Bill Weld secures one Iowa delegate in longshot primary challenge to Trump
President Trump handily won the 2020 Iowa Republican caucuses last week, but his last remaining GOP primary challenger will receive a single delegate from the contests.
ABC News reported Monday that data tabulated by the Iowa Republican Party indicated that former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld will receive one statewide delegate from the caucuses, while the president will get the other 39.
Former Illinois Rep. Joe Walsh (R), who dropped out of the race on Friday, did not perform well enough in the caucuses a week ago to win any delegates, according to the party, and no other candidate received more than 1 percent of the overall vote.
A spokesperson for the Trump campaign touted the president’s performance in the caucuses in a statement to ABC, while the Weld campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
“There is unprecedented support for President Trump among Republicans and he set a record for votes and vote percentage in the Iowa GOP caucuses,” communications director Tim Murtaugh said.
“President Trump enjoys unprecedented support among Republicans, as evidenced by the turnout record he set in the Iowa Caucus. He has already delivered a long list of incredible accomplishments for conservatives and the country. If there was grassroots support for a primary challenger then one would have caught on by now,” added a Republican National Committee official, according to ABC. “Obviously there is not.”
Trump is considered a lock to nominated for reelection, with many states’ Republican parties not even putting Weld on their primary ballots.
On the Democratic side, the Iowa caucuses were a disaster, marred by delays, voting inconsistencies and a troublesome reporting app. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg have both requested a partial recanvas of the state after the most recent results showed the latter with a narrow lead in the delegate count and trailing in the popular vote.
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