Caucus 2024: Abortion, social issues take back seat to Ukraine at Family Leadership Summit

Gov. Kim Reynolds signed into law a six-week abortion ban at one of Iowa’s largest gatherings of conservative Christians Friday, but issues of life and faith largely took a backseat in interviews with 2024 Republican presidential candidates.

Former Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson grilled a half-dozen White House hopefuls on Russia’s war with Ukraine, immigration policy and election security — at times exposing the candidates as being out of step with many in the crowd who cheered on the former Fox News commentator's tough questioning.

At the Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, an annual gathering of Iowa evangelicals, Carlson aggressively questioned U.S. Sen. Tim Scott on Russia’s war with Ukraine.

The audience applauded as he pressed former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson on his veto of a bill banning gender reassignment surgeries and other forms of gender-affirming care. And they booed when former Vice President Mike Pence said he believes it’s in the interest of the United States to aid the Ukrainian military.

Heritage Foundation executive Eric Teetsel acknowledged the combative atmosphere, introducing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley as someone “who, despite everything we’ve seen here today, is still willing to come up on stage.”

Joe McAllister, a 37-year-old Cedar Rapids resident who attended the event heaped praise on Carlson while calling some candidates, like Scott and Huchinson, “RINOs,” or “Republicans in name only.”

“He’s just a man that tells the truth,” McAllister said of Carlson. “It’s all I want to hear.”

Carlson didn’t ask a single question about abortion until Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took the stage in the final interview of the day — a surprising choice after the Iowa Legislature convened a rare special session to address the issue this week.

Reynolds even chose to sign the bill into law at Friday’s summit, drawing standing ovations from a crowd that she praised as having “lifted us up in prayer and grounded me in God's word.”

More: Most abortions now banned in Iowa after Gov. Kim Reynolds signs 'fetal heartbeat' law

Abortion is “the most important human rights cause of our time,” Reynolds said, adding that she is “proud to stand shoulder to shoulder” with the full slate of presidential candidates “united in our respect for life.”

DeSantis, who signed a similar six-week abortion ban into law in Florida, applauded Reynolds for standing firm on the issue. He said when he signed Florida’s law he lost some supporters and donors who thought it was a political liability.

“At the end of the day, you get into office to be able to do what's right, and you've got to stand on principle,” he said. “… If I had a chance to do it again, I'd do it every day of the week and twice on Sunday.”

Hutchinson briefly brought up the issue of abortion on his own, though in more muted terms.

"I want to congratulate Gov. Reynolds and the Legislature for the heartbeat bill that's going to be signed," Hutchinson said at the conclusion of his interview.

Candidates respond to Tucker Carlson's confrontational interviews

Carlson’s most confrontational interviews of the day were with Hutchinson and Pence.

Carlson, who has previously taken issue with Hutchinson’s veto of a gender-affirming care ban, grilled the former governor on the use of hormone treatments for adolescents as the crowd cheered him on.

The pair also debated border policy, with Carlson pressing Hutchinson to consider the U.S.-Mexico border as seriously as the border between Russia and Ukraine. He asked why Hutchinson wouldn't consider more aggressive options, like deploying the U.S. military.

"There's some candidates that advocate using the military to bomb the labs in Mexico," Hutchinson said. "Well, that is called an invasion. And I'd like to be able to do something short of invading a neighboring friendly country."

The audience appeared mostly to be on Carlson’s side.

After his on-stage appearance, Hutchinson told reporters it was a “healthy debate” that ultimately helped him gain some support in Iowa.

“You know, there's some candidates that chose not to appear here today,” he said. “Some people didn't want to be interviewed by Tucker Carlson. Others believe that maybe their policies are not in sync with the Iowa evangelical community. I believe in going on The View and defending your position and going here to Iowa and defending your position before this crowd. And so that, to me, is what robust debate is about and sometimes you get applause and sometimes you don't.”

Talking to Pence, Carlson questioned how he could look at the “public filth and disorder and crime” in American cities and still believe that the United States should be sending resources to Ukraine.

“Where’s the concern for the United States in that?” he said, drawing applause and cheers from the crowd.

Pence pushed back, holding his ground and occasionally speaking over Carlson.

“Anybody that says that we can't be the leader of the free world and solve our problems at home has a pretty small view of the greatest nation on Earth,” he said. “We can do both.”

Talking to reporters after the interview, Pence said he knows there are “strong opinions about American leadership in the world today.”

“And, frankly, when you have my former running mate and other leading candidates in this primary shying away from America’s role as leader of the free world, I understand that,” he said. “And I also understand the frustration that people have with the disastrous policies of the Biden administration at home and abroad.”

Focus on Ukraine overshadows abortion, social issues

The heavy focus on Ukraine kept candidates like Pence and Scott from talking about the issues that might naturally endear them to the Family Leader’s evangelical base.

