Former President Donald Trump and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis make competing trips this week to Iowa, the state whose caucuses lead off the Republican presidential nominating calendar

The former president faces well-funded resistance and other headwinds in the GOP’s first nominating contest, even as he pulls ahead in national polls.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis will hold his first official 2024 campaign event in Des Moines, Iowa, which also kicks off a tour of New Hampshire and South Carolina. NBC News’ Dasha Burns looks at how DeSantis is making his case against President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump and why the first few stops early in the campaign are consequential.

Ron DeSantis is kicking off his presidential campaign in Iowa at the start of a busy week that will take him to 12 cities in three states as he tests his pitch as the most formidable Republican challe

A prevailing question as the Republican primary kicks into high gear has been: will Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis return fire for former President Donald Trump's attacks or hold back?

Ron DeSantis took former President Donald Trump to task for "taking the side of Disney in our fight down here in Florida." Trump, however, posted on Sunday that the theme park empire has "become a Woke and Disgusting shadow of its former self" but said "this all happened during the Governorship of 'Rob' DeSanctimonious.