Asa Hutchinson knows clock is ticking as he seeks donations for presidential campaign

On his first visit to an Iowa caucus staple, Pizza Ranch, Asa Hutchinson highlighted Iowa's "outsized" importance in choosing the country's next leader while attempting to woo voters.

Hutchinson, who has primarily divided his time between Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina since announcing his run for president in March, has made his goal clear: Get on the primary debate stage in August and land among the top five in the Iowa presidential caucuses.

The former Arkansas governor has consistently attracted crowds no larger than 50 to his Iowa events but has kept an optimistic outlook in his quest to lure voters and their donations.

But speaking to a huddle of eight people at "The Bunkhouse" event room at the pizza restaurant Tuesday in Newton, Hutchinson couldn't ignore the ticking clock counting down to the January caucuses.

"When I started coming here, probably three or four months ago, people were saying, 'Well, there's plenty of time, there's plenty of time,'" Hutchinson told the group. "All of a sudden, you're six months away, and, you know, I sense that people are much more interested. They know we've really got to evaluate the candidates."

Amid his usual stump about the economy, border protection and the fentanyl crisis, Hutchinson told attendees the current divisive political environment could make for the most "unpredictable election" of his lifetime.

He also flattered the group by spotlighting Iowa's importance in the election and praising the state's "old school values" such as family and faith, which he said reminded him of his home state of Arkansas.

"Iowa will have a very outsized role and responsibility in this election. And so that's why people spend time here. That's why I am here," he said.

Before taking questions, Hutchinson asked for campaign donations and volunteers while railing against the "terrible" debate requirements set by the Republican National Committee.

To make the debate stage in Milwaukee, Republican candidates must poll at 1% or higher in a certain number of polls and have a minimum of 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 individual donors from 20 states. Hutchinson has repeatedly declined to disclose how many donors he has reached so far.

Hutchinson has often noted that his nearly three decades' worth of experience in public service and government set him aside from his opponents. And since entering the race, Hutchinson has coined himself as one of the few candidates in the "non-Trump," lane and has been publicly critical of Trump's indictments.

Still, that take has been overshadowed by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who was quickly recognized as Trump's most vocal critic among the 2024 Republican challengers.

Nevada Mayor and Story County GOP Chair Brett Barker, who attended a Hutchinson event Tuesday morning in Nevada, said he was reminded of former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who similarly spoke to crowds of half-a-dozen people when he ran for president in 2008.

Barker told the Register he wouldn't count anybody out of the race, adding that sometimes, one-on-one face time can pay off.

"We've seen booms and busts. Candidates really, you know, peak, get a lot of buzz, and then fall off the map. And others have a slow build. So, it's hard to predict," he said. "We have a diverse and strong field and it'll be interesting to see who catches fire."

As the county GOP chair, Barker says he's remaining neutral during the primaries in efforts to give all candidates a fair shake.

Hutchinson tip-toes around 6-week abortion bans

On Tuesday morning, Hutchinson briefly made mention of the Iowa Legislature's approval of the "fetal heartbeat" bill passed Tuesday in an all-day special session but stopped short of sharing whether he supported the legislation.

The bill will ban nearly all abortions after roughly six weeks of pregnancy, severely curtailing Iowans' access to the procedure. Gov. Kim Reynolds has announced she will sign the measure Friday at the Family Leadership Summit, in front of an audience of conservative Christians, where a handful of candidates, including Hutchinson, will also speak.

"If you look at my governorship of Arkansas, I signed over 30 pro-life bills," Hutchinson said, as he spoke to a handful of people gathered at Copper Spaces, an event space in Nevada Tuesday morning. "And I know here in Iowa, you had your general assembly meeting on the heartbeat bill. Well, we have a very supportive pro-life legislation in Arkansas, that I signed."

When asked what type of federal abortion ban he would support in terms of a specific week limit, and how it would impact him in the general election, Hutchinson said without an ability to build national consensus, abortion decisions would likely remain in the power of the states.

Any federal ban would need to have "reasonable" exceptions and restrictions, he added, pointing to a 15-week abortion ban proposed by South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham last fall.

"If that passed Congress, I would sign it as long as it has the exceptions in place of the life of the mother and in cases of rape and incest," Hutchinson said.

When asked if he would sign a six-week ban, he replied: "That's not on the table right now, nationally, and let's see what the consensus is as to how it's developed in Congress."

Hutchinson: Economy is 'defining issue in 2024'

As with previous town halls across the state, Hutchinson named the economy as the "defining issue in 2024."

He took a jab at "Bidenomics" — a set of policies presented by President Joe Biden to boost public confidence in the economy — defining it as a slow-growth, high-interest rate and high-inflation economy.

At its root, the problem is "we're spending too much money at the federal level," Hutchinson said Tuesday.

He recalled his work as Arkansas governor in cutting 3,000 state employees and going from 42 to 15 departments in order to "save money" and be more "efficient." He also touted his ability to balance the budget" and lower the individual income tax rate 7%, down to 4.9% as governor.

If elected, Hutchinson says he plans to employ a similar tactic at a federal level by reducing the nondefense federal workforce by 10%.

Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on Twitter at @vbarreda2.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: As GOP debate looms, Asa Hutchinson seeks to garner support, donations