On Monday, February 1, 2016, 40,000 caucus-goers cast their votes in Iowa. Real estate businessman Donald J. Trump has been leading in the polls all week, but Texas Senator Ted Cruz pulled out a surprise victory on the Republican side with 27.7% of the vote. Mr. Trump came in second with 24.3%, and Florida Senator Marco Rubio closed out the top three with 23.1%. Dr. Ben Carson, whose numbers have been in a steady decline, came in fourth with 9.3%.
At the Republican Convention to decide the nomination for its party, Iowa will have 30 delegates, or representatives, to be divided up proportionally among the candidates. Thus, Sen. Cruz has 8 delegates, Mr. Trump and Sen. Cruz will have 7 delegates each, and Dr. Carson will have 3 delegates.
Former Arkansas Gov. Huckabee suspended his campaign the morning after the caucuses.
However, on the Democratic side, the race was much tighter. The race was still up for grabs on Tuesday morning, when it came out that Hillary Clinton had won with 49.9% of the vote. Bernie Sanders, Vermont senator, had 49.7% while Martin O’Malley, who dropped out last night, had eight votes. In terms of actual Democratic delegates, Clinton has 22 and Sanders has 21. O’Malley had no delegates.