Former President Trump is projected to win the Iowa GOP caucus, while Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is expected to secure second place, according to Decision Desk HQ Monday.
Former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley is poised for third place, while Vivek Ramaswamy announced Monday night he was suspending his campaign and endorsing Trump after coming in fourth.
The win in Iowa is a boon for DeSantis, who invested heavily in the Hawkeye State and faced what some say was a make-or-break moment in the caucuses. Recent polling had shown Haley edging past DeSantis in the first-in-the-nation contest.
The top three remaining GOP candidates now gear up for New Hampshire, where polls show Trump as the heavy favorite in next week’s primary. Haley has carved out a double-digit lead over DeSantis in the Granite State, receiving 30 percent to his 6 percent, according to polling from DDHQ and The Hill.
You can follow where each candidate states in New Hampshire courtesy of DDHQ and The Hill here.
Read below for a recap of the 2024 Iowa GOP caucus.
Nikki Haley turned her attention to New Hampshire following her third-place finish in Iowa, emphasizing her position in the polls in other states.
Haley said in a speech to supporters that she enjoyed her time campaigning in Iowa but would be back in New Hampshire tonight to move on to the next step in her campaign. She declared that the result in Iowa made the contest for the GOP nomination a “two-person race.”
“Tonight, Iowa did what Iowa always does so well,” Haley said.
She emphasized polls showing her leading President Biden in a hypothetical matchup while arguing nominating him and Trump would create another toss-up race.
“Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare,” she added.
—Jared Gans
Vivek Ramaswamy on Monday night announced he’s dropping out of the 2024 GOP presidential race following a disappointing showing in the Iowa caucuses, the latest announcement to winnow down the primary field as former President Trump dominates.
“As of this moment, we are going to suspend this presidential campaign,” Ramaswamy told supporters in Iowa.
— Caroline Vakil
President Biden issued a plea for supporters to donate to his campaign in the wake of Trump’s victory in Iowa.
“Looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He’s the clear front runner on the other side at this point,” Biden wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter.
“But here’s the thing: this election was always going to be you and me vs. extreme MAGA Republicans. It was true yesterday and it’ll be true tomorrow,” Biden added, posting a link to a fundraising page.
—Brett Samuels
DeSantis is poised to finish second in the Iowa GOP caucus, while Haley is poised for third place, according to a projection from Decision Desk HQ.
Both candidates were eclipsed, however, by former President Trump, who as of this publication had just over 50 percent of the vote.
Prior to the results, an average of Iowa surveys by Decision Desk HQ and The Hill found Trump at 53 percent, Haley at 18 percent and DeSantis at 15 percent. Both an Emerson College Polling survey and a poll from NBC News/Des Moines Register/Medicom showed Trump in first place, while Haley notched second place.
— Caroline Vakil
Iowa Republican Party Chairman Jeff Kaufmann praised the early results of the evening.
“Early results indicate that we are on track to have around 100,000 Iowans participating in the 2024 First-in-the-Nation Iowa Caucus,” Kaufmann said in a statement. “Iowans braved record-low temperatures after a blizzard blanketed their state just days earlier to deliberate with members of their community about the future of our country and participate in true, grassroots democracy.”
Kaufmann’s statement comes as the DeSantis campaign slammed news outlets for calling the caucuses for Trump.
The caucus meetings began at 8 p.m. Eastern, expected to vary in length across locations in the state, with some results available in as little as half an hour and others not anticipated until later this evening, according to The Des Moines Register.
–Julia Manchester
Trump praised his GOP primary rivals as they lagged far behind him in the caucuses.
“I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a good time together. We’re all having a good time together. I think they both actually did very well. We don’t know what the outcome of second place is,” Trump said, eliciting some laughter in the crowd of supporters.
“I also want to congratulate Vivek, because he did a hell of a job,” Trump added. “He came from zero, and he’s got probably 8 percent. That’s an amazing job.”
—Brett Samuels
The former president took the stage at his campaign’s Des Moines watch party at 9:52 local time, where he was joined by several surrogates and campaign staffers.
“I really think this is time now for everybody, our country to come together,” Trump said. “We want to come together. Whether it’s Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative, it would be so nice if we could come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems.”
