Eat mor chikin: The Des Moines Register’s Katie Akin and Galen Bacharier summed up the Iowa event this way:

A bevy of Republican presidential hopefuls courted Iowa’s religious conservatives Saturday night, pledging their opposition to abortion and transgender medical care for minors.

About 1,000 Iowa Republicans attended the Iowa Faith & Freedom Coalition spring kickoff event in Clive. The smell of Chick-fil-A boxed dinners filled the crowded venue as attendees waited to hear speeches from declared and potential 2024 candidates, including former Vice President Mike Pence and, over a live video call, former President Donald Trump.

The Republicans’ first-in-the-nation presidential caucuses in Iowa are set for Feb. 5, 2024 — about nine months away. In case you missed it, the Democrats have “nixed Iowa from the premier spot on the party’s nominating calendar.”

Power Up: The Week’s Best Reads

1. Faith lifts Pittsburgh Jews: “Three Jewish congregations, resolute in their defiance of the hatred that tried to destroy them, are still waiting for justice,” The Associated Press’ Peter Smith writes.

“But united in their horror and grief, they haven’t been standing still as the criminal case for the massacre that changed everything has crawled through the federal court system.”

Jury selection started this week in the 2018 attack that claimed the lives of 11 worshippers at the Tree of Life synagogue, Smith and his AP colleague Mark Scolforo report.