DES MOINES, Iowa —

Iowa Republicans have scheduled the party's presidential nominating caucuses for Jan. 15, 2024, putting the first votes of the next election a little more than six months away.

The Iowa Republican Party's state central committee voted unanimously Saturday to hold the leadoff contests on the third Monday in January — on the Martin Luther King Jr. Day federal holiday.

Though Republican presidential candidates have been campaigning in Iowa since last winter, there has been some uncertainty about when the traditional leadoff contests would be held. That is partly due to the Democratic National Committee's reshuffling of its calendar and dropping Iowa as its first contest.

The GOP date is earlier by several weeks than the past three Iowa caucuses, though not as early as 2008, when they were held just three days into the new year.

Caucuses, unlike primary elections, are contests planned, financed and carried out by the parties, not state election officials. The Iowa announcement Saturday allows New Hampshire, which has not set a primary election date yet, to protect its first-in-the-nation status, which is codified in state law that requires that contest to be held at least seven days ahead of any other primary.

Last month, South Carolina Republicans adopted Feb. 24 as the date for the traditional first Southern primary, leaving plenty of time for Nevada to schedule its Republican caucuses without crowding New Hampshire.

"We remain committed to maintaining Iowa's cherished first-in-the-nation caucuses, and look forward to holding a historic caucus in the coming months and defeating Joe Biden come November 2024," Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement.

Saturday's decision could have implications for both parties because Iowa Democrats had been waiting on the state's Republican Party to set its caucus date as they try to adjust to new DNC rules on the order of the 2024 presidential primary.

Iowa Democrats have proposed holding a caucus on the same day as the state's Republicans and allowing participants to vote for president via mail-in ballot. But Iowa Democrats have said they may not immediately release the results.

That could allow the state party to still hold the first-in-the-nation caucus without defying a new primary calendar endorsed by President Joe Biden and approved by the DNC that calls for South Carolina to replace Iowa in the leadoff spot and kick off primary voting on Feb. 3.

NEW YORK —

Ron DeSantis ' entry into the 2024 White House race against former President Donald Trump sets up a clash of the Republican Party's two leading figures as the Florida governor attempts to topple a man who has dominated the GOP for the last seven years.

Video above: Trump vs. DeSantis: Florida politicians, analysts weigh in on matchup

Trump, who has established himself as the clear front-runner for the Republican nomination, has spent the months since he launched his own campaign working to hobble the once-ascendant DeSantis, whom he and his team have long viewed as his most serious challenger. DeSantis so far has tried to remain above the fray, ignoring Trump's escalating attacks on everything from his record to his personality.

"The campaign is about to get a lot more intense. He can't just lay low in Tallahassee signing bills," said GOP strategist Alex Conant of DeSantis' strategy. "Now he has to hit the campaign trail, take media questions and punch back at his opponents."

But DeSantis, during a series of events Wednesday night launching his campaign, took only veiled swipes at his chief rival without mentioning him by name. It is a strategy reminiscent of 2016, when Trump's army of Republican rivals failed to go after the candidate directly for fear of alienating his supporters and assumed — wrongly — that he would flame out on his own.

"There is no substitute for victory. We must end the culture of losing that has infected the Republican Party in recent years," DeSantis said on a Twitter Spaces debut that was plagued by technical difficulties. "We must look forward, not backwards," he added.

Video below: A Trump, DeSantis timeline of how 2 Republican allies became bitter rivals

In an interview later with Fox News, he said he believed all candidates should participate in the planned GOP primary debates, which Trump has threatened to boycott. "Nobody's entitled to anything in this world," he said.

The rollout made clear that, at least for the time being, DeSantis intends to leave the dirty work of attacking Trump to his allies, who see openings that they plan to exploit, particularly on policy.

Now that he's officially in the race, DeSantis' well-funded super PAC is poised to intensify its attacks against the former president. His team plans to focus on policy differences between the two Republicans, making the case that Trump has "lurched left" on some issues — most notably, abortion.

"We're going to amplify him and his voice, and when necessary, contrast with the former president. But right now that contrast is really one is lurching left and one is fighting," said David Polyansky, senior adviser to the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down.

DeSantis' team believes Trump is particularly vulnerable with Republican primary voters on abortion. Although the former president appointed the Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade, he has drawn the ire of anti-abortion activists by refusing to say whether he supports a federal ban on the procedure.

While Trump has openly suggested that Republican candidates' hard-line stances led to GOP losses in last fall's midterms, DeSantis has leaned in even further on the issue, signing a six-week abortion ban in Florida — before most women know they are pregnant.

