DES MOINES, Iowa–Among all the supporters of former President Donald Trump in Iowa, the Krachenfels family stands out—in several ways.
The 14 members of the Krachenfels family, decked out in matching white “Trump 2024” hoodies at campaign events, turn heads.
Both parents and their six oldest children, ages 15-22, are donating their time to the Trump campaign; that’s the largest number of pro-Trump volunteers from any single Iowa family, campaign organizers say.
And they are making an impact.
Often, people hang up or don’t answer. But the Krachenfels crew has reached thousands of potential voters and asked them to come out and cast a ballot for the former president in the Iowa caucuses on Jan. 15.
“It feels great to see the fruits of your labor exploding, and to be setting an example in the way you interact with people,” Jayce Krachenfels said. “It’s been fun, exciting, and a lot of learning.”
At two separate campaign stops, he met President Trump’s son, Eric, and President Trump himself. An aspiring politician, Jayce ranks that Jan. 6 meeting with the former president as the most memorable experience of his life.
The Krachenfelses are among more than 100 people on any given day who are making calls—some in call centers, some from their homes—as President Trump’s rivals are also escalating get-out-the-vote efforts.
Although the Krachenfels family is atypical in many ways, they have one thing in common with many other politically active people: They forged a friendship that transformed them from passive supporters into active campaigners.
Their story illustrates the power of personal connections and the crucial role they play in a political campaign’s ground game–something lacking when then-candidate Donald Trump made his first attempt to win the Iowa Caucus in 2016.
Now people like the Krachenfelses are hoping their work will help produce a big win for President Trump. He sees it as the first major step toward retaking the White House from Democrat President Joe Biden.
A Year’s Worth of Groundwork
For most presidential candidates, Iowa Caucus Night—when voters meet in person to choose their preferred presidential nominee—is the culmination of at least a year’s worth of work, Tim Hagle, political science professor at the University of Iowa, told The Epoch Times.It’s when the results of their “ground game,” which includes contacting voters by phone, mail, and in person, pay off—or fizzle out. The “air game,” which includes in-person speeches and TV ads, also plays a role.
Although all 50 states hold presidential preference contests, candidates’ initial foray into Iowa, the American heartland, winnows the field; it helps determine which candidates gain momentum and which fade away.
And, as President Trump has said in several recent Iowa rallies, a resounding victory in the Iowa Caucus could also send a strong message to the opposing party. It helps set the stage for the next presidential election on Nov. 5, 2024.
Thus, “we usually say that there are three ’tickets’ out of Iowa, which means that the top three people usually have enough of a result that they can continue from there,” Mr. Hagle said.
But sometimes, even a top-three finish isn’t enough. Success beyond Iowa is largely dependent upon whether a candidate failed to meet expectations—or exceeded them.
President Trump is seeking to beat the biggest-ever margin of victory in the Iowa Caucus, 12 percent. Many people expect him to do so, based on his poll performance.
Virtually all polls are showing him with a lead of about 30 points over the next two contenders, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley, formerly a South Carolina governor and United Nations ambassador.
Expecting the Unexpected
But predicting what will happen is especially difficult in Iowa. Because people must show up in person and devote about an hour of their time to a caucus, it’s harder to predict who will show up.In addition, “there’s often a fair bit of movement, right up until caucus time,” Mr. Hagle said, meaning that many voters often remain “persuadable” until the last minute.
Mr. Baris, however, has previously stated that this year, President Trump’s supporters are indicating that they’re not willing to budge. The Krachenfels family fits into that category.
And Mr. Hagle says the pool of undecided voters has shrunk significantly by now, with just days to go before Caucus Night.
However, Mr. Baris thinks that a fourth contender, Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, could serve up this year’s surprise; the candidate himself has been predicting that he will climb higher than his single-digit poll performance suggests.
Mr. Ramaswamy just might outperform either Mr. DeSantis or Ms. Haley, Mr. Baris said, “because of how he’s targeting these people and trying to get them out to the caucuses.”
