Thirteen Republican presidential candidates made a direct pitch to Iowans in Des Moines Friday at at the Republican Party of Iowa’s annual Lincoln Dinner. Each candidate had 10 minutes to speak to a crowd of more than 1,000 Iowans.It was the first time Donald Trump has appeared alongside his Republican competitors at a campaign event. Several candidates took the time to mention Trump, directly and indirectly, during their speeches.Former Vice President Mike Pence called for "new Republican leadership," telling crowds that "different times call for different leadership to defeat Joe Biden" and that the GOP "must give the American people new Republican leadership with a proven commitment to the conservative agenda."Similarly, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis told the crowd that "the time for excuses is over.""We're not getting them a mulligan on 2024," DeSantis said. "We must get the job done. I will get the job done."Former Rep. Will Hurd made a significantly more pointed attack on Donald Trump and argued that the former president is "not running" in 2024 "to make America great again.""Donald Trump is not running for president to represent the people that voted for him in 2016 and 2020. Donald Trump is running to stay out of prison," Hurd said, prompting a chorus of loud boos from the crowd. "I know the truth is hard, but if we elect Donald Trump, you're willingly giving Joe Biden four more years in the White House in America."Other candidates like Larry Elder praised Trump, talking about the time he was compared to the former president while running for governor in California."Joe Biden flew in and said 'Larry Elder is the closest thing to a Donald Trump clone I've ever seen.' Now was I supposed to be insulted or flattered? To that I plead guilty," Elder said.Trump himself also played offense on the stage, taking two punches at DeSantis."I will remain your ethanol champion, very important to your economy. Ron DeSanctus is aggressively pushing against ethanol, which I think would be devastating," Trump said. He also criticized DeSantis over electability."In other polls, I'm leading Biden by 6, 7, 8 and 11 points, while DeSanctus was losing to Biden in all cases. I wouldn't take a chance on that one," Trump said.Prior to the Lincoln Dinner, Trump made a stop in Urbandale where hundreds of supporters and volunteers waited for the opening of his first campaign headquarters in Iowa.Watch: Trump makes stop at first Iowa campaign office ahead of Lincoln Dinner appearanceOther lesser-known candidates that haven't had previous opportunities to speak to large crowds of Iowans spent the night introducing themselves and sharing their story."My hope is that I can convince you that I am the best person to lead this country," Miami Mayor Francis Suarez said. "This is the greatest country on the planet. We should never apologize for it."North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum emphasized similarities between his state and Iowa while laying out his platform."I'm running for president to improve every American life," Burgum said. "How are we gonna do that? We're going to improve every American life by focusing on economy, on energy and on national security."With an emphatic tone, businessman Perry Johnson closed his speech by shouting, "Wow, this is a country unlike any country in the history of the world! And by golly, we're going to keep it that way! We are going to continue to be the brightest!”Texas pastor Ryan Binkley told Iowans that the Lord has given him a vision on how to improve America."The Lord wanted me to speak to you about the destiny of our country and the things that he's been saying and it's pretty simple," Binkley said. "It's time for America to have an economic revival, and it's time for America to have a spiritual revival and the time for that is now."Former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley touched on education."Let's make sure our kids can read by the third grade. Let's have complete transparency in the classroom and let's let parents decide where their kids should go with schoolwork," Haley said.Other candidates like entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott touched on culture war issues like gender, LGBTQ issues and abortion."What we are doing in this campaign, we speak the truth," Ramaswamy said. "We speak without apology. God is real. There are two genders.""If you commit a violent crime, you go to jail. If God made you a man, you play sports against men. That’s just common sense," Scott said."In Arkansas, I signed over 30 pro-life bills. Arkansas was known as the number one pro-life state in the nation," Hutchinson said. "I did that as governor, and let me tell you, as president of the United States, I will be a pro-life president.”Watch: Amanda Rooker interviews Iowa GOP Chair Jeff Kaufmann after the Lincoln DinnerMost of the candidates will be back in the state for the Iowa State Fair next month.