(Radio Iowa) – Virginia’s governor will headline an Iowa GOP fundraiser tonight, another in a growing list of potential 2028 presidential candidates making trips to the state that has been the starting line for presidential campaigns for decades. Iowa Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann has long argued Iowa’s position as the lead off state for presidential campaigns is stronger when both parties hold Caucuses on the same night and he’s “thrilled” the new Democratic leader in the Iowa House is talking about having Iowa Democrats again host first-in-the-nation Caucuses in 2028. “I haven’t had this much hope for probably a year and a half,” Kaufmann said. “I stand ready to tape my mouth and work with him.”

Jeff Kaufmann was re-elected chairman of the Republican Party of Iowa in January, a position he’s held since 2014. (RI photo)

Kaufmann said when he was a member of the Iowa House, he had a good working relationship with House Democratic Leader Brian Meyer, who was on the Iowa attorney general’s staff at the time. Iowa Democrats, in the past, have wrestled with ways to give Iowans who could not attend the Caucuses in person a way to participate. That’s a no go, according to Kaufmann. “They cannot have a mail in option because when you have a mail in option, that makes it a primary and automatically we’re set up against New Hampshire,” Kaufmann said.

New Hampshire has hosted the country’s first presidential primary since 1920. Iowa Republicans hosted lead-off Caucuses in 2024, but Iowa Democrats followed the campaign schedule laid out by President Biden that had other states go first. However, some Democrats who may run for president in the future have begun to appear here. Pete Buttigieg, the winner of the Iowa Democratic Party’s 2020 Caucuses, spoke to a large crowd in Cedar Rapids in May. Former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will be in Des Moines in September and Arizona Senator Ruben Gallego will visit the Iowa State Fair.

Tonight, the Iowa Republican Party will host Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin in Des Moines. Florida Senator Rick Scott spoke at a GOP fundraiser in Davenport in May. And Texas Senator Ted Cruz, the winner of the 2016 Iowa Caucuses, is scheduled to headline a fundraiser for Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird in August.