Trump To Headline Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride

Gavin Aronsen/Iowa Informer

Donald Trump will headline Sen. Joni Ernst’s second annual Roast and Ride rally Aug. 27, Bloomberg reported today.

Ernst’s event, which last year hosted seven GOP presidential candidates at the Central Iowa Expo in Boone, is a successor of sorts to the annual steak fries held by Tom Harkin, whose U.S. Senate seat Ernst took over in 2015.

This year’s Roast and Ride will be held at the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines, following a 42-mile motorcycle ride to the event. Last year, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, one of the presidential candidates, rode with Ernst from the Big Barn Harley-Davidson in Des Moines to the Expo, but Trump will not join the ride this year, according to the Register.

The news is the latest sign that Iowa Republicans appear that they will stick by Trump even as other party leaders are urging that the GOP abandon Trump and focus on down-ballot races to preserve their congressional majorities.

Gavin Aronsen
Gavin Aronsen is an editor and reporter for and founding member of the Iowa Informer. He previously worked as a city reporter for the Ames Tribune, research assistant to investigative journalist Wayne Barrett at the Village Voice, and in various roles at Mother Jones, where his work contributed to a National Magazine Award nomination for the magazine's digital media coverage of the Occupy Wall Street movement. Email: garonsen [at] iowainformer [dot] com.