Blizzard conditions, snow force Donald Trump and GOP candidates to adjust Friday plans

Republican presidential candidates have canceled their Friday events — just days before the Iowa Caucuses as they hoped to make their final pitches to caucusgoers — due to a blizzard warning affecting the entire state.

Others, like Former President Donald Trump, also are adjusting weekend plans as a blizzard warning set to expire at 6 a.m. Saturday was extended to 6 p.m.

Snow started falling in Des Moines just before midnight and travel was not advised in the metro area or areas to the east on Friday, according to the Iowa Department of Transportation. High winds and light snow were expected to make for blizzard conditions in the state and dangerously low temperatures were expected to follow.

Donald Trump campaign scraps three in-person events in favor of virtual rallies

Earlier Friday, the Trump campaign said it would hold weekend events as planned. But it announced Friday evening that they were cancelling three of four scheduled in-person rallies this weekend featuring the former president, in favor of virtual telerallies.

Previously scheduled rallies in Atlantic and Sioux City on Saturday, as well as in Cherokee on Sunday, have all been scrapped in favor of telerallies on Saturday evening, Sunday evening and Monday at noon. One in-person rally remains on the schedule, at noon Sunday in Indianola.

"Our volunteer grassroots team is as mobilized as ever and ready to bring home a historic win for President Trump on Monday, January 15," the campaign wrote in an email advising the schedule changes. "Nothing will keep our people from showing up to caucus for President Trump!"

Trump's campaign has advertised the Iowa rallies as "Commit to Caucus" events, at which attendees are heavily encouraged to sign a commit-to-caucus card and get involved with the campaign's organizing efforts.

A slate of surrogates and endorsers, including a number of U.S. House members, will hold a meet and greet event for supporters in Fort Dodge on Monday afternoon. Donald Trump Jr. will appear in Ankeny at the same time Monday.

A senior advisor to Trump's campaign, asked Wednesday by reporters about the coming winter storm and snow, had a simple response:

"Wear a coat," Chris LaCivita said.

"This is Iowa, they know how to handle the weather," he said. "We have a very committed group of voters who, as the president said numerous times,  would walk over glass to vote for him. So we know the intensity favors us."

LaCivita said the campaign had "old-school" contingencies in place to get supporters to caucus sites, including drivers and volunteers who can transport them in more severe weather.

"We have all that stuff planned, and we've been planning that. We haven't run our campaign exclusively on a spreadsheet, put it that way."

Nikki Haley held virtual town halls instead

Nikki Haley's campaign canceled three in-person events scheduled Friday in Fort Dodge, Le Mars and Council Bluffs due to the weather. Instead, campaign officials said they would be hosting telephone town halls.

“Stormy weather won’t stop us from ensuring Iowans hear Nikki’s vision for a strong and proud America,” Pat Garrett, a Haley spokesperson, said in a statement. “With only three days until the caucuses, we’re going to keep telling voters why they should Pick Nikki.”

Speaking virtually to callers who hoped to see her in Fort Dodge, the former United Nations ambassador and South Carolina governor apologized to them and joked about how she knows she’s not “in South Carolina anymore.”

“It is beyond cold,” she said.

During the nearly hourlong town hall, Haley dove into her usual stump speech on the economy, foreign policies and veteran homelessness and took questions from a handful of callers. Haley in the last week moved away from hosting town halls — a campaign staple — and held faster-paced events focused on encouraging people to caucus Jan. 15.

More: Iowa Caucus weather is expected to be bitterly cold - likely the coldest ever

Haley told the callers to come out Monday but urged them to be cautious and mindful of the expected sub-freezing temperatures.

“I know that on Jan. 15 it is going to be negative 19. I know it’s asking a lot of you to go out and caucus, but I also know we have a country to save.”

“If you go out, please remember to bring your ID with you. Please wear layers of clothes in case there’s a line so that you are staying safe,” she continued. “And please go in there and know that you are setting the tone for the country. All eyes are on Iowa because you set the tone for where our country goes from there, and that’s what the rest of the states listen to. I trust you.”

Ron DeSantis dropped by campaign headquarters

Ron DeSantis spoke at the Northside Conservative Club in Ankeny Friday morning alongside Gov. Kim Reynolds, but Never Back Down, the PAC supporting DeSantis' campaign, canceled the rest of his events for the day. DeSantis made an impromptu midday visit to his campaign office in Urbandale, though.He took questions from a small mob of reporters on the snowy steps outside the office, as snow fell and wind whipped past.“Nothing’s handed to you in this life, much less a presidential nomination,” he said. “So if you have to go and trudge through snow to be able to earn the vote, you trudge through snow to be able to earn the vote.”DeSantis flexed his commitment to holding events in all Iowa’s 99 counties. He said a strong ground game is essential when dealing with an eleventh-hour snowstorm and predicted sub-zero temperatures on Monday night.“There’s a machinery that goes with a caucus no matter what, but especially now with what the weather's gonna be like,” he said.Never Back Down, the PAC supporting DeSantis, canceled Friday events in Clear Lake, Marshalltown, Pella and Coralville.

Vivek Ramaswamy pledged to get to all scheduled events

However, candidate Vivek Ramaswamy said he would continue on with every event as "long as we can physically make it." His campaign went into a ditch earlier this week and needed the help of a passerby to get out.

Later Friday, his campaign decided to cancel a televised town hall for Gray TV in Sioux City, instead doing it remotely. He planned to move forward with public campaign events in Hubbard, Fort Dodge, Council Bluffs and West Des Moines.

More: Here's how the Iowa Caucuses work, who can caucus and where to caucus

Ramaswamy could not use his bus or plane Friday to get to events because of the snowy conditions, said campaign spokesperson Tricia McLaughlin. Instead his campaign used 4-wheel drive SUVs to travel “slow and safe,” she said. Ramaswamy’s campaign is limiting the distance staffers and volunteers travel, and is having fewer staff members than normal travel to events on Friday, McLaughlin said.

“We’re working hard to balance still working hard and toughing it out,” McLaughlin said. But safety is the campaign’s top priority, McLaughlin said. “People need to be safe.”

In 2016, a volunteer for Ben Carson's campaign died when a campaign vehicle lost control on an icy Interstate 80 and crossed the median.

Ramaswamy canceled three events during Tuesday’s snowstorm, McLaughlin said, though he spent that time calling people who had RSVP'd, she said. He also is doing interviews on local radio stations and holding virtual town halls to make up for events impacted by the weather.

More: Where are candidates campaigning in Iowa? See our Candidate Tracker here

Asa Hutchinson planned Iowa City event but venue closed

Asa Hutchinson's campaign canceled one event in Ottumwa on Tuesday for an earlier snowstorm this week. And on Friday, an Iowa City venue where he was scheduled to appear closed due to the weather, forcing the campaign to return to Des Moines, campaign manager Alison Williams said.

Earlier Friday, Hutchinson told the Register he had mostly been able to stick to his campaign itinerary and still planned to make a case to Iowa voters through Caucus Day.

"I was in Decorah last night for caucus recruitment and training and made it back before the next round of snow," Hutchinson said in a written statement Friday. "Today, we are making calls and continuing with the events for this evening and this weekend. At each stop I find new caucus goers for my campaign."

Hutchinson is scheduled to be in Clear Lake on Saturday afternoon before returning to Des Moines by Saturday evening.

Ryan Binkley also canceled his Friday events and held virtual meet-and-greets instead.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Blizzard forces GOP candidates to cancel Iowa Caucus events