Trump dominates in Iowa; turnout low in freezing-cold caucus

OSKALOOSA — Iowa Republicans who dug out of a blizzard’s worth of snow and went out into the arctic cold Monday made their thoughts clear: They want four more years of Donald Trump in the White House.

Inside the Jubilee Family Church, Cole Converse, of Oskaloosa’s second ward, kicked off the meeting’s speeches with an urgent endorsement for Trump’s “unprecedented” leadership.

“We’re in unprecedented times right now,” Converse told the crowd. “And unprecedented times call for unprecedented leaders. And I’ve never seen someone as persecuted and as gone after by the deep state as Donald Trump in my lifetime. Which means that he, to me, is the perfect person … We need him back in Washington.”

Of 942 votes in Mahaska County, Trump received 499.

Twenty-two miles away in Ottumwa, A packed Ottumwa High School auditorium, where a “super caucus” of Wapello County was held, cheered and chanted loudly as Iowa Sen. Cherielynn Westrich, R-Wapello, spoke about the former president.

Those introducing the remaining candidates running for the Republican Party’s presidential nomination received only varying degrees of respectful applause.

“I’m here today to speak to you on behalf of the greatest president of our lifetime,” Westrich said to a rousing applause.

“Promises made, promises kept,” she continued in her pitch for Trump. “He made North Korea back down. He made China back down. And even peace in the Middle East — he made peace deals, who’s ever heard of that? They came at him with accusations, scandals and lies. The entire media came after he, but he did not back down.”

Of 751 votes cast in Wapello, Trump received 538.

County by county, this was the trend in rural areas particularly as the Iowa Caucuses convened around the state. In larger counties, Trump generally won easily but by fewer margins. Johnston County, home of Iowa City and the University of Iowa, was the lone exception. There, Nikki Haley beat Trump by one vote.

The Iowa Republican Party was happy with the turnout, counting votes from 110,298 Iowans who braved the conditions. Trump received 51% of the vote, beating second-place Ron DeSantis by 30 percentage points to blow away Bob Dole’s previous record-win of 13 points. Through the clear enthusiasm for Trump across Iowa, it’s the lowest turnout in more than 20 years with 18.6% of the party’s active registered voters attending.

Polling for months has suggested Trump’s easy-sailing victory of the caucuses would occur. What remained to be seen was whether DeSantis and Haley could outperform their numbers. In the end, DeSantis performed to expectations and finished second with 21.2% of the vote. Haley, who had moved to second in polling, slightly underperformed and took third with 19.1% of the vote.

However, across the rural areas of southeast Iowa, Trump’s margins were even more pronounced. Behind Trump receiving 71.6% of Wapello County Republicans’ vote, DeSantis received just 12.5% and Haley received 9.2%.

In Mahaska County, Trump received 52.8% with DeSantis at 29% and Haley at 9.4%. Trump carried Marion County with 46.1% of the vote, Monroe with 66.7%, Appanoose with 71.9%, Davis with 67.3%, Van Buren with 71.3% and Jefferson with 69.5%.

Even with the dominating performance by Trump, there does exist some in the party that seem to want to move on from a Trump-defined party.

Dan Carmichael, of Oskaloosa’s first ward, spoke in support of Ryan Binkley, a Texas pastor running on the Republican ticket. His endorsement centered on choosing a candidate who espouses Christian values.

“I know I’m probably thought to be pretty brave standing up here and campaigning for somebody like Ryan Binkley, who’s not even hitting the percentage polls right now,” Carmichael said.

“Our first allegiance is not to the elephant,” he added. “Our first allegiance is to the Lamb. And if that’s true, and we look at the Word of God, and we look at what the Word of God calls us to with regard to picking a godly leader, Ryan Binkley is our man. He’s a man who is encouraging people to pray about their decision. He’s quoting scripture in his commercials. He’s a very godly man.”

Carmichael encouraged Christians to choose a leader who would not be frequently embroiled in scandal, referring to the 91 felony charges Trump currently faces from four criminal investigations. He has also been sued in New York, is facing attempts in several states to be blocked from the ballot, and has other investigations pending against him.

Following Carmichael’s endorsement of Binkley, the meeting heard a whopping three speeches in support of Vivek Ramaswamy, who after coming in fourth has since dropped out of the race and endorsed Trump.

After the straw poll, Converse said that while he feels alright about the vote, he is still anxious for America to “wake up.”

“I feel decent about it, but I really hope that the country gradually wakes up,” he said. “We’re very much in unprecedented times right now, and if we don’t get this right, we don’t have much time to save our country.”

While traditionally Iowa has not directly served the role of predicting the eventual party nominee for president, it has served to weed out candidates in the field.

In the leadup to Monday’s vote, Chris Christie, Mike Pence, Tim Scott, Doug Burgum, Larry Elder, Will Hurt, Perry Johnson, and Francis Suarez had dropped out of the race after previously having declared. Asa Hutchison dropped out Tuesday.

The candidates are quickly redirecting their sights to New Hampshire, with their statewide primary set for Tuesday. Joining Trump, DeSantis and Haley to New Hampshire as the last candidates still in the race is Ryan Binkley, a still relatively unknown Texas businessman who bet big on gaining ground in Iowa that received 774 votes Monday.

Ocker reported from Ottumwa.