Reynolds: Voters Not Giving Trump A ‘Pass’ For Skipping Events; Need Fewer Candidates; Could Endorse

 Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds generated news waves this weekend over three things that she said during an interview about the Republican Party’s presidential primary.

Reynolds — who is the most powerful and influential Republican in Iowa — was asked by Fox News host Shannon Bream about Trump “skip[ping] a lot of the big stuff” in the state and whether voters in Iowa are “giving him a pass” to skip having to show up and put in the work.

“No,” Reynolds said. “I think they still, they expect him to be here, they want to interact, they want to interact with all of the candidates. We had great turnout at the Fair Side Chats. I had a lot of Iowans, and people outside of the state, come up and just say, ‘thank you for doing that, it was a great opportunity to hear from the candidates.’ And so, Iowans take it very seriously, they’re very knowledgable and they want to interact with the candidates.”

Bream noted that Reynold’s endorsement in the state is viewed as a “game changer” among the Republican presidential candidates and then she highlighted recent attacks that former President Donald Trump has made against Reynolds. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has defended Reynolds from the attacks.

Reynolds said that for now she is “remaining neutral” but she does not want to rule out making an endorsement because right now her focus is trying to  “encourage all of the candidates to come to Iowa.”

Reynolds responded to attacks from the former president during an interview earlier this month after he tried to take credit for her becoming the state’s governor.

“It’s actually Iowans who made the decision to elect me in a really tough year,” she said. “2018 was not a good year for Republicans. I squeaked by.”

Reynolds was later asked about a report that some donors are trying to pressure Georgia Governor Brian Kemp or Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin to get into the race.

“I think we have a great field of candidates right now, and I think we don’t need more candidates in the field,” Reynolds said. “We probably need less.”