(Radio Iowa) – Iowa Republican Party leaders say there have been clear signals this week that their Iowa Caucuses will be first-in-the-nation again in 2028. Iowa G-O-P chairman Jeff Kaufmann was chosen to deliver the nominating speech for former President Trump and Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird was chosen to preside over the V-P’s nomination at the party’s national convention. Bobby Kaufmann, the son of the state party’s chairman, is a senior advisor to Trump’s reelection campaign.

“President Trump has repeatedly told many people that he values Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status,” Kaufmann says. “…He is what kept us first-in-the-nation when other states were coming after us, he stepped in and said, ‘No, we’re going to have Iowa (first).’ And I think him putting us in prominent roles in the first day of the convention just solidifies what he’s already said I’m confident we will have his backing for 2028.”

Steve Scheffler — Iowa’s Republican National Committeeman — says national party rules approved last week keep the Iowa Caucuses first, followed by New Hampshire’s Primary. “When you’re from Iowa, you’ve always got to keep two eyes in the back of your head to make sure that nobody’s trying to take us out,” he says. Nearly 30 percent of the Republican National Committee members are new this year, so Schefler says he and other Iowa G-O-P leaders will be meeting with them to tout the Caucuses.

“Making them understand we play a unique role and there is no reason on God’s green Earth that you should upset the apple cart and start from some other direction,” Scheffler says. Governor Kim Reynolds says having the Iowa Republican Party’s chairman AND Attorney General Brenna Bird in prominent speaking roles this week is a good indicator Iowa’s Caucuses will remain first.

“Just super proud of them and the role they’ve been able to play in the convention and really bringing Iowa just front and center,” Reynolds says. The Democratic National Committee kicked the Iowa Democratic Party’s Caucuses out of the lead-off position in 2024. Some Iowa Democratic Party leaders have said they intend to try to get their Caucuses back in the first voting slot for the 2028 presidential campaign.