Check Out my New Podcast: Chasing the Base
I'll be traveling around the country to talk to voters, starting in Iowa
Sunday services at Woodland Hills Church of Christ, a small evangelical church, just outside of Des Moines, Iowa are a time of prayer and reflection. This is also a congregation of voters and they often adjourn for lunch to talk about who they like best in the State's January 15th, nominating caucuses, whether they'll support Donald Trump's quest for another term in the White House.
I spoke with them last month for a new podcast series, “Chasing the Base,” which launched this weekend in The Wall Street Journal’s “What’s News” feed. You can check out the first episode here, and also subscribe to get future installments.
“Trump was the great revealer,” Lucy Vaughn told me at that lunch, only to be interrupted be some of her fellow congregants who said he was “tired of having to defend somebody who goes out of the way to be offensive.”
Last month’s trip to the Des Moines area was my first time in Iowa. I worked with Jessica Jupiter, a producer on the WSJ’s audio team, and Christian Monterrosa, who made beautiful photographs. We met with voters at campaign rallies for Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley (we missed Trump by a day), a GOP holiday party, that lunch in Altoona and a roundtable of pastors.
“I say, there's no such thing as a political issue. They're all a subset of spiritual issues,” Bill Tvedt, who has been a pastor in Oskaloosa for 30 years, told us.
All the voters I spoke with were weighing the same factors as they considered the candidates, but exactly how to balance the scale — that's a personal decision. And a lot of that skepticism from 2016 is still there. I also found that evangelical leaders were more likely to tilt away from Trump than their flocks.
On the podcast, you can also hear from my WSJ colleague John McCormick. He’s on the ground in Iowa — and on the front page of the WSJ weekend — reporting on how Donald Trump has an advantage in part because of his enduring appeal to rural voters, many of whom are evangelicals.
The caucuses take place on Monday night, in gyms and libraries and one living room. The state is gripped by record cold, which will complicate turnout. The most recent Iowa poll shows Trump maintaining a strong lead, but who finishes in second place and by what margin will also have a major impact on the race going forward.
TRIP NOTES: While in Iowa I ate “the Jethro,” which is a sandwich of chicken-fried pork tenderloin talked with pulled pork, ham and bacon. The sandwich and waffle fries lasted me three meals.
I also went to the World Food Prize Hall of Laureates, which honors the late Dr. Norman Borlaug. He won the Nobel Peace Prize for discovering a more resilient strain of wheat. I had never heard of Borlaug or his patron, John Ruan.
Iowa’s state Capitol building is massive, and visible from miles around. Outside the governor’s office was a display case with dolls representing all the state’s first ladies, as well as Kevin, the husband of current Gov. Kim Reynolds.
THE QUESTION: What is Iowa’s state nickname?
Know the answer? Drop me a line at jimmy.vielkind@gmail.com. Or just write with thoughts, feedback or to say hi.
THERE WAS NO RIGHT ANSWER to the last question about holiday traditions, but I was grateful to hear some fun ones from readers. Here’s to 2024!