Bernie Sanders gave high praise to his corn dog, Kamala Harris flipped pork chops, Julian Castro rode the bumper cars with his daughter and Joe Biden stopped for ice cream – all along with talking to voters and making the case for their candidacies at the Iowa State Fair.
Twenty Democratic candidates over four days descended upon Des Moines for the festivities, which kick off the countdown to the Iowa caucuses in February – the first contest in the battle for presidential nomination.
It’s the political event of the summer with its fried food, political pitches on the soap box, carnival rides and walking the fairgrounds to talk to voters all part of its experience.
Bernie Sanders eats a hot dog at the Iowa State Fair – ‘pretty good’ he said
Michael Bennet and his daughters ride the hang glider ride
Bill de Blasio also enjoyed a corn dog – and played fair games with his wife and son
Bernie Sanders, making his fair stop on Sunday, ate a corn dog while walking and talking to voters.
‘I’d like to make a major announcement – pretty good,’ he said waving the corn dog and talking with his mouth full.
A corn dog can be tricky to navigate in front of the photographers. The wrong angle can result in a not-so-flattering pic of the presidential contender.
But Sanders showed no such sign of concern, eating his corn dog with gusto.
Presidential candidates – and the hoards of photographers around them – are a usual sight to experience fair goers, who are happy to make their political opinions known.
‘Take my student loans away, Bernie. Take them far, far away. I don’t want to see them anymore,’ one fair goer yelled at Sanders, whose platform includes erasing student loans.
Julian Castro rode the bumper cars with his daughter Carina
Kamala Harris had a pork chop
Elizabeth Warren was careful not to get caught on camera eating her corn dog
Joe Biden bought himself and a little guy an ice cream
Michael Bennet and his daughter ride the bumper cars
Sanders was one of several contenders at the fair on Sunday, one of the biggest political days of the 11-day event.
Bill de Blasio was an enthusiastic visitor, eating a corn dog and tachoes, drinking lemonade and playing fair games.
The New York City mayor, like many of the candidates, brought his family with him. He played several games with his wife Chirlane McCray and son Dante. Dante easily beat his dad at a basketball fair game.
Michael Bennet brought his daughters with him.
The family enjoyed the bumper cars and a hang glider ride, along with corn dogs, which may not have been the best combination.
The Colorado senator looked a little ill on the high-flying ride, which takes riders up, down and all around.
Julian Castro, who brought his daughter Carina and son Cristian to the fair, said his favorite memory was the bumper cars.
‘My father, daughter and my wife and I had a good time on the bumper cars,’ he said, but he also lamented: ‘I didn’t get to anything though. I ended up leaving without eating anything.’
He explained: ‘The media got in my way.’
Along with the voters, reporters from across the country swarm the contenders as they walk the fair grounds, dressed in their best campaign casual, to show their of-the-people credentials.
At least Castro’s wife, Erica, and daughters got food though – cotton candy for the kids, chili cheese fritos for her, he said.
Cory Booker enjoyed the deep fried peanut butter and jelly so much he ordered it again
Andrew Yang ate a giant turkey leg
Tulsi Gabbard, a vegan, bought fried avocados during her fair visit
Kamala Harris had the full fair experience during her stop on Saturday, grilling meat, chowing down on pork chops and casting a corn kernel for herself in a 2020 poll, while a pack of press and supporters chased her around the venue.
‘Oh my God. It’s so good. It’s so good. And it’s moist,’ she said as she tore into her foo at the Iowa Pork Producers Association’s tent.
Her sister Maya Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff followed along.
‘I loved the pork chop. I want like four more of them,’ Emhoff told DailyMail.com as they walked along.
The Iowa Pork Producers Association tent is considered a must-stop for candidates. At nearly 50 million hogs a year, Iowa is the top-pork producing state in the nation. There 5,000 to 6,000 pork chops eaten a day at the fair, according to state fair organizers.
Food is a major part of the Iowa State Fair experience – as are selfies, hugs, and signing political memorabilia.
Over 70 foods are available on-a-stick, including pickles, corn dogs, cotton candy, veggie dogs, turkey drumsticks, fried pickles, hot bologna, deep fried candy bars, deep fried hot dogs, chocolate covered cheesecakes, pineapples, cornbrats, salads and hard-boiled eggs.
There’s even food options for those candidates with different dietary needs.
