DeSantis and Haley vie for second place.
DES MOINES, Iowa–Former President Donald Trump has captured the 2024 Iowa caucus, according to multiple early projections.
The Associated Press declared a victory for the former president just 33 minutes into the voting process on the evening of Jan. 15. Other media have also called the race for President Trump.
No Republican has ever won the Iowa caucuses with a margin of more than 12 percentage points. The president was ahead by a multiple of that amount when the race was called. The final vote count was expected to be in by 1 a.m. EST.
For many months, polls had shown that President Trump held a commanding lead over all his Republican rivals.
Two days before the caucuses, an influential poll published by the Des Moines Register, NBC News, and Mediacom Communications Corp., showed that President Trump had support from 48 percent of likely caucusgoers.
Trailing him in the polls were former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley with 20 percent, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 16 percent, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy with 8 percent.
In the final days of the Iowa contest, the four remaining major candidates battled inhospitable pre-caucus weather. Winter storms dumped several inches of snow throughout the state, leaving many roads impassable. After the snow slowed, strong winds created massive snowdrifts and produced life-threatening wind chills.
Mr. Ramaswamy continued to hold events, while other candidates canceled some appearances during the final few days before caucus night.
After a blizzard warning expired on Jan. 13, President Trump resumed campaigning with an in-person rally in Indianola, south of Des Moines, on Jan. 14. An overflow crowd of more than 800 people turned out despite temperatures hovering at roughly minus 17 degrees.
A second in-person rally for President Trump had been slated for Cherokee, a 3 1/2-hour drive under normal conditions. But with many roads still slow-going because of compacted snow, the Trump campaign replaced that event with a “tele-rally” via livestream.
Thomas Hagle, a professor at the University of Iowa, told The Epoch Times that the inhospitable weather added more unpredictability to the contest.
By Janice Hisle
