For those of you who didn’t tune in this past Monday to watch the Iowa Caucus happen live, here is a quick rundown.
The caucus started at 7 p.m. and polls closed at 9 p.m., but the votes were so close they didn’t officially call it until around 12:30 a.m.
The Republican winner was a shock to some, but left most saying, “it’s about time”. Ted Cruz won with 27.6% of the votes, Donald Trump trailed behind him with 24.3% of the votes and right on his tail was Marco Rubio with a shocking 23.1% of the votes. Hopefully, those who were genuinely worried Trump could take the lead can relax now. Ted Cruz pulled ahead before the final call,but there was a whole different story for the Democrats.
While everyone had Hillary Clinton as their choice to take the win, Bernie Sanders’s supporters came through and raised him within just a few percent of Clinton nearing the end of the voting. While the votes continued to be counted, everyone watched and waited to hear who the winner would be, but the longer it went on, the closer the gap between the two became. Now is probably a good time to mention that the third candidate, Martin O’Malley, ended the night with .6% of the votes and has since dropped out of the election.
In the end, officials called it a virtual tie, with Clinton at 49.9% and Sanders with 49.6% it was too close to call. Clinton went on to announce she had won, which wasn’t the case, Sanders was busy rallying up his voters and declaring a political revolution.
“I wasn’t originally going to watch the caucus because I didn’t think it was going to be that interesting but the more I learned about the candidates and realized this affects my future too made me rethink and decide to watch and stay updated afterall.” Davin Allen, senior, said.
As of now there are two candidates running for the Democratic Party, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. There are ten candidates running for the Republican Party, Jeb Bush, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie, Carly Fiorina, Jim Gilmore, John Kasich, Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, and Donald Trump. The next caucus is in New Hampshire on Tuesday, February 9. Be sure to tune in and watch the progress.
