Trump won at least 17 out of 40 delegates, with Haley and DeSantis each taking five
- Donald Trump set to appear in court in New York on Tuesday.
- Iowans braved life-threatening temperatures to vote.
- Iowa’s Republican voters cast Trump as best candidate.
Former US president Donald Trump decisively won the Iowa caucuses, on Monday, cementing his Republican frontrunner status as he bids to retake the White House in 2024.
Trump secured a third consecutive presidential nomination by defeating former US ambassador to the UN Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis in a widely anticipated election, CNN reported.
Trump won at least 17 out of 40 delegates, with Haley and DeSantis each taking five, according to provisional tallies. The state-wide contest began about 30 minutes after voting began.
“THANK YOU IOWA, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!” Trump wrote on his social media platform, Truth Social.
DeSantis and Haley are aiming for a strong second-place finish to convince donors and supporters of their challenges to Trump.
DeSantis had focused on Iowa, and a third-place finish could increase pressure to end his bid. Polls show him far behind Trump and Haley in New Hampshire, where Republicans will choose their nominee eight days later, Reuters reported.
Trump’s commanding victory points to his continuing dominance over the Republican Party, even as he faces mounting legal woes including four criminal indictments.
Trump is set to appear in court in New York on Tuesday as a jury decides whether to pay further damages to a writer who won a $5 million jury award for sexual assault and defamation, Al Jazeera reported.
Iowans braved life-threatening temperatures to gather at more than 1,600 schools, community centres and other sites for the state’s first-in-the-nation caucus, as the 2024 presidential campaign officially got underway after months of debates, rallies and advertisements.
Many Republican voters in Iowa cast Trump as the best candidate to address their concerns about the economy, record levels of refugee and migrant arrivals at the southern border and global instability.
“We need something different than what we’re doing now. It’s not working. I was making more money than I ever have, and now I’m broke than I’ve ever been,” David Brunell, a 32-year-old Trump supporter, told Al Jazeera before the caucuses.
