Republican voters, this is your time to shine. Pick your presidential candidate wisely.

This one is for the Republican voters. Not the people who say they’re Republican or conservative. Not the Democrats in their feelings about President Joe Biden. Honestly, not even the mythical independent voter who is waiting for a moment to pick a side.

No, this goes out to the people registered as Republican and who will actually vote. Those who will send in a ballot or stand in lines to be heard. For this week, I'm especially thinking about the good people in Iowa who will be watching the Republican debate and who will take part in the caucus next week.

Your time to shine is near. After all the debating and pontificating about whether democracy is at stake with your presidential nomination pick, it's finally time to start sorting things out and I couldn’t be more excited.

Why? I’m not a Republican. I don’t really have a dog in this fight. I don’t have a say or want to have a say on who the party puts up against Biden.

Well, it’s like this. Polls and political experts have been saying for months now that Donald Trump will be the Republican presidential nominee. Nikki Haley is surging, but it’s just assumed that Trump is the one.

All that goes out the window once voters start voting.

Trump paid me to find voter fraud. Then he lied after I found 2020 election wasn't stolen.

It doesn’t matter what Fox News says. It doesn’t matter what MSNBC says. It just doesn’t matter what CNN says. We’re entering the phase of the election where it only matters what Republican voters say.

This is your time to do that democracy thing everybody is worried about and it’s kind of cool. I’ll be watching from the outside with great interest. The rest of us have a ton of opinions about what the Republican Party is becoming and what ideals and policies have taken hold. Now we get to see what you think.

Happy primary season, Republicans. Choose wisely.

Louie Villalobos is Deputy Opinion Editor for USA TODAY.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: All eyes are on Iowa ahead of GOP caucus. Republicans, choose wisely