A version on this story first appeared in the Decision Desk ‘24: Blake Burman’s Campaign View newsletter
(NewsNation) — Republican candidates will be off the campaign trail the next several days enjoying a short holiday break before the final sprint begins ahead of the first votes in the 2024 primary.
The Iowa caucuses are three weeks away on Jan. 15, with New Hampshire’s primary a week later.
The pause in campaigning comes after the candidates played a version of “Beat the Clock” this week. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley crisscrossed Iowa for most of the week, getting in as many events as they could. Meanwhile, former President Donald Trump held his second Iowa rally within a week.
In one of his last events of the week, DeSantis hit the holiday theme, recounting to his audience how he reassured his kids who are worried that Santa Claus might not be able to make it into the governor’s mansion.
“My kids are very concerned though about if there’s complications with the chimney. How does Santa get in? What happens if this happens? I said, ‘See guys, Santa knows how to troubleshoot. Don’t worry about that.'”
There was a more serious question everyone had to answer: How long to pause campaign activities and TV commercials. All the campaigns and super PACs had to weigh whether potential voters wanted to see a candidate or an ad blasting a fellow candidate while opening Christmas gifts.
Haley and DeSantis will be off the campaign trail through several days after Christmas. They will be back on the stump a few days after Christmas. Right now Trump’s next rallies are scheduled right after the New Year.
Several camps are staying on the airwaves, including some of the key super PACs.
“With only 26 days until the Iowa caucus, families are home watching TV and tuning into the most important” GOP contest in U.S. history, a representative of one of the super PACs tells NewsNation. The representative requested anonymity to freely discuss confidential strategy. “It’s critical to inform voters about the candidates they’ll be electing.”
Haley’s campaign will keep airing its commercials through the holidays, says a source with knowledge of the plans: ”Our ads are up and running!”
Especially active are the groups backing DeSantis. a new super PAC in support of him, Good Fight, is starting with a $1.3 million ad buy in Iowa with spots touting DeSantis’ biography and principles, NewsNation has learned. A separate pro-DeSantis group, Fight Right, is staying on the air in the Hawkeye state during the holiday period with attacking his opponents. In fact, it is starting a new commercial hitting Haley on China on Saturday, a source familiar with the group’s ads tells NewsNation.
This all comes with the once dominant super PAC in support of DeSantis, Never Back Down, now cancelling its own ad reservations in Iowa and New Hampshire for the next few months and instead will concentrate on field work to back his candidacy. Never Back Down has seen a series of staff shake-ups in recent weeks because sources had said DeSantis and his supporters were unhappy with the ads produced by Never Back Down.
“With only 26 days until the Iowa caucus, families are home watching TV and tuning into the most important” GOP contest in U.S. history, a representative of one of the super PACs tells NewsNation. The representative requested anonymity to freely discuss confidential strategy. “It’s critical to inform voters about the candidates they’ll be electing.”
The pro-Trump PAC, MAGA Inc., will air its ad in the New Hampshire area taking on Haley, who is gaining momentum there. “We’re running through this holiday period,” group spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt told NewsNation. The Fight Right group, which is backing DeSantis, will keep its two ads on the air in Iowa.
This is not the first election cycle where some campaign ads are running through the holidays.
“In 2008 and 2012, the caucus and primaries [were] scheduled so close to Christmas and New Year’s that you couldn’t truly disarm and leave the airwaves, but you could ensure the tone of your advertising was more positive and more reflective around the holiday,” says Republican consultant Kevin Madden, who served as spokesman for Mitt Romney’s presidential campaigns.
NewsNation’s Libbey Dean and Jackie Koppell contributed to this story.