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Donald Trump Back in Iowa with Support of State GOP Leaders

Clay Masters
/
IPR
Donald Trump speaks to thousands in Cedar Rapids on his first trip to Iowa since winning the Republican nomination.

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump was in Iowa last night, speaking just before his rival Hillary Clinton accepted the Democratic presidential nomination. This was Trump’s first trip to the state since coming in second in the state’s kick-off caucuses.

Trump told thousands packed in a hotel convention room in downtown Cedar Rapids he learned a lot from Iowa.

"I went around for two months even after I won in New Hampshire. I kept going back to Iowa," Trump told the crowd. "I’d go what happened?"

Trump told the crowd he would've won Iowa if it weren't a caucus state. The businessman hit many of the same talking points he did when he campaigned here ahead of the caucuses – like building a wall along the Mexican border.

He says Democrats at their convention were looking through rose colored glasses and not telling the truth.

“But I watched. And I saw lies. How would you like to be me watching television?" Trump asks the crowd. "Every one of these guys... I mean professional politicians they get up and they go crazy.”

Trump told the crowd Bernie Sanders made a deal with the devil and speculates he’ll get some of his supporters in the general election.

Larry Riley, semi-retired from construction, is from Springville, Iowa and was in the crowd. He’s a lifelong Democrat who caucused for Clinton in February. Now he plans to vote for Trump in the general election.

“Mainly the trust factor, I guess," Riley says. "I don’t believe anything she says.”

Kathy Simmons of Marion is in HR and payroll at a small software company in Cedar Rapids. She's backed Trump since the caucuses. She says the Affordable Care Act has hurt her small business. 

"Small companies had to spend a ton of money this year in order to create the reporting capabilities," Simmons says. "My insurance costs certainly have gone up."

 Governor Terry Branstad, U.S. Senator Joni Ernst and Republican Party chairman Jeff Kaufmann all spoke about electing Donald Trump ahead of the presidential candidate's speech. 

Earlier in the day Trump was in Davenport. 

Iowa is a toss-up state in the general election.

Clay Masters is the senior politics reporter for MPR News.