Trump wins Iowa caucuses by historic margin

Former President Donald Trump pulled off a clean sweep, getting the most votes of any Republican candidate in all 99 Iowa counties. In the 2016 Iowa caucuses, he won just 37 counties. With 97 percent of votes counted on Monday night, Trump garnered 51 percent of all votes statewide. Iowa distributes its delegates to the Republican National Convention proportionally, meaning Trump will receive about half of the state’s 40 delegates.

How did the other candidates fare? Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis took second place with 21 percent of votes, and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley came in third with 19 percent.  Trump’s margin of victory broke a Republican record set by Bob Dole in Iowa in 1988 when he beat Pat Robertson by 12 percentage points.

Dig deeper: Read Carolina Lumetta’s report about efforts to block Trump from appearing on some states’ upcoming primary ballots.

Editor’s note: WORLD has updated this report from its initial posting.