Iowa
Biden douses cold water on Trump’s blowout win, doesn’t ‘think Iowa means anything’
President Biden doused cold water on Donald Trump’s momentous win over his 2024 GOP foes in Iowa earlier this week.
Biden, who lost his 2020 Iowa Caucus with 13.7% of the final vote and a fourth-place finish, suggested that Trump’s record-breaking estimated 51% victory wasn’t very significant.
“I don’t think Iowa means anything. The president got 50-some-thousand votes — the lowest number of votes anybody who’s won got,” Biden chided to reporters Thursday.
Trump amassed at least 56,260 votes in the Hawkeye State this year, per the most recent estimate.
Back in 2020, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) won the popular vote with 45,652 supporting him in the final count. But that primary was far more crowded than the 2024 GOP contest.
Some 110,000 voters participated in Iowa’s 2024 Caucus, compared to 187,000 who participated in the 2016 GOP event, and over 176,400 who partook in the Democrat’s glitch-plagued 2020 Iowa Caucus.
That was a roughly 15% turnout for Iowan Republicans on Monday, per the Des Moines Register, and the lowest in a GOP contest there since 2000, Business Insider reported.
Monday was dogged by frigid below-zero temperatures and fairly slick road conditions in parts of the state.
The 45th president’s roughly 30-point margin of victory was the largest achieved in the Iowa Caucus since it became the first in the nation presidential nominating contest.
Trump’s allies heralded the victory as emblematic of his political dominance, but Biden sounded doubtful.
“You know, this idea that it’s been a runaway, I think he can characterize it any way he wants. I’ll let them make that judgment,” Biden went on.
Shortly after Trump’s blowout win, Biden took note of his dominance of Trump on the GOP field as the two seemingly careen toward a rematch of 2020 this November.
“Looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He’s the clear front runner on the other side at this point,” Biden posted on X.
“But here’s the thing: this election was always going to be you and me vs. extreme MAGA Republicans. It was true yesterday and it’ll be true tomorrow,” he added with a link to a fundraising page.
Republicans are poised to hold their next presidential contest in New Hampshire next Tuesday. Biden is mounting a write-in campaign there due to a feud between the Granite State and the Democratic Party.
At the moment, Trump has a threadbare 0.9 percentage point edge nationally when environmental lawyer Robert Kennedy Jr. is in the mix, per the RealClearPolitics aggregate.
More importantly, polls show a nailbiter general election showdown between Trump and Biden in the key battleground states, which will determine the election.
An Iowa women’s basketball transfer portal visitor committed to one of the Hawkeyes’ conference foes instead. Former Iowa State guard Kenzie Hare took a visit to Iowa during her transfer portal recruitment, but the 5-foot-9 guard committed to Indiana on Sunday night.
Hare had several visits throughout her transfer portal recruiting process, including trips to Michigan and Illinois State, but the Des Moines Register’s Chad Leistikow reported that Hare also visited Iowa.
On3’s Talia Goodman reported Hare’s commitment to the Hoosiers.
Hare has one year of eligibility remaining. This past season with the Cyclones, in 32 games played and 31 starts, Hare averaged 6.0 points and 2.5 rebounds per game on 40.5% field goal shooting and 40% from 3-point range. A hip injury limited Hare to just 10 games during her first year with the Cyclones in the 2024-25 season.
The soon-to-be redshirt senior transferred to Iowa State before the 2024-25 campaign after spending two seasons at Marquette from 2022-24. Hare averaged a career-best 14 points per game on 45.5% field goal shooting and 42.5% 3-point shooting during the 2023-24 season with the Golden Eagles.
Had Iowa been able to lure the Naperville, Ill., native to Iowa City, Hare would have been another valuable addition to the Hawkeyes’ backcourt depth. But, Iowa has landed other backcourt reinforcements throughout this transfer portal cycle.
The Hawkeyes inked both Dani Carnegie and Amari Whiting.
Carnegie was a first-team All-SEC selection this past season at Georgia, averaging 17.8 points per game on 42.7% field goal shooting, 35.4% from 3-point range and 83.3% from the free-throw line. Whiting averaged 9.6 points, 5.9 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.8 steals per game on 42.5% field goal shooting, 32.1% 3-point accuracy, and 71.6% free-throw shooting.
As Hare joins a promising core of players in Bloomington, the Hawkeyes will once again face the former Cyclone at least once this upcoming season as part of their Big Ten regular-season slate.
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CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Senator Chuck Grassley said he’s recovering from a gallstone removal procedure.
His media team shared that he is working in Iowa “in good spirits and looks forward to returning to Washington soon.”
“I’m gr8ful [sic] for the excellent care from local health care providers,” he shared on X.
Over the weekend in Iowa I had a procedure to remove gallstones I’m gr8ful for the excellent care from local health care providers Be back to capitol ASAP
— Chuck Grassley (@ChuckGrassley) April 20, 2026
Grassley, 92, is the oldest senator currently in office and the sixth-longest-serving senator in U.S. history.
The Senate is in session this week.
Copyright 2026 KCRG. All rights reserved.
Former Iowa State center Audi Crooks has committed to Oklahoma State via the NCAA Transfer Portal. She has one season of eligibility remaining.
Crooks made 99 appearances and 95 starts during her three seasons at Iowa State. She averaged 25.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game this past season, while shooting 64.9% from the field. Additionally, the 6-foot-3 star shot 1-11 from 3-point range.
Crooks played a leading role for the Cyclones from the moment she stepped on campus. She is a three-time All-Big 12 First-Team selection and two-time All-American. On April 2, Crooks announced her intention to enter the transfer portal.
“Cyclone Nation, thank you all for embracing me and showing up to Hilton every single game day. I’ve met so many of you out in the community, and I will cherish all of the genuine connections that I’ve built during my time at Iowa State,” Crooks wrote. “Words cannot fully express how grateful I feel to have called this place home.
“I want to thank my teammates for their friendship and all the great memories. … I still believe the grass is greener where you water it, and I’ve done that here.”
Now, Audi Crooks will aim to thrive in her new environment. Oklahoma finished the 2025-26 season with a 24-10 overall record.
The NCAA Transfer Portal officially opened on April 6 and closes on April 20. The new 15-day window was enacted following a recommendation by the women’s basketball oversight committee. Athletes don’t have to commit to a new school by the April 21 deadline.
To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire. The On3 Transfer Portal Instagram account and Twitter account are excellent resources to stay up to date with the latest moves.
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