Iowa caucuses; the road to the RNC in Milwaukee

Iowa caucus' road to Milwaukee

The votes cast Monday night during the Iowa caucuses kick off the primary process that will lead to the Republican National Convention held in Milwaukee.

MILWAUKEE - Republican caucus-goers cast the first-in-the-nation votes Monday, Jan. 15; former President Donald Trump won 51%. The Iowa caucuses kicked off the primary process that will lead to the Republican National Convention held in Milwaukee.

The field also shrunk after the caucuses, with Vivek Ramaswamy dropping out of the race and endorsing Trump.

With 98% of county results approved, the Republican Party of Iowa results showed:

Donald Trump: 56,210 votes, 51.0%

Ron DeSantis: 23,400 votes, 21.2%

Nikki Haley: 21,076 votes, 19.1%

Vivek Ramaswamy: 8,447 votes, 7.7%

Ryan Binkley: 774 votes, 0.7%

Asa Hutchinson: 191 votes, 0.2%

Other: 84 votes, 0.1%

Chris Christie: 35 votes, 0.0%

"This is the beginning of something very important," Trump said at one of the state's 1,657 Republican caucus precincts. "I think it’s the most important election in the history of our country. You take a look at what’s happened to our country in the last short period of time."

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Former President Donald Trump

Republicans met at 7 p.m. in precincts across the state. Candidates or their supporters are allotted time to speak at each location, before the registered Republicans cast their caucus votes.

The Real Clear Average of polls had Trump 33 points ahead among Iowa Republicans, meaning the real question mark was over second place. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis beat out former United Nations Ambassador and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley for the runner-up spot.

"The only way we’re going to win the majority of Americans is if we have a new generational leader that leaves the negativity and chaos of the past and moves forward with new solutions for the future," said Nikki Haley at a precinct location.

2024 RNC in Milwaukee

"We have an opportunity tonight to really chart a new course forward for this country," DeSantis said during a campaign stop before the caucuses.

After various speeches, Republicans filled out their votes on small slips of paper, which were then hand-counted in public at each location.

Besides competing for votes, campaigns also competed with wild winter weather.

"I really think people are grossly underestimating how many subzero evenings we have and how many of these farmers have to go out and tend to their livestock and dig themselves out in order to get to work," Republican Party of Iowa Chairman Jeff Kaufmann said beforehand.

The Iowa GOP reported 110,217 votes cast as of the point when 98% of county results were in. That is less than the party's record set in the last contested primary of 2016, when 186,000 Republicans caucused. That year Sen. Ted Cruz won the party's Iowa caucuses, while Trump came in second.

This year, the state set a different caucus record: the temperatures reached negative degrees, and wind chills sank below 20°.

Iowa's Republican caucuses represent the first check-in with voters after a year of campaigning. It will lead to the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee this July, when the party will officially nominate their primary winner.

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Iowa Democrats did not vote during their caucuses on Monday evening. Instead, they will vote by mail, with results released in March.