The US presidential race began on Monday with the Iowa caucuses, where Donald Trump easily defeated the field of contenders. This solidified Trump’s position as the presumed Republican nominee to face President Joe Biden in November.
Although the former president has been leading in polls for over a year, the competition provided the best understanding to date of his capacity to turn that lead into an incredible comeback to the White House.
The contest was called by major US networks in less than thirty minutes, with 51 percent of the vote going to Trump and an astonishing 30-point lead over Ron DeSantis — the largest victory in modern Iowa history for a challenger.
DeSantis was predicted to finish in second place, while the governor of Florida and Trump’s primary opponent, former UN ambassador Nikki Haley, were tied at 21 and 19 percent, respectively.
“Trump is the dominant candidate (in the Republican Party) and ‘contest one’ confirms the reality,” Julian E. Zelizer, professor of Public Affairs at Princeton University, told AFP.
There were concerns that Trump’s legal issues, which include numerous civil and criminal cases this year, might hinder him.
The 77-year-old succeeded in mobilizing his supporters with his prosecutions, but the magnitude of his win showed how he will carry over his momentum into New Hampshire, the next state to nominate, on Tuesday.
“I really think this is time now for everybody, the country, to come together,” Trump said in a rambling, uncharacteristically lackluster victory speech.
Heart physician Allan Latcham, 62, praised a “night for victory” and said he was taken aback by how quickly the results were announced. He cast his ballot before traveling to Des Moines for Trump’s election party.
DeSantis weakened
Bundled together Despite bitter cold and a winter storm that reduced voter participation and pushed politicians to postpone events, Iowans braved subzero temperatures to cast their ballots at more than 1,600 locations.
The night’s key concern was always how big of a victory margin Trump would have, with pundits speculating that anything over 30 points, or a voting percentage above 50 percent, would qualify as a successful night.
With operatives stationed throughout the initial states to seek nomination, the Trump campaign is more coordinated than it was when he lost Iowa in 2016.
DeSantis, who courted voters in all 99 counties, saw a strong showing as critical, intending to run Trump close and bring him in later in the year as the former president’s legal problems mount.
Despite the fact that DeSantis is viewed as weak in New Hampshire and that many observers were calling his candidacy almost dead, the governor affirmed that he will continue to run in an effort to “reverse the madness that we’ve seen in this country.”
“Big winner tonight? Biden. He’s gonna get the candidate he wants: Trump,” Republican political consultant Mike Madrid posted on social media.
Party unity?
As the sole female candidate in the Republican race, Haley aimed to surpass predictions in Iowa and advance to a one-on-one meeting with Trump in her favored battleground of New Hampshire.
Haley, who came in third, discounted DeSantis’s chances of increasing his level of support in Iowa and pledged to win in New Hampshire in order to prevent the “nightmare” of a Trump-Biden rematch.
Trump’s advisors have made it apparent that they want to eliminate the opposition well in advance of the July Republican National Convention. They also want the party to unite around the front-runner before several anticipated court hearings.
But some Republican voters said they could not back another Trump presidency.
“I can hardly even think about it. He’s a mess. An embarrassment,” said Heather Jacobus, who voted for Haley in Des Moines.
Some low-polling candidates ran in the Iowa campaign as well, such as biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, who finished in the single digits and withdrew his endorsement of Trump.
Democrats in Iowa were also holding caucuses and voting by mail until March. Biden had two opponents, but none of them posed a significant danger.
“Looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He’s the clear front runner on the other side at this point,” Biden said on X, formerly Twitter.