Mr. Ramaswamy, 38, the youngest Republican to ever seek the presidency, has barnstormed all 99 Iowa counties twice. That feat is unparalleled in political history.
More Than Just Frequency
To some degree, President Trump has been criticized for making fewer campaign stops in Iowa than several of his rivals. Mr. DeSantis has visited all 99 counties, completing what is called “The Full Grassley,” named after Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa).Some of Mr. DeSantis’s supporters have pointed out that the former president has made fewer visits this time around than he did in 2016. He has scheduled two stops a day for himself at times but also has enlisted surrogates, such as South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem and his son, Eric, to help make last-minute stump speeches.
President Trump’s campaign says that court cases being pressed against him constitute “election interference” that is designed to keep him off the campaign trail. They also estimate that he is probably seeing just as many people as his rivals are, if not more, because his events tend to draw bigger crowds with fewer appearances.
And, at President Trump’s Iowa rallies, which have attracted up to 3,000 people, volunteers have been diligently collecting “commit-to-caucus” cards, nonbonding commitments to support President Trump on caucus night. The campaign has collected about 50,000 of those cards. The total is approaching the number of votes that Iowans cast for the 2016 caucus victor, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas).
Then-candidate Donald Trump finished second in the Iowa Caucus that year but went on to win the Republican nomination and the presidency. This time around, he’s determined to win the trifecta.During this election cycle, the former president has recruited nearly 2,000 precinct “caucus captains,” who help organize the evening’s vote and commit to bringing at least 10 people to Caucus Night. That’s more than one representative in each of Iowa’s precincts; Jayce Krachenfels will serve as one of them.
Although Iowa voters do appreciate candidates who “put in the work” and come to many events statewide, frequency of visits doesn’t always ensure success, Mr. Hagle said.
“At a certain point, it may not make as much difference ... either you caught on, or you didn’t catch on,” and no amount of further stump speeches would revive a flagging candidacy, he said.
Atypical Circumstances
“Because of who he is,” President Trump may not need to engage in “retail politics,” or direct interaction with voters, as much as the other candidates do, Mr. Hagle said.As a former TV celebrity and well-known New York real estate magnate, then-candidate Donald Trump already enjoyed widespread name recognition before he began his first presidential run. Now he also comes with additional clout as a former president, which benefits his campaign considerably, “even though he’s not running as an incumbent,” Mr. Hagle said.
He points out: “It’s just an unusual kind of situation, where you have a former president running for a nonconsecutive second term.” The last time that happened was in the 1892 election, when Democrat Grover Cleveland, the 22nd president, was elected to serve as the 24th president. President Trump, the 45th president, seeks to win a term as the 47th president.
One of his biggest detractors dropped out of the race on Wednesday.
Just 13 days before the New Hampshire primary, former New Jersey governor Chris Christie announced that he was suspending his campaign.
“Christie was doing better in New Hampshire and the question would be where his supporters go. Some suggested that they would go to Haley, given that she’s doing much better in New Hampshire than in Iowa,” Mr. Hagle said, based on opinion poll consensus.
However, those supporting Christie are presumably doing so because “they really don’t want Trump to be president,” Mr. Hagle said. “If they go to Haley, and if she becomes Trump’s VP, as some have suggested, it would really irritate the Christie supporters.”
Elevating Iowa
Although Democrats toppled Iowa’s first-in-nation status this year for the first time since the 1970s, Republicans stuck with Iowa as first-in-nation, a status this state’s residents covet.President Trump has frequently reminded Iowans that he urged Republicans to keep the state’s traditional No. 1 spot intact, a line that has consistently drawn applause and cheers.
Iowa carries only six of the 270 Electoral College votes that a presidential candidate needs to win the national election. But putting the Hawkeye State first on the election calendar amplifies the state’s importance in national politics beyond its small Electoral College influence.
That’s why President Trump and other Republican contenders are focused on Iowa.
