Former president Donald Trump dominated the Republican Caucus in Iowa, earning 51 percent of the vote, netting him over 56,000 votes across the state on Monday, Jan. 15, 2024.
In what has been dubbed the “lowest-turnout caucus in a quarter-century” by the Associated Press, participants combatted the frigid cold and dangerous driving conditions to meet.
However, members of the Republican Party were impressed with turnout, considereding participants had to deal with wind chills dipping 20 to 30 degrees below zero.
“Overall, we’re pretty impressed and pleased with turnout here in Iowa, just over 110,000 people showed up despite the weather,” said Kush Desai, Communication’s Director for the Republican Party of Iowa.
“We weren’t disappointed with the turnout here at all,” he added, noting that 100 percent of precincts in the state had reported their results before 1 a.m.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis came in a distant second in Iowa with just 21.2 percent of the vote, a total of 23,420 votes. DeSantis was an early front runner for the GOP, behind Trump.
However, on Sunday, Jan. 21, DeSantis suspended his campaign after subpar polling in Iowa, ultimately choosing to endorse his former rival Trump.
Meanwhile, former governor of South Carolina Nikki Haley saw a boon in Iowa, coming in third with 19.1 percent of the vote, a total of 21,085 votes across the state. Support for Haley has been trending upwards.
That being said, Trump was the day’s big winner:
“We’re going to put America first; we’re going to make America great again,” Trump said after the win, “Iowa, we love you… you just go out and buy larger tractors and more land.”
He thanked several members of the Iowa GOP for making the Republican Caucus happen, including Chair of the Republican Party of Iowa Jeff Kaufmann and his son Iowa Representative Bobby Kaufmann.
“This is a very special night,” he added. “The big night is going to be in November when we take back our country and truly, we do make our country great again.”
The Iowa caucuses are the first major testing grounds for the U.S. presidential election season and are seen as a strong indicator of how a presidential candidate will do in later states.
Typically, members of both political parties meet, discuss and vote on who should represent their party going forward in the next election, as well as additional party business.
However, Iowa Democrats only conducted administrative business during the caucus on Monday, such as starting the process of choosing delegates for the national conventions.
Iowa Democrats did not vote on or indicate their pick to represent their party on the November 2024 presidential ballot.
Rather, they will vote for a party nominee through a mail-in voting process that began Jan. 12, 2024, and will conclude on March 5, 2024, just in time for Super Tuesday.
That being said, current U.S. President Joe Biden is expected to represent the Democrat Party in November as he vies for a second term in the highest office of the land.
In Muscatine County, Donald Trump was the clear victor with 53.7 percent of the vote, a total of 532 votes casted by the county’s Republican Party, which includes West Liberty, Wilton, and part of Durant.
However, the county flipped the state script. Instead of DeSantis, Nikki Haley came in second place with 22.2 percent of the vote, followed by DeSantis with 18.1 percent.
Voters in Muscatine County either traveled to Muscatine High School or Wilton High School depending on where they were located. Either way, it was a very cold night.
Residents of Cedar County that live in Durant met at the Durant Community Center for the Republican Party. They too faced the cold and snow.
In Cedar County, Donald Trump won by 60.2 percent, a total of 378 votes. In an interesting twist, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis tied, each carrying approximately 15.6 percent of the vote.
Unfortunately for Vivek Ramaswamy, Iowa spelled out the end of his campaign after a poor showing. Formerly a front contender, the Ohio businessman suspended his campaign not long after the caucus.
As a result, he, like DeSantis, put his full support behind Trump. Not a huge surprise for those following Ramaswamy, who consistently defended Trump despite running against him.
Weeding out candidates is part of the process says Secretary of State Paul Pate, who visited Durant High School on Friday, Jan. 5, to talk about voting and the Iowa Caucus.
“What we’re doing here is we’re helping narrow the field,” he told the students. “In Iowa we don’t pick the next president, what we do is narrow it down.”
“It’s like basketball, or any sport,” he continued. “When you start the season, you’re all equal, and as time goes on some of you have a better winning season and are more likely to be in the playoffs.”
Now that Iowa has officially kicked off the campaign season in 2024, New Hampshire will come next with a presidential primary on Jan. 23. South Carolina and Nevada follow in February.
There was some controversy during the Republican Caucus in Iowa concerning several media outlets claiming victory for Donald Trump early into the evening.
According to the Republican Party of Iowa, numerous media outlets, including the AP, NBC, CBS, CNN, FOX, called the results prematurely when only 300 of the over 100,000 that were cast were reported.
Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann stated:
"Media outlets calling the results of the 2024 First-in-the-Nation Caucus less than half an hour after precinct caucuses had been called to order – before the overwhelming majority of Iowans had even cast their ballot – was highly disappointing and concerning.”
"One of the key differences between the Iowa Caucus and a standard primary election is that Iowans have the chance to listen to presidential candidates or their surrogates and deliberate to make an informed decision,” he stated. "There was no need to rush one of the most transparent, grassroots democratic processes in the country."