May 30
Former governor Asa Hutchinson geared up for an intense extended weekend in Iowa with appearances on Fox and Friends and ABC’s The View on Tuesday morning. A CWS Research primary poll of Texas put Hutchinson at 2%, up from 1% at the start of the month.
May 31
Wednesday was spent drumming up support in New Hampshire, with Hutchinson participating in a Town Hall hosted by WMUR and appearing on WGIR Radio’s NH Today.
June 1
Hutchinson returned to Iowa on Thursday, speaking to about 30 voters in the confusingly named city of Nevada. He also appeared on NRA social channels (which have a far greater following than the Governor) to endorse placing armed guards in schools. There was a primary poll of Nevada released, conducted by National Research on behalf of American Greatness, which put Hutchinson at precisely 0%. On the bright side, this was an improvement on the two other polls of Nevada so far in which he did not even register.
June 2
Friday saw a visit to the Pella police department and coffee with voters in Ottumwa for Hutchinson on the day that the RNC announced polling and funding thresholds in order to get on the debate stage in Milwaukee come August. Whilst Hutchinson has hit the 1% polling bar in plenty of polls, the question of garnering 40,000 individual donors (including at least 200 from 20 different states) may prove tough.
June 3
Hutchinson joined fellow presidential candidates Ron DeSantis, Mike Pence and Nicki Haley at Iowa Senator Joni Ernst’s Roast and Ride event. He told CNN that he would abide by RNC rules and endorse the eventual nominee, a difficult one for his campaign, as much of his platform seems to be based on pushing back against Donald Trump, who is currently storming ahead in the polls. Hutchinson also took to Twitter to join several candidates in criticizing Trump’s friendly remarks regarding North Korean tyrant Kim Jong Un.
June 4
Hutchinson left Iowa.
June 5
Perhaps unsurprisingly given his current polling and funding, Hutchinson told MSNBC on Monday that he does not favour the thresholds put in place for the RNC debates, instead wanting the ‘the decision making [to be left] to the voters versus trying to narrow the field artificially”.
The pace of Asa Hutchinson’s campaign has seen a notable uplift in recent weeks, having been surprisingly quiet in the first month since his announcement. He is yet to see any improvement in his polling numbers (still 1% or worse) and now has the added headache of acquiring 40,000 donors in time for the August debate.