Donald Trump wins Iowa caucuses
Former US President Donald Trump closed in for a 2020 rematch contest with incumbent Joe Biden
Former US President Donald Trump registered a huge victory with unprecedented margin at the Iowa caucuses, further demonstrating the hold he maintains over the party as well as its supporters, as he closed in for a 2020 rematch contest with incumbent Joe Biden.
According to the latest figures reported by CNN with 99 per cent results registered, Trump has won 20 out of the 40 delegates from Iowa with 56,250 votes - a whopping difference of around 32,840 votes.
Trump kickstarted his bid to win party’s third consecutive presidential nomination despite skipping the GOP (Grand Old Party) primary debates. The results also demonstrated how ‘devoted’ Republicans remain to Trump amid his highly unusual campaign - one being waged between court appearances, indictments and removal from ballots.
Florida Governor Ron Desantis came a distant second with eight delegates and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley finishing not much behind with seven delegates as the contest moves to New Hampshire, where the latter enjoys some clout.
Trump who came one step closer to the Republican nomination, deviated from his usual attacking style and congratulated his GOP rivals. He called Desantis, Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy as ‘very smart people, very capable people’, CNN reported.
But his message to his primary opponents couldn’t have been clearer: It’s time to get out and get on board.
“It’s just so important, and I want to make that a very big part of our message: We’re going to come together. It’s going to happen soon, too,” Trump said.
Another major takeaway was the contest turning into a threeway race with Ramaswamy dropping out of his White House bid. However, Trump continues to lead with a whopping margin.
The Iowa caucus victory is considered the first step in Don
ald Trump’s bid to claim the Republican nomination in a third consecutive election. Incidentally, Trump had lost in the State eight years ago to Senator Ted Cruz, according to The Hill.
Also, the entrance polls showed the breadth of Trump’s support across the GOP’S key constituencies
53 per cent of White evangelical Christians backed Trump, to Desantis’ 27 per cent and Haley’s 13 per cent - figures that underscore why Trump is the
heavy favourite in South Carolina - where evangelicals make up a huge share of the party’s primary electorate - even though it’s Haley’s home state, according to CNN.
On the other hand, the college graduates split somewhat evenly between Trump, Haley and DeSantis. But Trump dominated those without a college degree, with 67 per cent support. Meanwhile, Haley and Desantis, while speaking to supporters after Trump had taken his victory lap, both vowed to continue their campaigns.
Haley, is within a difference of single digits of Trump in New Hampshire, polls show, CNN reported. She’s hoping to capitalise on a more moderate primary electorate there - and use it as a launchpad to effectively clear the field and position herself as the party’s lone Trump alternative.
“I can safely say, tonight, Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,” she told supporters. As the race shifts to more favourable territory for Haley, she used her speech on Monday night in Iowa to argue she’s the ‘antidote’ to a BidenTrump rematch.
Haley argued that the majority of Americans disapprove of both the current and the former president and insisted that her campaign is ‘the last best hope of stopping the Trump-biden nightmare’.
While she congratulated Trump on his win, she argued that the former president and Biden share ‘more in common than you think’.
“Trump and Biden both lack a vision for our country’s future because both are consumed by the past, by investigations, by vendettas, by grievances. America deserves better,” CNN quoted her as saying.
Florida Governor Desantis, who was declared the secondplace finisher in the caucuses told supporters that he had survived having ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ thrown at him in Iowa, as he vowed to continue his campaign.
Desantis campaigned very hard in Iowa, completed the ‘full Grassley’ - visiting all 99 counties. He also had the endorsement of the popular governor, Kim Reynolds.
But, ultimately, he was able to manage a distant second-place finish, behind a former president who hardly campaigned in Iowa and a late-rising rival who has long been much more focused on New Hampshire, CNN reported.
The Iowa caucus victory is considered the first step in Donald Trump’s bid to claim the Republican nomination in a third consecutive election