Impressions of Iowa as 2024 campaign frenzy comes to an end: Reporter notebooks

After a seemingly endless stream of rallies, bus tours, campaign stops and more, the 2024 Republican field’s convergence on Iowa will come to an end on Monday when the state holds its first-in-the-nation caucuses.

ABC News' team of campaign reporters and producers have been following the action for months.

Here are some of their stories from the trail, impressions and memorable moments.

“Iowa nice” isn't just a phrase in the Hawkeye state, Iowans really embody it. When talking to voters across the state, after I get done questioning them about the policies they support and the candidates they are planning the caucus for, our conversations usually end with voters offering me a home cooked meal or highlighting the sites I should visit while I’m in town.

When I was stranded at a Pizza Ranch in Marshalltown after a late-night campaign event, one local photographer even drove out of his way so I could get back to Des Moines after the press bus left me.

— Lalee Ibssa

I was at a diner in Des Moines on caucus day morning as candidate Asa Hutchinson visited and as he spoke to voters, I noticed the servers didn’t skip a beat as they slipped around the candidates and journalists, balancing heavy platters stacked with pancakes and shakes, and they were often reaching in to refill glasses of water even while Hutchinson or a reporter were talking intently to the people around the booths.

It was a moment that reminded me how even during the excitement of caucus season, normal life is still happening all around us. Normal life still seamlessly cuts through all the campaigning, no matter how focused we are on the politics.

— Oren Oppenheim

In living here, while also covering Vivek Ramaswamy, the guy who’s doing 300+ events in the state, a lot