Scott has made faith a key component of his campaign and has been courting Iowa evangelicals in behind-the-scenes meetings in the state.

He opened his remarks by joking that his mother always wanted his son to be a preacher, and he sprinkled his answers with references to Scripture.

But Carlson primarily pursued lines of questioning on Ukraine and immigration policy.

Scott said he does not believe the U.S. government should send troops to help defend Ukraine, but he dodged a question about whether he would send cluster bombs to aid in the effort.

The senator said the U.S. has a "national vital interest in the conflict and genocide in Ukraine," criticizing President Joe Biden's "inability to articulate" that fact.

But he was able to snatch an opening in the interview to share portions of his stump speech with the crowd, refocusing his remarks on the optimistic conservative vision he’s been campaigning on.

Pacing the stage, Scott derided the American left’s “culture of grievance” and “constant conflict.”

“America needs positive, powerful, biblically sound leadership to regain the high ground,” he said.

Scott is reportedly receiving new interest among big donors as DeSantis has so far failed to catch fire in Iowa and other early states.

Tucker Carlson’s approach seems to appeal to the crowd

Though it caught several candidates flat-footed, Carlson’s approach seemed to appeal to the crowd.

“Every single one of those interviews, Tucker did a very good job of pulling out what is important to us Americans,” said Tim Egli, a 46-year-old Wayland resident who attended the event. “But also, he was able to make it a good conversation and did it in a very professional way. And honestly, from a Christian’s value, from a Christian’s standpoint, the thing that really was important to me is that there was no belittling.”

Egli attended with his 18-year-old son, Ty, who will vote in his first presidential election this cycle

“I really wanted to see DeSantis come out swinging, and he did,” Ty Egli said. “So I was pretty impressed with that. But Vivek Ramaswamy and Nikki Haley really caught me off guard. I was really impressed with the way they handled the interview and just kind of how they handled themselves.”

He said Pence and Hutchinson seemed the most “defensive.”

“Some of their positions obviously were controversial with the audience,” he said.

In the second half of the program, which stretched over eight hours, the interviews took on a slightly more relaxed tone.

Haley and Carlson — who have had their differences — joked about the declassification of the JFK assassination and UFO records.

But Carlson also gently pressed Haley on election security, asking whether she believes Biden truly could have won the election over former President Donald Trump.

“I think we all know that there were irregularities in there and that there were some issues that happened,” Haley said. “… Do I think that changed the results of the election? No. I mean, I think President Biden ended up winning the election. But I think at the end of the day, it shows we've got a lot of work to do in terms of election integrity.”

A quiet murmuring rippled through the crowd, with some appearing skeptical of Haley’s statements.

Ramaswamy riffed with Carlson about an American “culture of censorship” that he said unfairly targets conservatives.

Asked whether he thinks Biden will be the Democrats’ nominee in 2024, Ramaswamy said that Democrats would not “let” Biden run against him.

“My gut instinct is that I will be the nominee in a position to win this in a landslide versus Biden,” he said. “And they will not let Biden run against me. … It's going to be a new puppet. Gavin Newsom, Michelle Obama, you name it. It doesn't matter to me though.”

DeSantis claimed the final speaking slot of the day — one stop in a two-day, seven-event swing through Iowa as he seeks to juice a campaign that has failed to gain ground in polling since he announced his bid in May.

In an effort to quash donors’ concerns, Desantis’ campaign issued a “confidential” memo in an effort that emphasized his focus on Iowa and the other early nominating states as a way to gain traction.

He appeared at ease during his interview with Carlson, speaking aggressively about the need to control the nation’s southern border.

“I wish the DC elites cared as much about our border as they do about the Ukraine-Russia border, because there's people pouring into this country,” he said. “… Yes, build the wall. But most importantly, authorize the border patrol, authorize our military to deal with the cartels. If they're breaking into our country bringing product, if I'm in charge, that's going to be the last thing they do because they're going to end up stone-cold dead.”

Trump was the only top-tier candidate not to attend the event.

He lashed out at Reynolds this week, criticizing her in a Truth Social post for choosing to remain neutral in the 2024 Iowa caucuses rather than endorsing his candidacy. The outburst followed a New York Times story that aired concerns from the Trump campaign that Reynolds has appeared too cozy with DeSantis.

According to an aide familiar with her schedule, Reynolds met privately with Scott, DeSantis, Haley and Ramaswamy while they were in town this week.

Des Moines Register reporters Galen Bacharier, Amanda Tugade and Stephen Gruber-Miller contributed to this report.

Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Register. Reach her at bpfann@dmreg.com or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Iowa Caucus 2024: Abortion takes back seat at Family Leadership Summit