While the frontrunner for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination didn’t hit the campaign trail on the Fourth of July, several of his competitors stumped in key early voting states on Independence Day.
A number of challengers to former President Donald Trump’s position atop the GOP primary polls descended on Iowa and New Hampshire to meet voters and make their cases for why they should be the party’s pick to challenge President Joe Biden in November of next year.
Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, one of the most recent entries into the 2024 contest, took the “race” to the White House somewhat literally – he ran a 5K race in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the state with the first in the nation caucuses.
“We’re hitting the ground running—quite literally,” Suarez wrote on Twitter on Tuesday morning, finishing the 3.1-mile race in 24:27, good for sixth place in his age group at a 7:52 / mile pace.
“Name another presidential candidate who can place 6th in a 5k with a 24 and a half minute run time,” he wrote in a subsequent post. The Miami mayor and his family also visited a monument for those wounded in combat before “rounding out this Fourth of July with family, friends, and fireworks” alongside Cedar Rapids Mayor Tiffany O'Donnell.
Elsewhere in Iowa, former Vice President Mike Pence, Trump’s one-time running mate, and his family participated in a July Fourth parade in Urbandale. The former Indiana governor called it “vitally important” to stump in the Hawkeye State.
“I can’t account for what other campaigns decided, but for me it was vitally important to be here where the journey to the White House always begins," he told reporters. "And to spend two miles, at times jogging uphill, to take our case to the people of Iowa, and I promise you we’re going to keep running that hard all the way to the finish.”
Pence’s visit kicks off a three-day swing in the crucial early voting state.
"At the end of the day, I will tell you, we just feel at home in Iowa," Pence told reporters, adding: “If I close my eyes and then opened them, you could convince me I’m still in Indiana. We’ve been to so many Fourth of July parades in communities just like Urbandale."
North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former California gubernatorial nominee Larry Elder also made appearances in Iowa on Tuesday.
In New Hampshire on Tuesday, it rained on Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis' parade -- literally. The chief rival to Trump's third White House bid, alongside his wife Casey and daughter Madison, got soaked while participating in a July Fourth parade in Merrimack. But the rain didn't seem to deter the DeSantis family, with photos from the event showing them smiling and gleefully greeting supporters.
"Each generation has got to step up and be a custodian of freedom. I think right now is our generation's time to do that, because freedom's been under assault in this country," DeSantis said, slamming the Biden administration, as well as the United States' education system and "corporate America."
South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott also participated in the Merrimack parade, writing on Twitter that he had a "blast" at the event.
"Not even the rain could stop us!" Scott wrote.
A spokesman for Trump's campaign told The New York Times that the former president's campaign would "have an overwhelming presence in various parades and patriotic events in Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina" on Tuesday, while noting that he held a rally in South Carolina on Saturday and will be in Iowa on Friday.
Biden, meanwhile, held a barbecue for active duty military families at the White House, highlighting their sacrifice as a reminder that freedom and democracy are not guaranteed, before hosting an Independence Day celebration.
"Today, we celebrate our independence. We celebrate our liberty and our freedom, and Jill and I are honored to spend the day with so many military families," Biden said. "You represent a link in the chain of honor that stretches back to our founding days. You are the sinew, the backbone, the reality of why we’re who we are. Unbreaking. Unbending."
"Throughout our history, you remind us that democracy is never, never, never guaranteed," the president added. "Every generation must fight to maintain it. We must always cherish it, defend it, and strengthen it."
