--- title: Bachelor Chris Soules Is Iowa's Political Celebrity description: "Pretty much every female in her twenties is familiar" with Chris Soules canonical: https://time.com/3107601/bachelor-bachelorette-chris-soules-iowa-2016/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-08-13T19:01:38.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T09:38:40.144Z article:section: Politics og:title: Meet Iowa's newest political star (and heartthrob) og:description: A Bachelor star gets a cameo in the 2016 presidential race og:url: https://time.com/3107601/bachelor-bachelorette-chris-soules-iowa-2016/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6238a5a8aea089ba/69869f633617607e2390d70b/chris-soules-bachelor.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Chris Soules was on the tenth edition of "The Bachelorette" og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Meet Iowa's newest political star (and heartthrob) twitter:description: A Bachelor star gets a cameo in the 2016 presidential race twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6238a5a8aea089ba/69869f633617607e2390d70b/chris-soules-bachelor.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # A _Bachelor_ Is Iowa's Newest Political Celebrity by [Zeke J Miller / Des Moines](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Des Moines Aug 13, 2014 7:01 PM UTC  Chris Soules was on the tenth edition of "The Bachelorette" Chris Soules was on the tenth edition of "The Bachelorette"Craig Sjodin—ABC by [Zeke J Miller / Des Moines](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke J Miller / Des Moines Aug 13, 2014 7:01 PM UTC The rumored next star of the reality show _The Bachelor_ is quickly becoming Iowa’s most visible political celebrity. [\[Update: ABC has announced Soules will be the next Bachelor.\]](http://time.com/3184797/chris-soules-bachelor/) Chris Soules, a scruffy farmer from Arlington, was judging the Iowa Farm Bureau’s cookout contest at the Iowa State Fair when Texas Gov. Rick Perry blazed through on Tuesday. Perry, who was in the midst of a four-day swing to support Iowa Republicans up for election this fall while laying the groundwork for a repeat presidential bid, greeted Soules with a handshake as he toured the contest and the pair chatted briefly out of earshot before posing for a photo. “Enjoyed meeting Chris from the bachelor at the Iowa State Fair today,” Perry’s account tweeted. Soules retweeted him. > [](https://twitter.com/GovernorPerry/status/499224547099676672) But Perry was hardly the first Republican 2016 hopeful to meet Soules, who has been ubiquitous at the State Fair and around Des Moines in recent days. Earlier this month, Sens. Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio met the reality television star at the annual party hosted by Iowa GOP bigwig Bruce Rastetter. “Rubio Gains Notice, But ‘_Batchelorette_‘ Hunk Steals Show,” [blared](http://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/news/politics/iowa-politics-insider/2014/08/10/politics-insider-rubio-soules-bachelorette-gop/13818941/) the Des Moines _Register_ in a headline on Sunday. Soules’ political affiliation is not publicly known, but attendees at the Rastetter event said he volunteered that he was a Republican. Soules would hardly be the first celebrity endorser should he announce a preference in the GOP’s presidential sweepstakes. Rick Santorum traveled the country in 2011 trailed by a bus carrying the Duggar family of the TLC show _19 Kids & Counting_. “Pretty much every female in her twenties is familiar with him,” one Republican operative said. “And probably a bunch in their 30s and 40s who might not admit it so freely. So it wouldn’t hurt a candidate to be seen rubbing elbows with that guy, especially for a party that struggles with a gender gap.” Soules, 32, rocketed to the national scene as a finalist on Andi Dorfman’s season of ABC’s _The Bachelorette_ this summer. Dorfman praised his charm, down-home family, and Iowa digs, but sent him packing without giving him an invitation for a “Fantasy Suite” date. Multiple reports have recently indicated he’ll star in the next season of _The Bachelor_. Soules did not respond to a request for comment. –_Additional reporting by Elizabeth Dias_ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3107601/bachelor-bachelorette-chris-soules-iowa-2016/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3107601/bachelor-bachelorette-chris-soules-iowa-2016/"},"headline":"A Bachelor Is Iowa's Newest Political Celebrity","datePublished":"2014-08-13T19:01:38.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T09:38:40.144Z","description":"\"Pretty much every female in her twenties is familiar with him\"","url":"https://time.com/3107601/bachelor-bachelorette-chris-soules-iowa-2016/","keywords":["2016 Election","republicans","2016 Election topic","People"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6238a5a8aea089ba/69869f633617607e2390d70b/chris-soules-bachelor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke J Miller / Des Moines"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt6238a5a8aea089ba/69869f633617607e2390d70b/chris-soules-bachelor.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Chris Soules was on the tenth edition of \"The Bachelorette\"","caption":"Chris Soules was on the tenth edition of \"The Bachelorette\"","creditText":"Craig Sjodin—ABC","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3107601/bachelor-bachelorette-chris-soules-iowa-2016/","name":"A Bachelor Is Iowa's Newest Political Celebrity"}}]}] ```