Trump wins Iowa caucuses in crucial victory at beginning of the Republican campaign

It was the biggest Iowa caucus victory that anyone has ever seen.

Trump’s popularity among Iowa Republicans was on full display Monday night, when the former president who is seeking a return to the White House won the state party’s presidential precinct caucuses by a historic margin.

With 100 percent of the state’s 99 counties reported late Monday evening, Trump had carried 98 of them, securing 51 percent of Iowa Republicans’ support. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis won second place with 21 percent, and Haley finished third with 19 percent.

Trump’s victory is far and away the largest ever in the Iowa Republican caucuses, which date to the 1970s. Prior to Monday night, the largest victory margin by a Republican Iowa caucus winner who was not an incumbent president was just 12 points: Bob Dole over Pat Robertson in 1988.

Trump took the stage at his caucus-night rally at around 10 p.m. and thanked Iowa Republican caucus participants, his family, the Iowa public officials who have supported him, and his fellow candidates: DeSantis, Haley and Vivek Ramaswamy. He then turned his remarks to current Democratic President Joe Biden, and celebrated his historic victory margin.

The Republican Party of Iowa late Monday night said it projected statewide caucus turnout of roughly 100,000. Temperatures across the state reached historic lows for an Iowa caucus night, with wind chills in the range of minus 30 degrees.

“Iowans braved record-low temperatures after a blizzard blanketed their state just days earlier to deliberate with members of their community about the future of our country and participate in true, grassroots democracy,” Republican Party of Iowa chairman Jeff Kaufmann said in a statement. “I could not be prouder to be an Iowan than I am tonight. … Iowans coming out en masse demonstrates our people’s resilience and determination, as well as their confidence in the most transparent democratic process in the country.”

Trump’s victory in Iowa starts the nation’s presidential nominating process, and propels him on to New Hampshire, where he leads Haley in polling averages at Real Clear Politics and fivethirtyeight by roughly 14 percentage points. New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary election is next Tuesday, Jan. 23.

Throughout nearly a year of caucus campaigning in Iowa, Trump held a consistent and commanding lead in public polls on the Republican presidential primary. The polls suggested Trump’s popularity remains strong here in Iowa, and Monday night’s caucus results confirmed it.

Trump finished a close second to Texas U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz in the 2016 Iowa Republican caucuses before going on to secure the party’s nomination that year. He carried Iowa in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections.

After his second-place finish in the 2016 caucuses, Trump questioned the results and encouraged Kaufmann to disavow the results, in what turned out to be a precursor to Trump’s denial of his 2020 presidential re-election loss, which now has him facing legal issues in Georgia.

Back in Iowa this time around, the Trump campaign left nothing to chance. This time, the campaign apparatus did a better job of doing the grassroots organizing work — finding and then securing the caucus commitments from supporters — that historically has been necessary to fuel a successful Iowa caucus campaign.

And when they did, the results spoke for themselves.

At Washington High School in southeast Cedar Rapids, Ron and Debbie Smith said they were caucusing for the first time, and came out to support Trump.

“Everything I dislike about him is why I like him,” Ron Smith, a 58-year-old remote contract worker said. “He makes you feel uncomfortable, but he does the uncomfortable things that need to get done. Everyone else is all talk.”

After DeSantis and Haley, Ohio biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was fourth at just 7.7 percent. Ramaswamy announced the suspension of his campaign and endorsed Trump on Monday night.

DeSantis’ campaign cried foul after four national media organizations — the Associated Press, CNN, Fox News and NBC News — called the caucuses for Trump just a half-hour after the caucuses began.

National media organizations have election results reporting staff that help them project winners before official results are reported.

“It is absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote. The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet,” DeSantis campaign communications director Andrew Romeo said in a statement.

Iowa Democratic Party chairwoman Rita Hart in a statement said the former president’s victory in Iowa shows what will be at stake in the 2024 presidential election.

“Donald Trump and the entire Republican field spent every minute leading up to the caucus twisting themselves in knots to stake out the most extreme positions this country has ever seen,” Hart said in the statement, criticizing Trump on issues like abortion, Social Security and Medicare, public safety, and tax policy.

Grace King of The Gazette contributed to this report.