Trump Wins Iowa Caucus as 2024 Election Begins - Top Tier Candidate Drops Out

Former President Donald Trump dominated the Iowa caucus on Monday night in the first election contest of 2024, confirming his role as the frontrunner in the battle for the Republican presidential nomination.

"I really think this is time now for everybody, our country, 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," Trump told his supporters in his victory speech. 

ABOVE: Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, Monday, Jan. 15, 2024. (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)

Trump cruised to victory and took more than 50% of the vote. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley were neck and neck but finished a distant second and third.

One significant measure of the mood among Iowans who weathered the bitter cold to attend the caucuses came from an AP VoteCast survey of 1,500 people who planned to participate. In that survey, nearly nine out of ten said they want upheaval or substantial change in how the government operates.

Trump was lifted up by white evangelicals, with one CNN entrance poll showing 53% of the voting bloc backing the former president.

CBN's Chief Political Analyst David Brody reports, "A TRUMP TKO in Iowa: he improved his performance among evangelicals by +32 from 2016. He doubled his results among females from 2016 (24% to 48%). He’s stronger now than he’s ever been. The numbers out of Iowa across the board are absolutely eye-popping."

According to an Associated Press tally, DeSantis edged out former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley for second place. Haley finished third, and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy took fourth place. The AP count gave Trump over half the votes, 51.1 percent, DeSantis 21.2 percent, Haley, 19.1 percent, and Ramaswamy 7.7 percent.

DeSantis said after the results came in, "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!"

Ramaswamy Drops Out and Endorses Trump

Meanwhile, Ramaswamy suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump. "We did not achieve the surprise we wanted to deliver tonight," he said.

Haley, who had been rising in the polls, had hoped to finish second in Iowa, gaining some momentum for the January 23rd primary in New Hampshire, where she appeared poised to compete vigorously because independent voters can participate on the GOP side, in addition to registered Republicans.

"I can safely say tonight, I will make this Republican primary a two-person race," Haley said. 

After New Hampshire, the Republican primary shifts to Nevada and South Carolina over the coming weeks before moving into the rest of the country this spring.

Meanwhile, Trump is still facing a variety of legal battles. He was expected to appear in court in New York on Tuesday for a defamation case against him.