But, as Mr. Hagle noted, most of the candidates have also been building support behind-the-scenes for many months.
Mr. Hagle said it’s widely recognized that President Trump has waged a much more extensive, organized ground game this time. Trying to avoid a repeat of 2016, when he finished in second to Sen. Ted Cruz, the former president has assembled a “data-driven,” highly organized campaign, said Mr. Kaufmann.
That long-term support-building network is essential for gaining endorsements. One of the former president’s endorsers, Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird, said she has never seen such a well-organized political campaign.
However, Mr. DeSantis and Ms. Haley are also fighting mightily.
The Florida governor scored two endorsements that, on their face, seemed to carry a lot of clout: Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats.
Mr. Vander Plaats “used to be painted as, like, this guru who can predict who’s going to win the Iowa caucuses,” Mr. Baris, the pollster, told The Epoch Times recently. Mr. Vander Plaats knows a lot of politically active pastors who “used to act as the ‘kingmakers’” in Iowa.
“They thought they could do it again this time and stop Trump,” Mr. Baris said, “but it’s not working because the evangelical voter isn’t listening to their pastor over their former president.”
Meanwhile, Ms. Haley has scored dozens of other endorsements. So has President Trump. Notably, the former president recently announced he received more than 300 endorsements “from faith leaders in all 99 counties in Iowa,” his campaign said, demonstrating his “growing and unrivaled support from America’s incredible faith community.”Passion Becomes Action
Those accomplishments rank high among the many reasons that the Krachenfels family has supported President Trump since he first entered politics in 2015. The matriarch, Terra Krachenfels, told The Epoch Times that, as a family with 12 children, “obviously, we’re pro-life.”Her eldest son, Jayce, lauded “President Trump’s protect-all-life standpoint, and his protection of the nuclear family.”
“Change starts at the family level. If the family is destroyed, we really are in big trouble,” he said.
The family was thrilled when President Trump won election in 2016. But they, like many other people, were gobsmacked when then-candidate Joe Biden was declared the winner in 2020.
“We were like: ‘Why did it happen?’” Jayce Krachenfels said. “Now we get a chance to really help with that process, get things going in the right direction.”
For years, despite the family’s belief in President Trump, their political activism consisted mostly of voting for him and occasionally trying to gently coax fellow voters to support him.
But since 2020, the family has waged “The Great Sign Battle of West Des Moines,” the patriarch, Tim Krachenfels, said.
It started in 2020. Several of the children hand-painted a “Trump 2020” sign and staked it into the ground outside their home. They did the same for the 2024 election. But vandals have repeatedly knocked down, spray painted, and even shot at the signs. Each time, the children would repair the damage and return the sign to its spot.
An Unlikely Friendship
That might have been the extent of the family’s pro-Trump activity if not for an encounter on Dec. 10.On that date, a pair of prominent Trump supporters came to their Baptist church, Soteria Des Moines.
One of them, civil rights attorney Leo Terrell, who left the Democrat Party in 2020 to become an oft-quoted supporter of President Trump, told The Epoch Times that the visit to the Krachenfels’ church is an example of the low-key visits that he and other Trump surrogates have been quietly, consistently making for many months.
By agreement with the church, Mr. Terrell and his companion were not permitted to trumpet their affiliation with the former president. But they were allowed to make personal connections with people.
He and the Krachenfels family were drawn to each other. He was charmed when he saw this extraordinary, large family sitting across the room, wearing matching red-and-black-checked flannel shirts.
“We bonded just through eye contact,” Mr. Terrell said. “What I saw with that family was that they represent what’s good about America; I just fell in love with them.”
Later, in keeping with their mother’s admonition that “people need hugs,” two of the Krachenfels girls spontaneously embraced Mr. Terrell; they posed for a heartwarming photo with him.
Although Mr. Terrell is black and the Krachenfels family is white, neither side noticed the racial differences. “When I met that family, I didn’t see color,” he said.
