Former AG and possible 2020 candidate Eric Holder will visit Des Moines

Former U.S. attorney general and potential presidential candidate Eric Holder will visit Des Moines in February to speak at The Harkin Institute for Public Policy & Citizen Engagement at Drake University. 

Holder has said publicly he is considering running for president in 2020 but won't make a decision until early next year. This will be his first Iowa appearance as a possible presidential candidate.

In June he stopped in New Hampshire, which follows Iowa in the presidential nominating process. There, he speculated about what a match-up with President Donald Trump might look like.

"Two guys from Queens. That would be interesting," he said. "New Yorkers know how to talk to other New Yorkers."

Holder has campaigned alongside Democratic candidates during the midterms and recently drew headlines for inverting the now-famous Michelle Obama quote, "When they go low, we go high." 

"When they go low, we kick 'em," Holder said at a Georgia campaign stop, though he later clarified he meant that Democrats need to adopt tougher tactics, not resort to violence. 

Holder served as the U.S. attorney general under President Barack Obama and currently is a partner at Covington & Burling LLP. He also is the chairman of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, which is focused on redistricting reform. 

"At The Harkin Institute, we share Attorney General Holder’s passion for engaging the public on issues important to our democracy, including fair representation and equality,” Joseph Jones, the institute's executive director, said in a statement. "We look forward to a robust dialogue that will foster greater understanding and civility in the state of politics."

Holder will speak at a public event Feb. 12 focused on redistricting and voting rights. He'll also meet with Drake University law students.

Other potential 2020 candidates — who flooded the state ahead of the November midterm elections — are beginning to return to Iowa and to work behind the scenes on recruiting staffers. 

Former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced a visit Dec. 4, and Progress Iowa's annual holiday party will feature Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, California Rep. Eric Swalwell, entrepreneur Andrew Yang and West Bend, Indiana mayor Pete Buttigieg.

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