Photos by Seth Herald

DES MOINES, Iowa GOLF CART! GOLF CART! GOLF CART! GOLF CART! one of Kamala Harris aides yelled. FLOWER POT! another unidentified member of the newly formed congregation bellowed out soon after.

The amorphous and indomitable blob that had formed around the California senator-turned-presidential candidate that Saturday was quickly moving deeper into the Iowa State Fair without much concern for the carts, pots and people standing in its way. Phones fell to the ground as owners rushed to save them. Mothers shoved strollers out of the way.

None of it mattered in the slightest. The collection of scribbling press members, scrambling campaign associates and a few political gawkers wanted to watch Harris eat pork, and nothing and no one was going to stop them now.

Since Iowa established itself as the first stop in any presidential campaign half a century ago, a visit to the states fair has come to be considered an obligation of the highest order for any candidate. Skipping it entirely would be interpreted as a huge insult to those first primary voters, The New York Times Lisa Lerer recently explained .

Minutes before the chaos, Harris had wrapped up the two critical pit stops of most visits to the fair, delivering a stirring rendition of her stump speech as part of the Des Moines Registers Political Soapbox, followed by the obligatory Register-sponsored press gaggle under a nearby tent. Now, she was on the march toward the Iowa Pork Tent ground zero for iconic political moments such as Mitt Romney picking a pork chop off the gravel and placing it back on the impressively sized grill 12 years ago.

Above: Presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) eats a pork chop at the Iowa State Fair on Aug. 10, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa.