Trump dominates Iowa caucus, DeSantis grasps ‘comeback kid’ title in race to second

In a commanding display, Trump secured a resounding victory in the Iowa caucus, while DeSantis claimed the “comeback kid” title by clinching second place in the race.

The only question heading into Monday night’s Iowa Caucus, Donald Trump fans’ first chance to officially cast votes for the former president in 38 months, centered on who would emerge as the runner-up, as Trump's victory appeared all but certain according to polling.

Indeed, Mr. Trump proved his iron grip on the party, with major media predicting an easy win for the frontrunner within an hour, even before voting began in many areas. By the end of the night, he had garnered approximately half of the state's Republican votes, meeting expectations. However, the surprise came as former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, initially expected to secure second place, fell behind Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. DeSantis, overcoming an early deficit, edged slightly past Haley, with both candidates roughly splitting the non-Trump vote, each securing about 20 percent of the overall vote. Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy followed in fourth with eight percent and only two delegates. He suspended his campaign shortly thereafter.

Crucially, DeSantis’s second-place win over Haley will prove pivotal to his floundering campaign as he prepares for next week’s primary in New Hampshire, where he currently trails at five percent of the Republican vote compared to Trump’s 39 and Haley’s 32. As reporter Reid J. Epstein noted, coming in second place in Iowa often can unite the leading candidate’s opposition around a clear substitute. In this case, it determined who would “claim the Republican mantle of the chief alternative to Donald Trump,” he wrote.

In either case, that “chief alternative” will have his or her work cut out as Trump, who cruised to victory in every county in Iowa except one, enjoys comfortable margins in most other states. Since he announced his bid to reclaim the White House 14 months ago, the primary has largely been seen as Trump’s race to lose. Monday’s results seemed to confirm that sentiment.

“I really think this is time now for everybody in our country to come together,” said Trump in a surprisingly conciliatory victory speech. “We want to come together — whether it’s Republican or Democrat or liberal or conservative. It would be so nice if we could come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems and straighten out all of the death and destruction that we’re witnessing.”

DeSantis also appeared triumphant in his first post-caucus address: “They were writing our obituary months ago,” he reminded a crowd of supporters. "They were just so excited about the fact that they were predicting that we wouldn’t be able to get our ticket punched here out of Iowa. But I can tell you, because of your support, in spite of all of that they threw at us, everyone against us, we’ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”

Now, as a field once teeming with over a dozen candidates continues to shrink, GOP voters will face three major choices for the party standard-bearer, all of whom share one prominent characteristic: a determination to stop the current course of politics in Washington.

Of course, here at Convention of States, we recognize that the problems confronting our nation are too great, too systemic, to be solved by any one man or administration. With each election cycle, no matter who we send into office, the federal government continues to grow, the national debt continues to climb, and the ruling class becomes increasingly out of touch. Thankfully, we know the solution — with an Article V convention we do not have to stake the future of the nation on the results of the 2024 presidential election. Instead, using the Constitution, we can bring power back to the people where it belongs. This truly is the solution as big as the problem, and we’re proud to lock shields with millions of grassroots to get the job done.