Video below: Former Vice President Mike Pence says experience sets him apart as Florida Gov. DeSantis enters presidential race

DeSantis and his backers must tread carefully: In order to win the nomination, he will need to assemble a coalition that includes both Trump critics and supporters. DeSantis risks alienating a large swath of the party if he goes after Trump too forcefully.

Acknowledging the challenge, DeSantis' super PAC plans to steer clear of criticism directly related to Trump's many legal entanglements. The Florida governor himself was stung earlier in the spring when he took a swipe at Trump, instead of defending him, following his New York indictment.

Trump, meanwhile, has spent months relentlessly attacking DeSantis, nicknaming him "Ron DeSanctimonious" and subjecting him to a daily onslaught of criticism on his Truth Social app and in ads.

Trump has repeatedly called out the Florida governor's votes to cut Social Security and Medicare when he served in Congress, arguing his record will make him unelectable in a general election. He has tried to undermine DeSantis' success as governor of Florida, claiming the state was "doing GREAT long before Ron DeSanctus got there." And he has pointed to the crime rate in some of the state's large cities and criticized DeSantis' handling of the COVID-19 pandemic — the issue that made DeSantis a conservative star.

Beyond policy, Trump has attacked DeSantis' character — accusing him of being "disloyal" after Trump helped DeSantis win his 2018 gubernatorial primary — and saying he "desperately needs a personality transplant and, to the best of my knowledge, they are not medically available yet."

Trump's allied super PAC, Make America Great Again Inc., has already spent millions on anti-DeSantis ads, and the group has no plans to change its strategy, given the fact that it has been treating DeSantis like a candidate for months already.

"Ron DeSantis' failed campaign launch is just another example that he's not ready for this critical moment," said spokesperson Alex Pfeiffer. "Voters don't yet know Ron DeSantis, but they'll find out he has a record of targeting Social Security, trying to raise taxes, and voting against border wall funding."

So far the effort appears to have paid off. Polls suggest Trump's support has only grown since earlier this year, while the appetite for DeSantis as an alternative has faded.

DeSantis' team largely dismisses Trump's early polling advantage given that the Florida governor only just became an official candidate. DeSantis said Wednesday he was prepared for the onslaught he faces.

"You can call me whatever you want. Just call me a winner," DeSantis said on Fox News. "There will be slings and arrows. I'm a big boy. I can take it."

Republican donor Dan Eberhart, who donated millions to Trump but is now supporting DeSantis, argued that Trump's continued attacks make clear the former president still sees DeSantis as a threat.

"Trump's fixation with DeSantis is proof that the Florida governor is a serious contender," he wrote in an email. "The former president spent more money attacking Gov. DeSantis before he was even a candidate than Trump did helping Republicans last cycle. Trump's biggest fear just came true."

Some voters, meanwhile, continue to have trouble reconciling the feud between two men who were once allies.

Wina Fernandez, who lives in Miami, said she'd prefer DeSantis and Trump run together on the same ticket, with DeSantis serving four years as vice president and then running for president in 2028.

"I would just love them as president and vice president. That would be an amazing thing. I would go out to the street and dance," she said.

But if she had to choose, she said, she would choose Trump.

"There's a lot of drama involving Trump. However, he started this movement. He started it all," she said. "DeSantis is young, and he still has time to work on things."

___

Associated Press writers Jonathan J. Cooper in Phoenix and Adriana Gomez Licon in Miami contributed to this report.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis said Tuesday that he has directed all state agencies under his purview to assist in the search for Gabby Petito's fiancé, Brian Laundrie.

Police in North Port, Florida, said Tuesday morning that investigators had returned to the Carlton Reserve to look for the 23-year-old man. Investigators also searched the 24,000-acre Florida nature preserve over the weekend.

A body matching Petito’s description was discovered near the Spread Creek Dispersed Camping Area in Wyoming over the weekend, months after the pair set out on a cross-country road trip.

Tuesday afternoon, the FBI announced that the Teton County Coroner’s Office had confirmed that the remains found were those of Petito. The coroner’s determined the manner of death was a homicide, but the cause of death remains pending.

Anyone with relevant information regarding this case is asked to submit it to the FBI online at tips.FBI.gov, or by phone at 1-800-CALL-FBI or 303-629-7171.

This story was originally published by staff at WTXL.

The tragedy in Surfside is exposing voters to a different side of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as he prepares for a reelection bid next year that could propel him into a presidential campaign.