He learned they were already supporters of the former president. “President Trump resonates with the everyday, average American,” Mr. Terrell said, adding that his connection with the Krachenfels family transcends political affinity. “It’s about God, and country and family,” he said.
Mr. Terrell asked them if they wanted to get involved with the campaign. And that came the start of a political whirlwind for the Krachenfels clan, whom Mr. Terrell now refers to as “my family” in social media posts. He lives in California and can’t wait to return to Iowa to see them again.
The Campaign Trail
Since then, parents Tim and Terra, son Parker, and 16-year-old Alaycia, have pitched in to help with the campaign phone calls occasionally.But their four oldest children are heavily involved.
The eldest, Jayce, and his siblings–Conner, 21; Blake, 19; and Chloe, 18–have all worked many days from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at the Trump campaign’s headquarters in Urbandale, 17 miles northwest of Des Moines. That’s one of two large call centers where about two dozen people man the phone banks; the other is in Cedar Rapids, northeast of Des Moines.
The experience has been more positive than many people might think, Jayce Krachenfels said. He remembers reaching an older lady “who wasn’t in too happy of a mood...but she perked up when I said I was with the Trump campaign,” he said.
“A lot of people are actually very nice. Not a lot of them get into this negative kind of rhetoric you hear about.”
Many of the Trump campaign volunteers are much older; often, they’re retirees.
“We’re like the youngest people working in the campaign. We’re here at the office, working with his team every day, and everybody keeps telling us that it’s refreshing to see such young faces on their side, working and actually being involved,” Jayce Krachenfels said.
Mr. Hagle, the University of Iowa professor, said it’s somewhat unusual to see such political unity within a family.
“A lot of times, the kids will follow in their parents’ politics, but sometimes there’s a little bit of a rebellion kind of a thing,” he said. “Sometimes, though, if you have a family and they’re all sort of believing the same values and grew up a particular way, it’s not surprising that they’re supporting the same candidate.”
Mrs. Krachenfels said she and her husband raised their children to be independent thinkers; they would be entitled to hold a different opinion of President Trump. The family recently discussed how political divisions have torn some families apart.
They have homeschooled their children, which gives them a “Biblical worldview,” Jayce Krachenfels said. That firm foundation steadies him and his siblings, he said, as they wade through a sea of conflicting messages. Children who go to public school, spend huge amounts of time on social media, and go to universities “are influenced by all these people, and they get confused,” Jayce Krachenfels said.
Lessons Learned
Though their work with the campaign, the Krachenfels children have learned how to “lean into” those who disagree with them, how to ask questions, and provide information in a non-confrontational way. These are skills that will aid them throughout their lives, no matter what careers they pursue, their parents said.And Jayce Krachenfels said the experience has also taught him to be skeptical of how public figures such as President Trump and his son, Eric, are portrayed.
A lot of people complain that President Trump is “arrogant and/or prideful,” he said. “But when I talked to him, he didn’t seem that way at all.” Neither did his son, Eric. “I have met people who are truly prideful and arrogant—and they were not like that.
Each man greeted him with a firm, “assuring” handshake. “They were down-to-earth,” he said.
Jayce Krachenfels said he likes being around such men. He said they buck the “toxic masculinity” narrative, which holds that “You can’t be tough. You can’t be a true man who is a leader and an example to the people that are in his life.”
The young man said he found the former president to be engaging and observant.
After a staffer introduced him as an intern for the campaign, Jayce Krachenfels said President Trump asked how he was doing and “How is everything going? How do you think we’re gonna do on the 15th?”
Jayce Krachenfels responded, “We’re gonna do great.”
Then President Trump said he noticed that another young man who looked like Mr. Krachenfels had already met him, and asked whether that was his brother—and a similar-looking girl was in line. He guessed correctly that they were siblings, and the former president said, “You guys have a beautiful family.”
Jayce Krachenfels said he ended the brief chat by thanking the former president for everything that he has done for America.
President Trump responded simply: “You’re welcome.”
