Top GOP candidates converge in Iowa for evangelical Christian forum that Trump is skipping

Three Republican presidential candidates gathered Friday at a proverbial Thanksgiving dinner in Iowa for a “family discussion” that falls in the middle of an increasingly contentious primary.

Shoulder-to-shoulder, rather than separated by podiums on a debate stage, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley engaged in a discussion on issues important to Iowa evangelicals at the Christian conservative Family Leader’s Thanksgiving forum.

The trio of candidates – who are jockeying to be seen as the top alternative to the GOP front-runner, former President Donald Trump – were asked about their faith, Israel, agriculture and energy. But one of the most prominent topics centered on abortion.

Haley – who, unlike many of her primary opponents says she does not back a national abortion ban – explained that she is “unapologetically pro-life,” but that she recognizes the limitations of trying to enact a national ban with a divided Congress.

At one point, Haley told the audience that were she still governor of South Carolina, she would sign a six-week abortion ban into law if the legislation reached her desk a remark that immediately drew a response from the Biden campaign.

“Nikki Haley is no moderate – she’s an anti-abortion MAGA extremist who wants to rip away women’s freedoms just like she did when she was South Carolina governor,” Biden campaign spokesman Ammar Moussa said in a statement.

The elephant in the room on Friday was the GOP front-runner’s absence. Trump skipped the forum despite receiving an invitation to participate, and instead will host his own rally in Fort Dodge, Iowa, on Saturday – a move in line with his snubs of other gatherings over the course of the campaign, including the three primary debates so far.

Trump also did not participate in the Thanksgiving forum in 2015 during his first presidential run, and he avoided another Family Leader event hosted earlier this year. The group’s CEO and president, Bob Vander Plaats, has been urging Republicans to move on from the former president.

The candidates were encouraged to keep it civil at the forum, with Vander Plaats telling the audience that the candidates were asked not to attack one another, could compliment “one another if it’s genuine, and we took all the sharp objects off the table.” However, Trump’s absence posed an opportunity for his rivals to take shots at him.

DeSantis, whose campaign has pursued an all-out strategy in the state in the hopes that a potential Iowa win could build enough momentum to carry him through the other primaries, attacked Trump’s candidacy as “high risk with low reward.”

“As a lame duck with poor personnel, and the distractions, it’s going to be hard for him to get this done,” DeSantis said. “My candidacy is lower risk, because we’ll run Biden ragged around this country, but high reward because you get a two-term conservative president who’s going to stand for your values and deliver for you for eight full years.”

Vander Plaats also briefly acknowledged Trump’s absence, telling the room, “You guys know that goes with Thanksgiving, right? And sometimes some guests don’t show up.”

In flouting conventional primary traditions, Trump has belittled his Republican rivals and attempted to paint his campaign as focused on a general election fight against President Joe Biden. “This event is no different,” a Trump adviser told CNN of the Family Leader forum, arguing that the campaign saw no upside to having the former president engage in any sort of debate alongside his opponents.

Trump continues to dominate in Iowa polling. A recent Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa poll found 43% of likely Republican caucusgoers picking Trump as their first choice, compared with 16% each for Haley and DeSantis. Ramaswamy trailed with 4%.

In one of the more personal moments of the night, DeSantis and Ramaswamy both shared stories about their wives’ respective miscarriages for the first time.

Ramaswamy also opened up to the Christian audience about his Hindu faith, and spoke about how it has instilled values in him that are similar to Christianity.

“So can I be a president who promotes Christianity across this country? I can’t for a number of reasons. I’m not Christian. I don’t think that’s actually what we should want the US president exactly doing either,” he said.

Heading into Friday, the prospect of whom Vander Plaats would ultimately endorse hung over the gathering. The longtime GOP powerbroker has thrown his weight behind the eventual winner of the past three Iowa caucuses not to feature an incumbent Republican president and is expected to endorse a candidate soon.

Vander Plaats has previously said that he’s discussed a possible endorsement with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, who recently gave the DeSantis campaign a welcome boost by announcing her support for the Florida governor. Speaking days before the third primary debate in Miami, Reynolds said there was “too much at stake” to remain neutral in the caucuses as past Iowa governors had done.

Vander Plaats has said that Reynolds’ decision to back DeSantis will influence his pick, leaving the Florida governor’s camp hopeful he will ultimately secure Vander Plaats’ endorsement, according to a source familiar with the campaign’s thinking.

CNN’s Steve Contorno, Jeff Zeleny and Aaron Pellish contributed to this report.