Campaign Report
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Campaign Report
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Republicans turn focus to New Hampshire
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The three remaining major candidates for the GOP presidential nomination are now turning their attention to the New Hampshire primary next week following the results of the Iowa caucuses on Monday.
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Former President Trump won a decisive victory in the Iowa caucuses over his Republican opponents, receiving just more than half of the vote. With more than 99 percent of all votes counted, Trump is ahead of his closest opponent by almost 30 points.
Various news outlets called the race for Trump within a half hour to an hour after voting started and before many votes had been cast, yielding some criticism, especially from Ron DeSantis’s campaign.
The race for second place between DeSantis and Nikki Haley was a bit more suspenseful. DeSantis had invested significant resources in Iowa and visited every county in the state, but Haley had been rising in the polls and started surpassing him in the lead-up to Monday.
DeSantis ultimately squeaked out a narrow 2-point win over Haley for second but was not close to Trump in competing for first despite his efforts.
All three candidates indicated their intention to look ahead to the next election date on the calendar: the critical New Hampshire primary next Tuesday.
Haley, who has been looking for an upset there as she has risen in the polls, told supporters in Iowa that she would immediately go back to New Hampshire, but Iowa had made the contest a “two-person race” between her and Trump.
DeSantis signaled that his campaign would continue on despite the distant second-place finish and uphill climb he will have in New Hampshire, as The Hill’s Julia Manchester reports. He said the campaign “got our ticket punched out of Iowa” to continue running.
Trump meanwhile told supporters on Monday that he felt “really invigorated” by the victory and called on the other candidates to drop out for the party to coalesce around him.
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Welcome to The Hill’s Campaign Report, I’m Jared Gans. Each week we track the key stories you need to know to stay ahead of the 2024 election and who will set the agenda in Washington.
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Key election stories and other recent campaign coverage:
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DES MOINES, Iowa — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) is facing questions about his path forward in the Republican presidential primary as he leaves Iowa with a distant second-place finish and stares down yet more challenging contests in the next early nominating states. The Florida governor came in second, behind former President Trump’s expected first-place finish Monday night. But DeSantis’s finish was still …
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GOP presidential primary candidate Nikki Haley said in an interview Tuesday that she hasn’t “looked at” writer E. Jean Carroll’s case against former President Trump. “This one I haven’t looked at, but look, if he’s found guilty, then he needs to pay the price,” Haley said in an interview on CNN. Last year, a jury found that the former president had sexually abused and defamed Carroll, awarding her $5 million. She now is seeking …
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Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley claimed Tuesday that the United States has never been a “racist” country, rejecting a suggestion that she might have trouble becoming the GOP presidential nominee as a woman of color. In an interview on “Fox & Friends,” co-host Brian Kilmeade asked Haley whether she thinks the GOP is a “racist party.” “No. We’re not a racist country, Brian. We’ve never been …
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Upcoming news themes and events we’re watching:
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- 7 days until the New Hampshire presidential primary
- 294 days until the 2024 general election
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GOP field dwindles further
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The field of candidates that at one time numbered a dozen shrunk even further in the aftermath of the caucuses, with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson dropping out.
Ramaswamy made the announcement on Monday night after a disappointing fourth-place finish in Iowa, saying he did not have a path to the nomination. He also gave his endorsement to Trump, whom he had praised periodically throughout the race.
“As I’ve said since the beginning, there are two America First candidates in this race. And earlier tonight, I called Donald Trump to tell him that I congratulate him on his victory, and now going forward, you will have my full endorsement for the presidency,” he said.
Ramaswamy gained some momentum after being initially seen as a long-shot candidate but ultimately could not keep up with Trump, DeSantis and Haley.
Hutchinson, who pitched himself as an opponent to Trump’s reelection bid, suspended his campaign on Tuesday after finishing in sixth place in Iowa. As The Hill’s Caroline Vakil reports, his struggles to gain any traction in the polls demonstrate the difficulty that anti-Trump candidates have had in the race.
“My message of being a principled Republican with experience and telling the truth about the current front runner did not sell in Iowa,” Hutchinson said.
Hutchinson usually polled no higher than 1 or 2 percent nationally and in early-voting states.
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Branch out with a different read from The Hill:
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Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) said Monday he believes former President Trump’s roaring victory in the Iowa caucuses could actually be a bad sign for his campaign. Media outlets called the race for Trump just minutes after caucuses began, and the former president ended up winning about 51 percent of the vote, within the margin of expected results from state polls. Despite the results, Pritzker, a Biden reelection campaign adviser, …
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Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who is running for Senate, unveiled a new Jan. 6-themed advertisement warning that the country faces an “even greater danger” following former President Trump’s win in Iowa. The advertisement, titled “Danger,” touts Schiff’s efforts to hold Trump accountable on various issues as the California congressman battles other Democrats for the Senate seat. Schiff was the lead House manager …
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Local and state headlines regarding campaigns and elections:
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Election news we’ve flagged from other outlets:
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How Trump dominated Iowa — and held back DeSantis and Haley (The Washington Post)
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How Iowa became a chaotic curtain-raiser for a fateful political year (CNN)
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Key stories on The Hill right now:
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Top tax writers in Congress announced a deal Tuesday morning to beef up the child tax credit (CTC) and reinstate business deductions that were taken away to pay for the reduction of the corporate tax rate in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. The CTC expansion would increase the maximum credit per child to $2,000 from $1,600 through 2025 … Read more
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DES MOINES, Iowa — Voters had their say for the first time in the 2024 presidential campaign cycle Monday — and the result was an emphatic win in the GOP’s Iowa caucuses for former President Trump. Trump stormed to victory by roughly 30 points. Much of the tension in the run-up to the caucuses revolved around the fight for second place. … Read more
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Opinions related to campaigns and elections submitted to The Hill:
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You’re all caught up. See you next time!
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