Ted Cruz, a fiery, conservative Texas senator loathed by his own party’s leaders, swept to victory in Iowa’s Republican caucuses, overcoming billionaire Donald Trump.
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Cruz, a conservative lawmaker from Texas, won with 28% of the vote compared to 24% for businessman Trump, according to MSNBC.
Trump also noted that Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are stuck in a neck-and-neck race on the Democratic side in Iowa on Monday night – and that he would beat either one in a general election.
“Tonight is a victory for the grassroots”.
Iowa voters took the first step in choosing a new president of the United States Monday night.
Sanders also received considerable support from first-time caucus-goers and those who say they want the next president to have more liberal policies than the Obama administration. Ted Cruz narrowly edging out real-estate mogul Donald Trump and fellow senator, Marco Rubio, in a race that was separated by just five percentage points with 98.5% of districts reporting.
Bernie Sanders were at a dead heat during the Iowa caucus, but their numbers were even closer at a Polk County precinct. Supporters of former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley were repeatedly forced to re-vote precinct by precinct for this reason, forcing the candidate to suspend his flagging campaign on Monday night.
In this scenario, I believe Sanders remains a viable long shot candidate, especially if his margin of victory in New Hampshire is reasonably impressive.
Clinton emerged at 10:30 p.m. Central time to declare that it was “time for a real contest of ideas”. “So congratulations to everybody”, Trump said. Trump was the top candidate of those who preferred an outsider, while those preferring someone with experience were split between Rubio and Cruz.
Sanders had hoped to replicate Obama’s pathway to the presidency by using a victory in Iowa to catapult his passion and ideals of “democratic socialism” deep into the primaries.
Trump did best among voters who made up their minds more than a month ago: They made up an equal 35-percent share of the electorate, and Trump won 39 percent of them.
That’s because Rubio and Cruz compete for a lot of the same voters.
The race now moves to next week’s New Hampshire primary, where Mr Trump has a stronger showing, according to opinion polls.
On the Democratic side, Hillary Clinton was locked in a tight race with Sen.
Trump and Rubio will each get seven delegates, followed by neurosurgeon Ben Carson with three and Senator Rand Paul and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush with one delegate each.
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I think the people of Iowa have sent a very profound message to the political establishment, to the economic establishment, and by the way, to the media establishment. Oh, and in case anyone cares, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee has suspended his campaign after coming in at less than 2 percent.
