Donald Trump wins Republican presidential caucuses in Iowa, DeSantis secures 2nd spot, Haley 3rd

Former United States president and Republican frontrunner Donald Trump earned his widely expected victory Monday (Jan 15) in the Iowa caucuses, the first vote in the 2024 presidential race. Trump is once again dominating the party as he seeks a third consecutive nomination and a second term in office.

Since Trump’s win was a foregone conclusion, all eyes wereon the battle for second placebetween Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley.

With 95 per cent of the votes counted, Trump took the lead with over50per cent of the votes, followed by DeSantis in a distant second place with a little over 21per cent, while Haley was not too far behindin third with around 19 per cent of the votes.

Meanwhile, Vivek Ramaswamy ended his long-shot presidential bid having secured less than eight per cent votes, and endorsed Trump in a speech to supporters.

‘I am greatly honoured’

Speaking about his projected win during an interview with Fox News Digital, Trump said he was “invigorated”. “I am greatly honoured by such an early call.”He later took to his social media platform Truth Social and wrote, "THANK YOU IOWA, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!"

After the win, Trump addressed a boisterous crowd in Des Moines where he congratulated his rivals and talked about removing the "aliens" and making America great again.

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The early results indicated that the former president will win by a record-setting margin amid his many legal woes, including four criminal cases that could go to trial before the November 5 general elections.

According to a poll by Edison Research, only one-third of caucus-goers said Trump would be unfit for president if convicted of a crime.

Nearly two-thirds said they did not believe that the incumbent Democratic President Joe Biden legitimately won the 2020 election, largely embracing the Republican frontrunner’s claims about voter fraud.

“Trump is very narcissistic, he’s very cocky, but he’s going to get stuff done,” said Rita Stone, 53, a Trump supporter who attended a caucus at a West Des Moines high school, as quoted by Reuters.

It is also worth noting that the Associated Press called the race for the former US president around half an hour before the Iowa caucuses officially started.

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That announcement was based on an analysis of early returns as well as the results of AP VoteCast, which is a survey of voters who planned to caucus. Both showed that Trump was going to win by a large margin.

With the Iowa caucuses wrapped up, Republicans in more moderate New Hampshire will choose their nominee eight days from now, where polls show that Trump has a smaller lead over Haley, withDeSantis far behind.

Iowans vote amid life-threatening cold

Iowans ventured out in life-threatening temperatures with the mercury plunging to as low as minus 43 degrees Celsius on Monday (Jan 15)in some parts of the state, according to the National Weather Service.

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According to Edison, there would be approximately 130,000 votes counted, far short of the record 187,000 cast in the 2016 Republican caucus.

This would mean that if the cold weather hadn't led to a lower turnout, Trump’s grip on his most loyal supporters may have given him an edge in the race.

With snow-covered highways in Iowa, particularly in the southern part of the state, it was reported that the Trump, Haley, and DeSantis campaigns were fielding calls from supporters who said that they would not be able to make it to their voting precincts.

(With inputs from agencies)