Republican candidates talk faith and freedom, avoid criticizing one another at Iowa forum

Sioux Center, Iowa (CNN) — Four Republican presidential candidates stuck to speaking about their faith and their families during a Saturday forum in western Iowa – a stark contrast from Wednesday’s contentious fourth GOP debate, when they spent much of the evening attacking one another.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley attended the “Faith and Family with the Feenstras” event hosted by GOP Rep. Randy Feenstra of Iowa, with less than six weeks to make an impression on caucusgoers before the state’s first-in-the-nation nominating contest.

At Dordt University in Sioux Center, DeSantis appeared with his wife, Casey DeSantis, and argued that Democrats want to establish a religion of “secular leftism.”

“And they want that to be the orthodoxy so that if you as a Christian or another faith, if your faith conflicts with their agenda, they expect you to bend the knee. That is not religious liberty as our Founding Fathers understood it,” he said.

Nikki Haley reflected on the 2015 mass shooting that killed nine congregants in a historically Black church in Charleston during her tenure as governor of South Carolina, emphasizing she believes in “faith and family and country” because “I’ve lived it.”

GOP rival Vivek Ramaswamy, who has been fielding questions about his Hindu religion from voters during his campaign events, talked in-depth about his faith before the evangelical crowd and acknowledged that his religion “ends up being an elephant in the room at times at events” because “that’s not been a norm for US presidents in the past.”

When asked whether his campaign would work with the “Christian vision to advance the Kingdom of God in America,” Ramaswamy said, “I don’t think that’s the job of the US president.”

“I’m not running for pastor, I wouldn’t be qualified to be pastor, but I am running to be the commander in chief and to be president,” he added.

Texas pastor Ryan Binkley – who has barely registered in the polls in Iowa and did not qualify for the debate earlier this week – introduced himself to the audience, argued that “America needs an economic revival and a spiritual revival,” and vowed to reform health care.

The event gave the candidates an opportunity to pitch their vision for the country before an audience in Sioux County, which went for former President Donald Trump by a whopping nearly 67 percentage points in the 2020 presidential election.

The GOP presidential field faces the challenge of trying to cut into Trump’s overwhelming lead in both state and national polls.

Much like the debate, Trump was elsewhere Saturday: He’s set to deliver the keynote speech for the New York Young Republican Club’s annual gala in New York City.

Other Republican candidates who did not attend Saturday’s event in Iowa were former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has prioritized campaigning in New Hampshire.

Feenstra, who was elected to Iowa’s 4th Congressional District in 2020, has made a point to hold events with some of the candidates invited to Saturday’s event. Other GOP members of Iowa’s congressional delegation, including US Sen. Joni Ernst and Reps. Ashley Hinson, Mariannette Miller-Meeks and Zach Nunn, have also hosted the candidates and introduced them at events.

Like the rest of the Iowa congressional delegation, Feenstra has not yet endorsed a presidential candidate. He told reporters after the event that he would consider endorsing “down the road.”

“We need a president who understands our values and will advance policies that support our families, defend our faith, and restore American prosperity,” the congressman said in a statement announcing the event.

The candidates will host other events in Iowa this weekend. DeSantis plans to attend a watch party later Saturday in Iowa for the 124th Army-Navy football game. And next week, he will participate in a CNN presidential town hall Tuesday in Des Moines.

Haley will host town halls in Spirit Lake and Clear Lake on Saturday, and another in Waukee on Sunday.

Following the Feenstra event, Ramaswamy will hold events in that part of the state, hitting Sibley, Primghar and Cherokee. He then will campaign in New Hampshire before returning to Iowa for a presidential town hall with CNN on Wednesday.

This story has been updated with additional developments.

CNN’s Ebony Davis contributed to this report.

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