Iowa caucus recap
Donald Trump won by a landslide in Iowa Monday, with Ron DeSantis and Nikki Haley trailing in a distant second and third place, respectively. The former president’s victory was so clear and decisive that the Associated Press projected his win just 30 minutes after the caucuses began – much to the ire of DeSantis.
A jubilant Trump offered an unusually conciliatory call for unity in his speech Monday night. “I really think this is time now for everybody, our country, to come together,” he said. He also celebrated poll findings that the majority of Iowa Republics did not accept the validity of the 2020 election results.
Delegates will be allocated proportionally, once all the votes from across the state have been tabulated. But the night’s results are a big blow to both DeSantis and Haley. The former, especially, invested massive amounts of time and effort in the state, visiting all 99 of Iowa’s counties.
DeSantis told supporters at his watch party Monday night, “I can tell you because of your support, in spite of all of that, that they threw at us – everyone against us – we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.” Haley, meanwhile, insisted that this was a “two-person race” between her and Trump.
Vivek Ramaswamy finished fourth and ended his campaign, endorsing Trump as he bowed out.
Frigid conditions and chilly winds, which the National Weather Service said made for dangerous conditions across the state, may have impacted turnout, which is estimated to be notably lower than 2016.
Updated
When he arrived on stage to chants of “Ron, Ron, Ron”, Ron DeSantis cast the night as a successful stand against an array of forces his enemies had deployed against him.
“They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us,” he said, pointing to his opponents’ spending on ads targeting him, and negative coverage his campaign received from news outlets.
“But they were just so excited about the fact that they were predicting that we wouldn’t be able to get our ticket punched here out of Iowa. But, I can tell you because of your support, in spite of all of that, that they threw at us — everyone against us — we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”
Finishing second in the state is the best result DeSantis could realistically hope for, and will keep his campaign alive going into New Hampshire’s primary on 23 January. However, it’s unclear if he can replicate that result in the Granite State, where Nikki Haley has seen a polling surge recently that may have put her within striking distance of Trump.
