Trumpworld descends on Iowa ahead of GOP caucuses to run up the score

The Trump campaign is dispatching dozens of current and former aides, lawmakers, and prominent supporters to Iowa next week as part of an effort to run up vote totals in the Feb. 3 caucuses, a contest Trump is already expected to win handily.

Acting chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, and Reps. Elise Stefanik, Jim Jordan, Mark Meadows, Liz Cheney, and others will be stumping for the Trump team just as Democrats descend on Iowa en masse for the caucuses. Former White House communications director Bill Shine, former adviser Corey Lewandowski, and former Energy Secretary Rick Perry will also be joining the Trump team’s efforts, along with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and at least 26 state lawmakers.

[Also read: Future relevance of Iowa caucuses in question]

It is one of several coordinated efforts by the president’s campaign in Iowa ahead of the caucuses, where Democrats expect a record turnout.

With no meaningful Republican challenger, Trump is expected to steamroll the Republican caucuses, a not unusual situation when an incumbent candidate with broad party support runs for reelection.

Trump won Iowa by just under 10 points in the 2016 general election, and as the Trump campaign told the Washington Examiner last week, a strong showing will help lay the groundwork for a win in Iowa come November.

On Thursday, Trump will be in Iowa for a rally four days before the caucuses, less than two weeks after campaign staff took a bus tour through the state.

The Women for Trump tour, led by Lara Trump, senior campaign adviser Mercedes Schlapp, and campaign national press secretary Kayleigh McEnany drew about 500 supporters in Des Moines, Iowa, on Jan. 16. “They told us this was all Democrats, but I think y’all have something different to say,” Lara Trump told a room that included both men and women.