Amy Klobuchar eats Cheese Curds during her visit to the Iowa State Fair
Kirsten Gillibrand brought her son Henry to the fair
Tim Ryan brought his five-year-old son Brady
Candidates often run into each other at the fair – as did Amy Klobuchar and Kirsten Gillibrand
‘I had the fried avocado. I’m vegan so I was looking for the veggie options there,’ Tulsi Gabbard said.
Gabbard, who visited the fair Friday, had one of the awkward run ins that candidates can experience during their stop – talking to a voter who was wearing a political rival’s t-shirt. In her case, the guy was wearing a Yang t-shirt.
‘I like you too,’ he reassured her.
Then there are those fair goers who don’t recognize the candidate before them.
A little boy, who got his picture with Gabbard and his father, said afterward he didn’t know who Gabbard was.
‘Just know I’m cool,’ she told him.
Cory Booker, another vegan, found food options too.
He stopped at the ‘Veggie Time’ stand, where he bought a ‘Golden Fried PB&J.’
‘The best way to describe this is a little slice of heaven,’ he said, ordering a second one.
‘Do you guys ship those to Jersey?’ he asked the family that ran the booth.
He had his mom with him and took a whirl on the ferris wheel during his Saturday visit to the fair.
Kamala Harris grilled the pork chops at the Iowa Pork Producers Association tent in before eating one herself
Cory Booker, a vegan, found deep fried PB&J
Elizabeth Warren sips her beverage before speaking at the political soap box
Julian Castro and his Cristian tour the animal barns
Joe Biden hugs two young girls
Elizabeth Warren bought a corn dog for the road.
‘Nobody get injured over a corn dog,’ she told reporters, filming as they walked backwards, in case she took a bite of it.
She was careful not to get caught on camera chomping on it.
Andrew Yang enjoyed an enormous turkey leg.
‘Turkey leg was delicious. I miss it to this day,’ he said after his visit.
Yang, 44, is long time fan of turkey legs and said he’s had at least 18 in his life time.
‘I had 18 – which is an estimate based on the number of renaissance fairs and state fairs I’ve attended. Any place that sells a turkey leg is likely to have a customer in me,’ he said.
There were so many candidates at the fair, they couldn’t help but bump into one another.
Gillibrand ran into Amy Klobuchar other at the Iowa State Democratic Party tent on Saturday. The two senators exchanged hugs.
Klobuchar was spotted enjoying the cheese curds at the fair.
And, despite campaigning in Iowa, the senator had to get in a plug for her home state of Minnesota.
‘I’m going to have to smile and pretend that that butter cow is better than the butter sculpture carvings at the Minnesota State Fair. I will smile and do it,’ Klobuchar joked with reporters.
Kamala Harris picked up Tim Ryan’s son, Brady, 5, and gave him a hug at the fair
Cory Booker rode the ferris wheel
Tulsi Gabbard talks to a voter in an Andrew Yang t-shirt
Kirsten Gillibrand orders an ice cream cone
Tim Ryan and his family enjoy treats at the state fair
Jay Inslee, the governor of Washington, also got in a plug for his home state.
‘I can tell you that the best corn dogs east of the Washington State Fair are at the Iowa State Fair,’ he said.
Harris bumped into Tim Ryan, who was visiting the fair with his family after his soapbox speech.
She greeted him warmly, and, at one point, held his five-year-old son Brady as the two candidates chatted.
After they departed, the Ryan family moved on an ice cream stand, where Tim Ryan treated his son, Brady to a cold treat, before they were on the move again.
He later bought Brady a deep-fried hot dog on a stick.
Ryan tore pieces off of it, careful not to be caught shoving the oblong object into his mouth on national television. His curly-haired son on the other hand was all to happy to be photographed devouring it.
As the Ryan family made their way around the fairgrounds, Brady became the object of fairgoers’s affection, with one Iowan offering him some of her cheese curds.
Other fairgoers were baffled about the crowd asking ‘who is that?’ as the low-polling presidential candidate and his family chatted with future voters.
Kamala Harris grills pork chops at the Iowa State Fair
Kirsten Gillibrand also took a turn grilling chops
Gillibrand had her son Henry with her. He calls himself her ‘secretary of fun.’
Henry stopped at the voting booth where a person can put a corn kennel in a jar to support their favorite presidential candidate.
He teased his mom he might vote for Elizabeth Warren.
But Gillibrand guided his hand to right place, and he relented, dropping the kernel in the jar representing his mother.