A blizzard hitting Iowa today could upend campaigning and lower turnout for the Monday vote
What are the Iowa caucuses and how will they shape the 2024 US election?
Good morning US politics blog reader. This year’s Iowa Republican caucuses were already unusual in that polls have shown Donald Trump as the far-and-away leader for months. Today, a blizzard hitting the midwestern state could upend campaigning and lower turnout for the Monday vote, with implications for both Trump and his main challengers, the Florida governor, Ron DeSantis, and the ex-UN ambassador Nikki Haley. While candidates typically spend the days before the first-in-the-nation caucuses driving from town to town to meet voters, Haley has already canceled three events scheduled for today, citing the weather, and it would be no surprise if the others follow suit. There are also questions over whether the heavy snowfall expected to accompany the storm could affect turnout on Monday, when voters cast their ballots. We will try to decipher these questions, to the extent of our abilities, as the day wears on.
Here’s what else we are watching:
Are we going to have another government shutdown? Reports emerged yesterday that the Republican House speaker, Mike Johnson, at the urging of far-right lawmakers, wants to renegotiate a deal with Democrats on federal spending. Should he follow through, it will not only throw Congress into chaos, it will almost guarantee a partial shutdown beginning on 19 January.
Joe Biden is heading to Allentown, Pennsylvania, today, his second visit to the swing state in the space of a week. The president’s focus will be on small businesses, but unlike his visit to Valley Forge last Friday, he does not plan to speak.
The United States and Britain have bombed Yemen’s Houthis in retaliation for weeks of missile and drone attacks that have kept merchant ships out of the Red Sea. Follow our live blog for more on the unfolding hostilities.