It was a good evening for former President Donald Trump in Sioux City precincts of the Iowa caucuses on Monday evening, as he got substantial support in the Woodbury County metro, and as the entire state went into the win column for him.
Meeting in more than 1,600 precinct locations, Iowans were carrying out the first state contest that enables the national Republican and Democratic parties to select their presidential nominees for the November election.
There are 44 precincts in Woodbury County, and six of them were combined for Republicans at a large Western Iowa Tech Community College venue, and one additional precinct was in another WITCC location.
Trump took 88 votes in Precinct 28, for 42 percent. Second place in the precinct went to Ron DeSantis with 49, followed by Nikki Haley with 43, Ryan Binkley at 17, and Vivek Ramiswamy with 14.
In the combined Precincts 22-27, Trump also won handily.
Those results came by 8:10 p.m., and about that time the Associated Press declared Trump had won Iowa. Trump got 51 percent of the votes in Iowa, with 56,260 overall, while DeSantis received 21.2 percent of the vote and Nikki Haley had 19.1 percent.
Aaron Boisen, of Sioux City, liked the outcome, saying the former president is a fighter who understands what America needs. Boisen liked the Trump tax cut plan passed in 2017.
Trump has been leading all other Republican candidates in Iowa polls for months. In recent polls in Iowa, Haley and DeSantis were variously in second and third place, and worked for votes right up to caucus night. DeSantis made three stops Monday in Iowa, including one in Northwest Iowa in Sergeant Bluff.
There was a notable visitor at the WIT college venue, as one of the Republican candidates, Ryan Binkley was on hand to address people in person.
A wind chill warning was in place Monday for the fourth day in a row, with below-zero temperatures forecast throughout the state, so caucus observers are watching final results to see if weather conditions drove down turnout.
While Trump won the presidency in 20016 over Democrat Hillary Clinton, he didn’t win the Iowa caucuses that year. Trump placed second in Iowa with 24.3 percent, and with support of 45,427 Iowans, as he finished behind the leader, Ted Cruz, who got 27.6 percent. That year, 186,000 Iowa Republicans took part in the caucuses.
However, Trump did get the most support of Republicans in 2016 in Woodbury County with 31.7 percent, and statewide overall he got support from 45,427 Iowans in 2016.
The last Republican presidential hopeful to win Iowa and be the party nominee was George W. Bush in 2000, and it appears Trump could pull off both those accomplishments this time.
Democrats in Iowa on Monday also held caucuses to conduct party business, but not to cast votes. They will do that by mail instead this year up to early March, after a change prompted by problems reporting results from their 2020 caucus.
