This week, Blaze Media announced that former Fox News host Tucker Carlson will be hosting a forum featuring some of the leading Republican presidential hopefuls.
The forum will take place in Des Moines on Friday as the candidates get ready for the Iowa caucus, which starts off the procession of states that will determine the Republican presidential nomination. Iowa Republicans will caucus on January 15.
The first Republican presidential debate will take place next month. Former President Donald Trump, the frontrunner for the Republican nod, has said he will not attend the debate and he will not take part in Friday’s forum.
However, Gov. Ron DeSantis, R-Fla., Trump’s closest competitor, will take part in the forum. So will former Gov. Nikki Haley, R-SC, former Vice President Mike Pence, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and U.S. Sen. Tim Scott, R-SC.
The forum will be held at the Family Leadership Summit, hosted by the Family Leader, a social and religious conservative group.
Social and religious conservatives play a large role in the Iowa Republican caucus, propelling former Gov. Mike Huckabee, R-Ark., former U.S. Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Penn., and U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to victory over the past two decades. With Cruz beating Trump in Iowa back in 2016, some of the Republican presidential candidates and their supporters see a win in the Hawkeye State as essential to upsetting the former president.
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