Former President Donald Trump took a formal step towards winning the Republican presidential nomination for a third consecutive year with a stunning victory in the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
Trump's victory was so sweeping that major networks canceled the former president's campaign less than an hour after the caucuses began, and only a small number of votes were officially reported. -and Even before voting began in some caucus venues.. By 11 p.m., about 93% of the votes had been counted, giving Trump 51% of the vote. He appeared on track to win at least 16 of the state's 40 delegates to this year's Republican convention (and more once the final results are tallied). according to New York Times' tracker.
President Trump celebrated his victory in a speech in Des Moines late Monday night, declaring:Now is the time for everyone and our country to The remarks appear to be a call for Trump to get his party in line as he seeks to become the first major party to be nominated for president three times since former President Richard Nixon. there is a possibility.Unite,” Trump said. Said. „It's about to happen.“
„I don't even know what the second place result will be,“ President Trump added with a slight laugh.
Indeed, while there was no doubt about the winner on Monday, the caucuses did not provide a definitive answer to the other big question of the Republican primary: Who is the front-runner to replace Trump? Ta.
By late Monday night, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis appeared to be in a distant second place with about 21% of the vote, followed by former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with about 19%. followed by a narrow margin.
DeSantis had Betting big on a good performance at Iowa To save his founding movement.he accomplished the following feats Visited all 99 counties He was in the state during the campaign, but as of late Monday night, he had no sign of winning a single county and had to settle for finishing roughly 30 points behind President Trump.
DeSantis campaign released statement On Monday night, the media heavily criticized the race for canceling it too soon. fair pointEven though it seems highly unlikely that anything has changed.
Haley is polling far more than DeSantis in the next two states scheduled to vote, New Hampshire and her home state of South Carolina. If the battle for second place means anything, they may prove to be more important than the outcome at Iowa State.
Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy was expected to finish fourth with about 8 percent of the vote.
The Iowa caucuses usually have low turnout, but severe weather hit the entire state Monday and afternoon. There is a growing perception that President Trump is running away from the election race. It is likely that there will be fewer participants this year.
In this context, despite all the attention paid to the Iowa caucuses, the nation's first nominating contest has not had a very good track record in determining Republican candidates in recent decades. It's worth keeping that in mind. In each of the past three Republican primaries in which the incumbent president did not participate in the race, the winner was elected in Iowa. I kept missing out on nominations.: Former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee in 2008, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pennsylvania) in 2012, and Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) in 2016.
Mr. Trump's margin of victory in Iowa was far greater than in each of those three races, none of which were decided by more than nine points. In fact, his performance in Iowa was probably the best ever for a non-incumbent Republican, surpassing the high bar set by victorious George W. Bush. 41 percent Of the votes there in 2000.
While it's still too early to make a final word on the Republican nomination, Monday's results reflect what numerous polls already show is that this is a losing battle for President Trump.