Gov. Kim Reynolds deployed more than 100 Iowa National Guard soldiers to Texas on Wednesday. They will assist at the U.S.-Mexico border for the next month.

The governor plans to use the federal funding allocated to Iowa from the American Rescue Plan. States are given flexibility in how the funding can be use as long as it supports the provision of government services.

A group of Iowa State Patrol officers will be sent to Texas by the Iowa Department of Public Safety on August 31 to support the Texas State Patrol. That deployment will end on October 2.

109 soldiers from Iowa will be tasked with “deterring illegal border crossings and preventing the trafficking of illegal substances by cartels through Texas.” The news release said they will remain in Texas until September 1.

Governor Reynolds, a Republican, announced in May that troops would be sent to the border to answer a request for assistance from Texas Governor Greg Abbott. Iowa joins at least a half a dozen red states in sending personnel to the border to support Operation Lone Star.

The Iowa state troopers will “support Texas State Troopers with criminal interdiction, crime prevention, traffic enforcement and law enforcement assistance,” the news release states. Iowa is also sending an investigative team to assist with Texas’ investigations of narcotics, weapons and human trafficking.

This is not the first time that Governor Reynolds stepped up and answered a request for help by Governor Abbott. She deployed 28 Iowa State Patrol troopers to the southern border in the Del Rio area in southwest Texas. That deployment lasted for 14 days. They helped disrupt criminal networks and investigated human smuggling, they accompanied Texas law enforcement on patrols, and they assisted with humanitarian efforts.

Governor Reynolds speaks bluntly about the Biden border crisis.

“On his first day in office, President Biden reversed commonsense policies that protected the U.S. Southern border and American citizens,” Reynolds said in a statement. “Since that time, our country has experienced a historic rise in illegal immigrants and illicit drugs entering our country. Two years later, every state is a border state, and Iowa’s unique location at the intersection of two major interstates makes it a target for human traffickers and drug cartels.”

She’s not wrong. I wish more states would speak out and act to help secure the southern border like Iowa is doing. They probably will as the Biden border crisis continues to spread out across the country.

Governor Reynolds is popular in Iowa. She easily won re-election last November. She is also playing an active role in the Republican presidential primary process. She said she will not endorse a candidate during the primary but has participated in events that spotlight candidates. Next week, she will do a series of interviews with primary candidates at the Iowa State Fair. All of the candidates have been invited.

Reynolds invited the entire field of more than a dozen Republican White House hopefuls to join her for mid-August “Fair Side Chats” at the Iowa State Fair. The Iowa State Fair, held annually in August at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines, has been a must-stop for decades for presidential contenders of both major political parties in the year ahead of the nominating contests. Democrats, though, have banished Iowa to the middle of their 2024 nominating calendar, making the Republican contest a focal point of attention.

Reynolds’s interviews will take place at JR’s SouthPork Ranch at the fairgrounds.

The interviews begin on Thursday, August 10 and go through Friday, August 18. First up is Larry Elder on the 10th. On August 11, Doug Burgum, Mike Pence, and Francis Suarez will be interviewed. Saturday, August 12 will be Vivek Ramaswamy’s interview, followed by Nikki Haley, and Ron DeSantis. Tuesday, August 15 will bring interviews with Asa Hutchinson, Texas-based businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley, and Tim Scott. The final interviews will be on Friday, August 18 with Perry Johnson and Will Hurd.

Notice anyone missing from the list, besides Chris Christie? Donald Trump hasn’t committed to participating. He is currently upset with Reynolds because she hasn’t endorsed him. She hasn’t endorsed anyone and said she won’t during the primary, but Trump thinks she is being disloyal to him. Trump thinks she owes him because he chose her former boss, Governor Terry Branstad, as U.S. ambassador to China in 2017. That elevated then-Lt. Governor Reynolds to governor and then she won on her own in 2018 and 2022. Of course Trump isn’t owed her loyalty but that is Trump being Trump.

The interviews at the State Fair will be good exposure for the other candidates. The Iowa State Fair plays a role in election years. We’ll see video of candidates eating corn dogs, and grilling pork chops. Remember when Trump ran in 2015 and landed his helicopter on the fairgrounds? Iowans got a kick out of seeing it and some got rides. Trump knows the state fair is an important place for candidates to show up and interact with the people. He’s not entitled to the nomination. He has to earn it, like everyone else.

Team Trump is looking to beef up his campaign efforts in Iowa. A new poll shows Trump ahead in the state but DeSantis is on the rise and Tim Scott is moving up, too.

While former President Donald Trump is leading in Iowa among his Republican opponents in the race for the 2024 GOP nomination, it’s not as commanding as his lead nationwide, a new poll found.

Forty-four percent of Republican voters in the battleground state would vote for Trump, according to a New York Times/Siena College poll released Friday. By comparison, Trump commands a 54 percent lead among GOP voters nationwide.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis saw 20 percent support among the Iowa GOP voters — 3 percentage points higher than his national polling numbers. South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott saw the biggest difference, with 9 percent in Iowa compared to 6 percent polling among Republicans nationwide.

We’ll see if Trump decides to participate in the interview series. Appearing with the governor would put his feud with her behind him.