DeSantis edges out Haley for distant second place in Iowa GOP caucuses

WEST DES MOINES — Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished in a distant second place in Monday night’s Iowa Republican caucuses, narrowly edging out former U.N. ambassador Nikki Haley in a tight race for second place.

With about 95 percent of the votes in, DeSantis pulled in about 21 percent of the vote, putting Haley in a close third with about 19 percent support. But both candidates celebrated the results as a boost to their campaigns even as they trailed far behind former President Donald Trump, who gathered more than half of the reported results.

“They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us,” DeSantis told a raucous crowd of supporters gathered at his watch party at a West Des Moines hotel. “They spent almost $50 million attacking us. … The media was against us. They were writing our obituary months ago."

The Florida governor’s campaign cried foul Monday night after national media outlets predicted Trump the winner shortly after the caucuses started. The Associated Press and other major news outlets such as CNN, Fox News and NBC News called the race for Trump barely 30 minutes after the caucuses began at 7 p.m. Iowa time.

The DeSantis campaign claimed the media was engaging in “election interference,” since not all caucuses had finished.

“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,” DeSantis said.

“We represent a chance to reverse the madness that we've seen in this country to reverse the decline of this country and to give this country a new birth of freedom and a restoration,” he continued.

DeSantis noted his campaign has an uphill climb. “But I can tell you this as the next president of the United States, I am going to get the job done for this country,” he said. “I am not going to make any excuses. And I guarantee you this, I will not let you down.”

Haley, the former South Carolina governor, cast her third-place finish as a victory, saying she rose from polling in the single digits to nearly taking second place. She pointed to the later contests in other states and said she was well positioned to take on Trump.

“I can safely say, tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race,” she told supporters in West Des Moines.

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Haley, who spent the weeks leading up to caucuses attacking DeSantis, quickly set her sights Monday night on Trump. She warned of the prospects of a rematch between Trump and Democratic President Joe Biden, saying Americans want to see the country taken in a different direction.

“Trump and Biden are both about 80 years old,” she said. “Trump and Biden both put our country trillions of dollars deeper in debt, and our kids will never forgive them for it.”

DeSantis bet on ground organizing

DeSantis marshaled a robust network of precinct captains and canvassers to try to boost him past Haley.

Never Back Down, a DeSantis-aligned super PAC supporting but not directly affiliated with his campaign, led the bulk of Iowa organizing for him. PAC officials said they recruited over 1,600 precinct captains, spanning nearly every caucus site in the state. Volunteers organized rides to caucus sites and door-knocked in subzero temperatures.

DeSantis, though, could not overcome a commanding lead by Trump.

Once widely viewed as the favorite to challenge the former president, DeSantis struggled to narrow the gap with the Republican presidential front-runner, despite earning endorsements from top state Republicans, including Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds and Iowa Christian evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats.

DeSantis also faced a mounting challenge from Haley, who pulled ahead of him in the Des Moines Register/NBC News/Mediacom Iowa Poll just days before the caucuses.

Nikki Haley caught momentum

Haley, who came out of Iowa about only 2 points behind DeSantis, bolstered her support with national debate performances, a flood of anti-DeSantis advertising money from a super PAC and the endorsement and organizing power from the influential Koch conservative network, Americans for Prosperity.

Based on reported results, Haley gathered more support than DeSantis in urban and suburban areas like Scott, Black Hawk and Story counties, catering to moderates and independents who were not convinced by the far-right posturing of Trump and DeSantis.

Haley managed to beat Trump in Johnson County by only one vote, preventing the former president from winning all 99 Iowa counties.

Retired AT&T technician Dave Anderson, sporting a button for Haley, described himself as “your run of the mill small government, low taxes Republican,” but not a “MAGA Republican,” like the majority of his fellow caucusgoers at Precinct 19 in northwest Cedar Rapids. He said he chose Haley for her civility and lack of negativity.

He was unswayed by arguments for DeSantis's acumen in fiscal policy or Trump's performance in economic issues, citing a significant drop in his retirement funds under the Trump administration and a substantial boost in them under Biden.

If DeSantis or Trump are the GOP nominee come November, he said he’ll vote for Biden.

DeSantis was all-in on Iowa

The stakes were high for DeSantis, who is projected to do poorly in the New Hampshire primary, which is next up on the calendar.

DeSantis was polling in a distant third in the Granite State with 5.8 percent support, according to FiveThirtyEight’s average of recent polls. Trump has about 40 percent of support among likely New Hampshire voters, while Haley follows at 30 percent.

DeSantis pinned his hopes for the Republican presidential nomination on Iowa, hoping a strong ground game and support from the state’s popular governor and an influential Iowa Christian evangelical leader could make up for lackluster polling. He bet on retail campaigning, visiting all of Iowa’s 99 counties, and intense ground organizing.

But his campaign became beset by infighting and dysfunction, and left much of the tricky task of organizing support for him to the Never Back Down PAC. Multiple senior officials of the PAC resigned or were fired following disputes.

Reynolds endorsed DeSantis in November, after initially saying she be neutral in the caucuses. She said she doesn’t believe Trump could win the general election.

Trump criticized her for being “disloyal,” but Reynolds said she was proud of her endorsement, saying DeSantis’ record as governor — such as pushing against COVID-19 restrictions and mandates, expanding school choice options for parents and restricting teaching of topics related to gender and sexuality in public schools “is undeniable.”

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“This is the man that can step in on Day One and reverse the madness that we see happening from the Biden administration,” Reynolds told the crowd in West Des Moines. “He has the record. He has the resolve. He is a bold, principled leader.”

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