The 2024 race for the White House has officially kicked off, with Republican primary voters participating in the Iowa caucus last night – the first step in choosing their candidate to take on the Democrats in November’s election.

If you are just waking up, or joining us late, here are the big takeaways:

Trump won big

Donald Trump scored a landslide victory to kick off the Republican primary race. He lost the Iowa caucus in 2016 – but significantly reversed that result last night by winning over key voting blocs in the state, including white evangelicals, younger voters and women.

Polls showed Trump as the clear frontrunner for months – but the scale of his victory was still staggering – he is on track to win nearly all 99 of Iowa’s counties, with Nikki Haley defeating him by a single vote in one county

Striking a subdued tone, Trump asked Americans to “come together” behind his campaign to beat President Joe Biden and fix the problems of the world at a rally following the result.

DeSantis pips Haley to second place

Ron DeSantis is projected to finish in second place in Iowa, edging out rival Nikki Haley but far behind Trump. The Florida governor had staked his campaign on a strong performance in the state- securing key endorsements, including from the Iowa’s governor, and visiting all 99 counties – but recent polls indicated he was losing ground to Haley.

DeSantis celebrated the end result, saying it had come after critics “threw everything but the kitchen sink at us”. His campaign confirmed DeSantis would stay in the race after his second-place finish

Despite losing her face-off with DeSantis, Haley claimed she was now in a two-way race with Trump and that she remained “the last best hope of stopping the Biden-Trump nightmare”.

She congratulated Trump, but touted her electability in a general election versus Democrat Joe Biden and asked voters to usher in “a new generation of conservative leadership”

Ramaswamy drops out

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the presidential race as he appeared on track to finish in a disappointing fourth place. The political novice shook up the debate stage early in the campaign but failed to gain much traction with Republican voters.

Ramaswamy offered his “full endorsement” to Trump and vowed to join him at a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday evening

Source:Fiilafmonline/BBC