday will be evaluating how he might measure up in an election for the White House.
鈥淚 certainly think, as of right now, Vice President Vance would probably be a straw-poll winner of Iowa Republicans for 2028. But I don鈥檛 think anyone is saying, 鈥榃e won鈥檛 consider anybody else,鈥欌�� Centers said.
Vance visit comes as higher prices for gas, fertilizer hit Iowans
Vance, who has not said whether he will run for the presidency in 2028, is scheduled to appear with Nunn at a manufacturing facility in Des Moines. His office did not comment on the trip’s impact on Vance’s political future.
The vice president鈥檚 visit follows to tout the administration鈥檚 tax cuts, part of a string of stops they鈥檙e making this year on ahead of the midterm elections that will determine control of Congress.
But Vance鈥檚 visit comes at a time when his own political prospects 鈥� and the message he鈥檚 expected to deliver on the economy 鈥� have been complicated by the .
The vice president, who has long been skeptical of foreign military interventions, has seemed a for which Trump has struggled to find an off-ramp. Iowans, like much of the rest of the country, are grappling with because of the conflict. But the state鈥檚 farmers are also feeling the pinch of from the war and have been hurt by the tariffs Trump has imposed.
While Iowa鈥檚 farmers have steadfastly supported the president, they have been looking to the White House for assurances that the current troubles won鈥檛 last.
Vance鈥檚 visit to Iowa was originally scheduled for last week, but the timing shifted because the House moved to pass a sweeping farm bill that Nunn was due to vote on.
The vice president also had been slated to appear last week at an Iowa State University event with , but the organization said it was not able to reschedule the event with the university until sometime in the fall.
It’s 鈥榓wfully, awfully early鈥� in the road to 2028
Kim Schmett, a longtime Iowa GOP activist, said the presidential cycle starts 鈥渄eceptively slow.鈥�
Republican figures testing the waters often drop by the Westside Conservative Club, which Schmett hosts, but he said it’s still too far out from the caucuses, which are typically held in January of the presidential election year.
He said Trump鈥檚 Make America Great Again political movement 鈥渋s very alive and going here鈥� in Iowa, which would benefit Vance 鈥� as well as Secretary of State Marco Rubio, who is .
鈥淚 think there鈥檚 going to be a lot of MAGA support,鈥� he said. 鈥淎nd Vice President Vance and Marco Rubio seem to be the recipients of where that is going at the moment.鈥�
But Schmett cautioned, 鈥渋t鈥檚 awfully, awfully early in the process.鈥�
On the Democratic side, at least half a dozen presidential prospects have been making visits to the states with the earliest presidential primary contests, including recent visits to Iowa by former Transportation Secretary and Michigan U.S. Sen. .
Meanwhile, potential Republican presidential candidates 鈥渁re treading very lightly,鈥� said GOP strategist Alex Conant, who worked on Marco Rubio鈥檚 2016 presidential campaign.
鈥淚 think Republicans are going to be very reluctant to get in Trump鈥檚 way until Trump gives the green light for the campaign to start,鈥� Conant said.
That means much of the groundwork to meet with donors or activists or recruit political staffers might happen slowly and subtly 鈥� for now.
After the midterms? Conant said: 鈥淚t鈥檒l be irresistible.鈥�
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Price reported from Washington.
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