Cruz wins GOP race in Iowa

UPDATE: Sen. Ted Cruz has been declared the Republican winner in Iowa. Fox News, CNN, and The Associated Press called it for the senator from Texas nearly two and a half hours after tonight’s Iowa caucuses convened.

With 90 percent of the precincts reporting in what was a record turnout of caucus-goers, Cruz has 28 percent of the vote, followed by Donald Trump with 24 percent, and Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida with 23 percent. Both Cruz and Rubio finished better than what polls projected, while Trump, the party’s front-runner, under-performed.

Cruz told AP that the Iowa win signifies the strength of conservatives against Washington insiders.

Rubio cast his stronger-than-expected finish as a victory. “We have taken the first step, but an important step, to winning the nomination,” Rubio told supporters in Des Moines after the results were announced. He congratulated Cruz, saying he’d “earned his victory.”

Trump, in conceding defeat, said he was “honored” by the support of Iowans, vowing to keep up his fight for the Republican nomination. "We will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up," Trump told cheering supporters.

In the Democratic race, Hillary Clinton holds a narrow 49.8 percent to 49.6 percent lead over Bernie Sanders with 90 percent of the precincts reporting. The two Democratic front-runners overwhelmingly outdistanced the third Democrat in the race, Martin O’Malley, who announced tonight he’s leaving the race.

Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who won the Republican Iowa caucuses in 2008, finished with less than 2 percent of the vote tonight and announced via Twitter that he was dropping out of the race.

Meanwhile, former neurosurgeon Ben Carson, who finished in fourth place among GOP candidates tonight with 9 percent of the vote, was rumored to be leaving the race. But his campaign released a statement saying the rumors were not true, explaining that “after spending 18 consecutive days on the campaign trail, Dr. Carson needs to go home and get a fresh set of clothes.”

OUR EARLIER REPORT (8 p.m.): After more than a year of campaigning and prognosticating, Iowans have the honor of casting the first votes in the 2016 presidential race. At 7 p.m. CST, the Iowa caucuses began, with Republicans gathering at nearly 900 sites and Democrats convening at 1,100 locations. A higher than normal turnout was expected.

Polls indicate that both parties’ races are close. In the Republican race, billionaire businessman Donald Trump held a slight lead over Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, with Sen. Mark Rubio of Florida gaining ground in the late states of campaigning. As for the Democrats, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton finds herself locked in a tight battle with Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Unlike primaries, where voters privately cast their ballots throughout the day, caucus-goers meet together at a set time and can be persuaded by candidates and other voters. But Republicans and Democrats in Iowa use different rules.

Republicans vote by private ballot or by raising their hands, and the state’s 30 GOP delegates are awarded proportionally based on the vote.

Democrats gather in groups at caucus sites, where caucus-goers publicly declare their support for a candidate. If the number in a candidate’s group is less than 15 percent of the total, that candidate’s supporters are allowed to join another viable candidate’s group. (Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley’s supporters may find themselves in such a position tonight.) Once the supporters are counted for the remaining candidates, those final numbers are awarded proportionately, based on statewide and congressional district voting, determining Iowa’s 44 delegates to the national convention.

Follow WORLD’s coverage of the Iowa caucuses at Election Center ’16, which includes updated reports, an interactive map, and real-time results.

The Associated Press contributed to this report