While in Iowa, the Republican president will make a stop at a local business and then deliver a speech on affordability, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said. The remarks will be at the Horizon Events Center in Clive, a suburb of Des Moines.

The trip will also highlight energy policy, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles said last week. It’s part of the White House’s strategy to have Trump travel out of Washington once a week ahead of the midterm elections to focus on affordability issues facing everyday Americans — an effort that keeps getting diverted by crisis.

The latest comes as the Trump administration is grappling with the weekend shooting death of Alex Pretti, an ICU nurse killed by federal agents in the neighboring state of Minnesota. Pretti had participated in protests following the Jan. 7 killing of Renee Good by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer. Even as some top administration officials moved quickly to malign Pretti, the White House said Monday that Trump was waiting until an investigation into the shooting was complete.

Trump was last in Iowa ahead of the July 4 holiday to kick off the United States’ upcoming 250th anniversary, which morphed largely into a celebration of his major spending and tax cut package hours after Congress had approved it.

Republicans are hoping that Trump’s visit to the state on Tuesday draws focus back to that tax bill, which will be a key part of their pitch as they ask voters to keep them in power in November.

“I invited President Trump back to Iowa to highlight the real progress we’ve made: delivering tax relief for working families, securing the border, and growing our economy,” Rep. Zach Nunn, R-Iowa, said in a statement in advance of his trip. “Now we’ve got to keep that momentum going and pass my affordable housing bill, deliver for Iowa’s energy producers, and bring down costs for working families.”

Trump’s affordability tour has taken him to Michigan, Pennsylvania and North Carolina as the White House tries to marshal the president’s political power to appeal to voters in key swing states.

But Trump’s penchant for going off-script has sometimes taken the focus off cost-of-living issues and his administration’s plans for how to combat it. In Mount Pocono, Pennsylvania, Trump insisted that inflation was no longer a problem and that Democrats were using the term affordability as a “hoax” to hurt him. At that event, Trump also griped that immigrants arriving to the U.S. from “filthy” countries got more attention than his pledges to fight inflation.

Although it was a swing state just a little more than a decade ago, Iowa in recent years has been reliably Republican in national and statewide elections. Trump won Iowa by 13 percentage points in 2024 against Democrat Kamala Harris.

Still, two of Iowa’s four congressional districts have been among the most competitive in the country and are expected to be again in this year’s midterm elections. Trump already has endorsed Republican Reps. Nunn and Mariannette Miller-Meeks. Democrats, who landed three of Iowa’s four House seats in the 2018 midterm elections during Trump’s first term, see a prime opportunity to unseat Iowa incumbents.

This election will be the first since 1968 with open seats for both governor and U.S. senator at the top of the ticket after Republican Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republican U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst opted out of reelection bids. The political shake-ups have rippled throughout the state, with Republican Reps. Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson seeking new offices for governor and for U.S. senator, respectively.

Democrats hope Rob Sand, the lone Democrat in statewide office who is running for governor, will make the entire state more competitive with his appeal to moderate and conservative voters and his $13 million in cash on hand.

___

Kim reported from Washington.

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GRAND FORKS — The latest recruiting movement of safety Ethan Headings is icing on the cake for UND’s 2026 recruiting class.

Headings, a first team all-state wide receiver, was committed to UND in April before switching his commitment near signing day to the in-state Iowa Hawkeyes. Iowa announced his addition as a preferred walk-on in early December.

On Sunday, Headings announced he’s coming to Grand Forks after all. As a preferred walk-on at Iowa, Headings was able to change course without penalty.

“I really missed all the coaches at UND and all the love I got from them,” Headings said of his decision. “It’s just a real great place, and it felt like I was leaving behind a great opportunity they gave me.”

Headings, who’ll arrive in Grand Forks in June, chose UND originally over offers from Northern Iowa, Army, Western Illinois and Air Force.

“I knew (committing back to UND) is what I wanted, so I was just like really hoping they’d give me a second chance,” Headings said. “It took a week … I was waiting to see if I could get a spot on the team. They eventually got back to me, and it was amazing, and I’m so happy I’m accepted at North Dakota.”

Headings, 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, had a breakout senior season for Iowa City West in 2025. He caught 56 passes for 1,202 yards (No. 1 in Iowa 5A) and 13 touchdowns (No. 1 in Iowa 5A). Defensively, he had 46.5 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. He also had two interceptions and a kickoff returned for a touchdown.

Headings hasn’t played much safety before. He played linebacker at Iowa City West during his senior year and played safety some of his junior year.

“I’m just an all-around athlete that’ll perform at any position I’m put at,” Headings said of his strengths. “I feel like I can make an impact on the game wherever I’m at. The coaches see me best at safety, so I’m going to work at safety and see what happens.

“It’s definitely kind of nerve-wracking. I’m going to be trying a whole new position. I trust (UND safeties coach Keaton Wilkerson) to pour into me and teach me everything I need to learn to get me to the point I’m performing well. I’ve been over this with coach Wilkerson. He’s fine with me playing linebacker (in high school). He just wants me to play what helps us win. He said he’ll teach me everything I need to know about safety.”