On the evening of April 22, the Horizon Event Center outside Des Moines, Iowa, was packed.
It’s little wonder.
With many months still to go before the Hawkeye State holds its first-in-the-nation Republican presidential primary, likely and confirmed contenders for 2024 flocked to the Iowa Faith and Freedom Coalition’s 2023 Spring kick-off, hoping to show evangelical Christians and other religious conservatives that they care.
Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy laughs before taking the stage at the Vision ’24 National Conservative Forum in Charleston, S.C., on March 18, 2023. (Win McNamee/Getty Images)
Republican presidential candidate Perry Johnson attends the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
Former Vice President Mike Pence speaks at the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition in Clive, Iowa, on April 22, 2023. (Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times)
Former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), entrepreneurs Vivek Ramaswamy and Perry Johnson, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, and radio host Larry Elder were among the men and women who took the stage….