As Gold Star Father and conservative Republican congressional candidate David Pautsch recalls, Tuesday night’s encounter with President Donald J. Trump was just one more example of Trump’s “genuine concern for people.”
Trump stopped at Front Street Pub and Eatery in Davenport where he met with a group of supporters. Pautsch was among them. The Gold Star Father is challenging liberal Republican Congresswoman Mariannette Miller-Meeks in Iowa’s First Congressional District.
According to a report from The Quad City Times, Trump and Pautsch spoke for “several minutes.” The former President teased endorsing in the race, but did not commit. The QC Times reported one individual responded, “Please, we need your endorsement Mr. President.”
Pautsch noted that he talked with Trump briefly on Saturday following the ministers’ prayer meeting prior to the Davenport speech. Trump got “very interested,” Pautsch said, when he told him he is a Gold Star Father running against Miller-Meeks.
“When we met again (Tuesday) night, I reminded him I was his friend from Cedar Rapids who was running for Congress against Miller-Meeks and he quickly recalled me and my campaign card,” Pautsch said.
Trump asked Pautsch why he is running for Congress.
“I told him, ‘I’m running to help you save this country,'” Pautsch said.
It all was unexpected, Pautsch added. Trump didn’t endorse Miller-Meeks when she ran for re-election in 2022 after she was one of 35 House Republicans to support the Jan. 6 Commission.
“I was surprised when he raised the question about my candidacy to the whole crowd gathered and asked them if I could win,” Pautsch said. “They all responded enthusiastically. As he left the Front Street Eatery, he continued to poll them, asking four or five groups if he should endorse me. They all gave him hearty affirmations, from what they told me.
“President Trump is a very kind and personal man and once again impressed me with his genuine concern for people.”
Interested individuals can visit Pautsch’s website here.
