Floridian Governor Ron DeSantis, who came second in the Iowa caucuses on January 15, argued that he lost because he was subject to more media attacks than any other candidate. Mr. DeSantis told supporters in Des Moines that the media “threw the kitchen sink” at him. “No one’s faced that much all the way just through Iowa. The media was against us. They were writing our obituary months ago,” he said.
DeSantis told his supporters that despite all the media’s efforts to derail him, he will continue to fight for American liberty and remained as determined as ever to win the 2024 Presidential race. “I guarantee you this: I will not let you down,” he declared.
Governor DeSantis won 21% of the vote in the first significant test for Republican Presidential candidates – leaving him far behind frontrunner Donald Trump. Mr. Trump took 51% and wrote on his Truth Social media account, “THANK YOU IOWA, I LOVE YOU ALL!!!” His winning margin is a new record and surpasses the 12% victory of Bob Dole in 1988.
Former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley came in third place with 19%. Despite trailing behind DeSantis by 2% in Iowa, Haley was upbeat and told her supporters that she is looking forward to the next contest in New Hampshire, where she is polling far higher at 34%, having won the support of Governor Chris Sununu. “It’s a marathon. It’s not a sprint, and we’re taking it one step at a time,” she said.
Showing that her confidence was not knocked in Iowa, Haley said that the path to the White House is a “two-person race,” and called on Donald Trump to attend GOP debates. Haley refused to participate in two scheduled New Hampshire debates because Donald Trump would not attend. The CNN and ABC events were subsequently canceled, and a CNN spokesperson said its event was scrapped because “only one qualifying candidate accepted our invitation.”
