US Senator Ted Cruz on Monday soundly defeated billionaire Donald Trump in Iowa’s Republican nominating contest, upending the party’s presidential race and creating a three-way competition with establishment candidate US Senator Marco Rubio.
On the Democratic side, officials said former US secretary of state Hillary Rodham Clinton had won by a razor-thin margin against US Senator Bernie Sanders, the closest in Iowa Democratic caucus history.
Cruz, a conservative lawmaker from Texas, won the first state Republican contest in this year’s race with 28 percent of the vote compared with 24 percent for Trump. Rubio, who represents Florida, came in third with 23 percent, making a stronger-than-expected finish.
Photo: AFP
With Clinton prevailing by only four delegates, according to party figures, Sanders, a self-described democratic socialist, declared the result a “virtual tie.”
“Hillary Clinton has won the Iowa Caucus,” Matt Paul, the Iowa state director for Clinton said in a statement released in the early hours of yesterday morning.
Cruz’s win and Rubio’s strong showing could dent the momentum for Trump, whose candidacy has alarmed the Republican establishment.
Photo: AFP
“Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa and all across this great nation,” Cruz, 45, said during a speech lasting more than 30 minutes.
An uncharacteristically humbled Trump, 69, congratulated Cruz and said he still expected to win the Republican nomination.
Opinion polls show Trump leading nationally and in New Hampshire, which holds the next nominating contest.
Photo: Reuters
“I’m just honored,” the businessman said.
Unusually large crowds poured into schools, churches and other venues for the caucuses, in which voters gather together to select a candidate.
The results of the Democratic race put pressure on Clinton to siphon support away from Sanders, who has won over politically left-leaning voters with his promises to take on Wall Street and start fresh with healthcare reform.
Clinton, 68, said she was breathing a “big sigh of relief” after the results. She lost Iowa to then-US senator Barack Obama in the 2008 Democratic race and never recovered.
“It is rare that we have the opportunity we do now to have a real contest of ideas,” Clinton said with her husband, former US president Bill Clinton, and daughter, Chelsea, joining her on stage.
Sanders, 74, declared himself overwhelmed.
Former Maryland governor Martin O’Malley, who had trouble gaining any traction in the Democratic race, suspended his campaign after coming in third, as did former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who was seeking the Republican nomination.
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