He’s still the conservative populist who rarely parts with Donald Trump. But unlike the former president, DeSantis is showing he can tone down some of his most extreme partisan rhetoric during a disaster.

In the two weeks since the condo collapse, DeSantis has stood somberly with local officials, including Democrats, as they assessed the damage.

He nodded in agreement when President Joe Biden visited, and he skipped a rally headlined by Trump.

Trump's endorsement was vital to DeSantis winning the race for governor in 2018. But after a condo collapse that has killed at least 64 people, his work across the aisle with local officials has won him praise from leaders on the ground.

“The governor has been decisive. He’s been constant. He’s been collaborative,” Miami-Dade County Mayor Danielle Levine Cava, a Democrat who has sparred with DeSantis in the past, said in an interview with the Associated Press. “Hats off to the governor for how he has supported us in this crisis.”

Since assuming the role of governor in 2018, DeSantis has largely shaped his legacy in the mold of Trump. In recent months, he's signed legislation that increases punishments for protesters, particularly those who topple monuments. He also recently signed a bill that prohibits trans-female athletes from participating in women's or girl's sports in high school or college.

PENSACOLA, Fla. (WPTV) -- Gov. Ron DeSantis announced Wednesday that Florida will allocate resources to provide help to the states of Arizona and Texas in their efforts to secure the southern border.

During a news conference at the Escambia County Sheriff's Office in Pensacola, DeSantis said Florida is the first state to provide mutual aid to Arizona and Texas, whose Republican governors sent a letter seeking help after President Joe Biden rolled back the immigration policies of former President Donald Trump.

Standing in front of a podium with a sign affixed to it that read, "Secure our border, secure our states," DeSantis was joined by Attorney General Ashley Moody and sheriffs throughout Florida.

DeSantis said the action was necessary "because of the failure of the Biden administration to secure our southern border and, indeed, to really do anything constructive about what is going on in the southern border."

In making his case for why the issue is one that impacts the safety of all Florida residents, DeSantis referenced a May incident in Martin County in which an 82-year-old woman was "raped by a criminal illegal alien."

"I mean, how disgusting?" he said. "This guy had been arrested. (U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) had never -- was not willing to take him and remove him -- and so he ends up committing a dastardly act against an elderly resident in Martin County."

DeSantis cites Martin County rape case while touting need for border security

DeSantis said Florida has already sued the federal government for no longer honoring ICE detainers "because it's a dereliction of duty."

"The bottom line, though, is you are seeing increases in criminal activity, drug trafficking, human trafficking as a result of this failure," DeSantis said. "It is both a disaster and an emergency what is going on, and even the director of the FBI has admitted as such."

DeSantis said the Florida Highway Patrol, Florida Department of Law Enforcement, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, and nine other sheriff's agencies in the state have already committed to sending aid "so that they could do what the federal government is either unwilling or unable to do -- secure the border."

WPTV's Meghan McRoberts later spoke to Martin County Sheriff William Snyder, who confirmed that he would be sending deputies to the border.

Martin County sheriff promises to help at southern border

"The needs of the Martin County residents have to come first," Snyder told WPTV. "We're right on the verge of hurricane season. But when the governor of the state of Florida calls and says, 'Would you please assist other law enforcement agencies?' I felt like the right thing to do was to say yes. You know, we have to keep in mind that someday we may be in a situation where we need help."

The sheriffs in attendance spoke about the increase in crimes involving drugs like methamphetamine and criticized the Biden administration, saying it has "opened the flood gates to our country."

"Make no mistake: when the Biden administration began, it took a wrecking ball to the infrastructure controlling immigration in our southern border, and it left the devastation for the states to deal with, with no plan, no strategy, no enforcement action in place," Moody added.

WEAR

DeSantis called the situation at the border a "created crisis."

"This was a crisis created by going against policies that were working just because you don't like your predecessor," DeSantis, whose endorsement by Trump in 2018 helped him win the Republican gubernatorial nomination and, ultimately, the governor's office, said of the Biden administration.

Earlier in the day, the Florida Clemency Board pardoned any individuals who faced penalties for violating any county or municipal COVID-19 restrictions.

DeSantis, along with Moody and Chief Financial Officer Jimmy Patronis, supported the pardons. Agriculture Commissioner Nikki Fried, who is running against DeSantis in 2022, opposed them.

Among those pardoned was a Broward County gym owner who was arrested several times last year for not enforcing a countywide mask mandate amid the pandemic.

This story originally reported by Peter Burke on WPTV.com.