Republican presidential candidate Asa Hutchinson says the party needs to shift away from former President Donald Trump because he’s "not the right leader for our future."
Hutchinson, the former governor of Arkansas, covered a variety of topics during his speech at the Des Moines Register Political Soapbox at the Iowa State Fair, including the U.S.-Mexico border and the fentanyl crisis, lowering taxes, inflation and combatting school violence.
But his attention shifted to Republican frontrunner Trump as he fielded a few questions from the audience.
Hutchinson says Iowans are going to be ones to start moving support away from Trump, who is currently leading in the polls.
"I believe after talking to Iowans all up and down here, that you're going to be the first state that moves away from Donald Trump," he said in a statement met with cheers from the audience.
He says it’s unfortunate Trump will not participate in the first Republican debate on Wednesday.
"I wish he would participate in the debate this week," he said. "So we could really have a discussion of the issues and where our party in our country is going. But he's chosen not to do that and actually have a competing event."
Trump has opted to skip the first debate for an interview with Tucker Carlson.
