Former President Donald Trump outpaced his Republican rivals and won the Iowa caucuses Monday, boosting his campaign. The win caused one of his opponents to exit the race ahead of next week’s New Hampshire primary.
Trump won an outright majority of participants, earning 51% of the total vote. In second place was Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) with 21%. Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley received 19%.
The only other candidate with significant support was businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, who received slightly less than 8% of the vote. Following the end of the caucus, Ramaswamy dropped out and endorsed Trump.
Trump wins Iowa easily. Honestly – what a comeback versus where he was after 2020. It’s truly stunning
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) January 16, 2024
Both DeSantis and Haley hoped for a strong finish in the state. While the two slightly outpaced polls from before the caucus, they finished well behind the former president.
Haley’s third-place finish could complicate her campaign strategy in New Hampshire, the next nominating contest. The candidate received a boost from the endorsement of New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu (R). Haley hopes that her finish in Iowa could help her stay competitive in the Granite State.
However, DeSantis’ support from Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds (R) was not enough to place him over Trump. DeSantis’ campaign touted tens of thousands of commitments from Iowa Republicans to caucus for DeSantis this week.
However, when the results came in, the candidate wound up with significantly fewer votes than the caucus commitments it earlier received.
Following the Iowa results, Haley said that the upcoming fight in New Hampshire was a “two-person race.” She also congratulated Trump on his victory.
DeSantis said that his opponents “threw everything but the kitchen sink at us” and said that his campaign “got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”
The end of Ramaswamy’s campaign could boost the former president, just days after Trump said that his rival was not part of the MAGA movement.
However, much of Ramaswamy’s support came from those who would likely otherwise support Trump. With Ramaswamy’s voters, Trump may receive several percentage points more in following states.
