Who is still in the Republican Party presidential race? What candidates are left after the Iowa Caucus?
The Iowa caucuses were a rout in favor of former President Donald Trump, over half of Hawkeye Republicans voted for him prompting a thinning of the field.
Barely had the voting begun and news outlets began calling the GOP Iowa caucuses for former President Donald Trump. It was a rout, with him taking over 50 percent of the ballots from Republican Hawkeye caucus voters.
However, eyes remained on the results to see who would come in second place and the overall showing of the other five candidates still in the running. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis eked out a second-place finish, finishing two points ahead of former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley.
Coming in fourth was Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, with less than eight percent of the vote. Despite his extraordinary efforts, he held more than 360 events in the state and visited all 99 counties at least twice, the prognosticated Ramaswamy Tsunami was a ripple.
The other two remaining candidates, former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson and businessman and Texas pastor Ryan Binkley, didn’t break the one percent mark among the electorate.
Who is still in the Republican Party presidential race? What candidates are left after the Iowa Caucus?
The results of the Iowa caucus led to a thinning of the field with Ramaswamy and then Hutchinson suspending their campaigns. Binkley, who adjusted his aspirations prior to votes being cast, had hoped to finish fifth, which he did.
He quoted Elton John to a small crowd of supporters at a post-caucus event on Monday night “I’m still standing.” He plans to go on to the next primaries taking place in New Hampshire and South Carolina the Des Moines Register reported.
Which leaves four candidates still in the running to top the GOP 2024 ticket in November and face incumbent President Joe Biden. Here’s a look at those candidates…
Donald Trump
Former President Donald Trump commands a huge polling lead over his rivals. As of 16 January, Trump boasts 63.1% support of Republican voters with Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis trailing by a country mile with 11.9% and 11.6% respectively.
Ron DeSantis
The Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, kicked off his campaign in May of this year with significant support from voters but his campaign lost steam at the end of the summer. Nikki Haley has now over taken him in the national polls.
Nikki Haley
The former Governor of South Carolina and former ambassador to the United Nations during the Trump administration, Nikki Haley, announced her candidacy for the 2023 Republican presidential nomination in mid-February. Currently, the Trump campaign has been focusing their attacks on her as she seems the most likely one to challenge the former president.
Ryan Binkley
Ryan Binkley is the CEO of Generational Group and the founder of Create Church, a multi-ethnic church in Texas. He joined the race in April 2023 and has not qualified for any debates and doesn’t register on the polling data collected at FiveThirtyEight.
He is self financing his extreme longshot to top the GOP ticket in November 2024 and at one point far outspending his campaign rivals. He was the first to complete “The Full Grassley” whereby a candidate visits all 99 counties in Iowa for meet-and-greets with the voters.