Vivek Ramaswamy completes 'Full Grassley' tour of all 99 Iowa counties twice, campaign says

Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy has completed his second tour of all 99 counties in Iowa, completing a "Full Grassley" twice, the campaign announced Tuesday.

Since Ramaswamy began campaigning in February, he has held or attended at least 318 events in Iowa, according to a list of events his campaign provided to the Des Moines Register. Ramaswamy completed his first "Full Grassley" tour of all of Iowa's 99 counties on Dec. 20.

Ramaswamy pledged in December that he would be the first presidential candidate to visit all 99 Iowa counties twice in less than a year.

During an event in Maquoketa Tuesday afternoon, Ramaswamy completed his second "Full Grassley" less than two weeks before Iowa's first-in-the-nation caucuses. Ramaswamy visited 19 counties three or more times since February, according the list provided to the Register.

The "Full Grassley" was coined by longtime U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, who travels to every Iowa county each year. Most of the events Ramaswamy attended were town halls held by his campaign, but he has also been to multiple private fundraisers or speeches at events held by county-level GOP chapters, the list shows.

Because some of the events aren't public, they do not appear on the Register's exclusive Candidate Tracker, which listed 252 public events the campaign scheduled through his Maquoketa appearance Tuesday.

"Becoming the first candidate to visit all 99 counties in Iowa, not once, but twice, is a testament to his steadfast work ethic and dedication to addressing voters' concerns in every corner of the state," said Ramaswamy's deputy communications director, Zach Henry. "He'll lead our country with the same passion and energy."

In December's Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll, 5% of likely Republican caucusgoers said Ramaswamy was their first choice for the GOP nomination. Former President Donald Trump had a commanding lead with 51%, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis was second with 19% and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley was third at 16%.

Ramaswamy has 25 more events scheduled in Iowa through next Monday. During Tuesday's event in Maquoketa, Ramaswamy said he thinks his campaign will deliver a "major surprise" during the Iowa Caucuses.

"Most of our supporters are not polled. Many of them are first-time caucusgoers," Ramaswamy said. "We're going to shock the system on Jan. 15 for the same reason that I think we're going to win the general election in a landslide."

Philip Joens covers retail, real estate and RAGBRAI for the Des Moines Register. He can be reached at 515-284-8184, pjoens@registermedia.com or on Twitter @Philip_Joens.

This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Vivek Ramaswamy campaigns in all 99 Iowa counties twice