—Brett Samuels
A handful of potential Trump running mates should he win the nomination were quick to congratulate the former president for his win in Iowa and urge the party to unite behind him.
“It’s time to unite the Republican party,” South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R) wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter. “We need to put all our time, treasure, and talents into defeating Joe Biden and taking our country back – NOT figuring out who is in 2nd place.”
“Congratulations to President Donald Trump on his massive victory at the Iowa Caucuses! Thank you to the people of Iowa for your incredible support in delivering this historic win,” Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) said in a statement, calling on Trump’s rivals to drop out of the race.
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R), who previously served as Trump’s White House press secretary, congratulated her former boss, adding “First, Iowa. Next, the White House!”
—Brett Samuels
Decision Desk HQ estimates turnout at the caucuses will be at 110,000, a notable drop from the 2016 Iowa contest.
Monday was the coldest election day in the history of the Iowa caucuses, with temperatures in many parts of the state dropping below zero. Nearly 187,000 voters participated in the 2016 Iowa caucuses.
If the estimate holds, the number participating this year would still be less than the 2008 and 2012 caucuses, when about 120,000 participated.
Decision Desk also updated its projected delegate count, predicting Trump will win at least 16 delegates. DeSantis and Haley are projected to win at least four, and Ramaswamy is projected to win at least one.
—Jared Gans
West Des Moines— A spokesperson for the pro-DeSantis super PAC Never Back Down told the Hill at DeSantis’s watch party that Florida First Lady Casey DeSantis was speaking at a caucus precinct in Pella when caucus goers started to see push notifications that former President Trump won the caucuses.
DeSantis’s campaign and allies have hit the media for calling the race for Trump early.
— Julia Manchester
One of the big storylines emerging from tonight is the decision by news organizations to call the race for former President Trump while voting was still underway — and, reportedly, in some cases had not even begun.
The DeSantis campaign and its allies, in particular, are enraged by what transpired.
Ken Cuccinelli, a founder of Never Back Down, the main super PAC backing DeSantis, told The Hill via text that the decision to call the race was “absolutely outrageous.”
Cuccinelli said he had been watching a CNN discussion where analysts were talking about the arguments being made at a caucus site on behalf of each of the candidates.
“The voting hadn’t started yet, all while below them was a CNN chyron calling the race for Trump,” Cuccinelli said. “People are obviously getting these in caucuses where the voting hadn’t begun, or certainly wasn’t closed.”
Cuccinelli added: “The supposed guidance of not calling a race before the polls closed got reversed tonight.”
— Niall Stanage
WEST DES MOINES— Gov. Ron DeSantis’s supporters are beginning to make their way into his watch party at the Sheraton in West Des Moines. It’s mostly media in the watch party room, but supporters are starting to make their way to the side of the room and are mingling outside in the hotel lobby.
The DeSantis campaign responded to news of Trump’s early win on X.
“Absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote. The media is in the tank for Trump and this is the most egregious example yet,” DeSantis spokesman Andrew Romeo said on X.
— Julia Manchester
Former President Trump leads in the caucuses among both college and non-college graduates, according to a CNN poll.
The entrance poll of voters found Trump leading among non-college graduates with 65 percent of the vote, compared to 14 percent for DeSantis and 11 percent for Haley. He has a more modest lead among college graduates, only taking in 35 percent to Haley’s 29 percent and DeSantis’s 25 percent.
Trump currently leads his competitors with more than half of all votes counted, according to the latest vote tally.
—Jared Gans
DES MOINES — Former President Trump’s apparent victory in the Iowa caucuses was unusual in at least one regard.
The Associated Press and several news outlets called the race for Trump so early that his caucus night party is virtually deserted, except for the media contingent.
Trump is expected to speak here later by which time the now-empty space will be thronged by his followers.
See more of the event from The Hill’s Niall Stanage here.
— Niall Stanage
The former president spoke to Fox News Digital shortly after Decision Desk HQ and other news outlets called the Iowa caucuses for him, saying he felt “greatly honored.”
“It really is an honor that, minutes after, they’ve announced I’ve won—against very credibly competition—great competition, actually,” Trump told Fox News Digital.
“I feel really invigorated and strong for our country,” he added. “We want to Make America Great Again—the greatest slogan ever—and the fact is, that’s what we did.”
— Brett Samuels