Texas Sen. Ted Cruz won the Iowa Republican caucuses Monday night, beating front-runner Donald Trump in a vital victory that could shake up the primary race.
Hillary Clinton is meanwhile clinging to a narrow lead over Bernie Sanders on the Democratic side.
Cruz, in his race, fought hard in recent weeks to make up lost ground in the polls and was helped in part by a sophisticated ground operation. He also hammered Trump for his decision to skip last week's Republican debate in Des Moines.
While Trump finished second in the state, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio finished a very close third with a stronger-than-expected showing in the Hawkeye State, helped in part by late-deciders.
With nearly all precincts reporting, Cruz had 28 percent, Trump had 24 percent and Rubio had 23 percent.
An energized Rubio touted the results at a post-caucus rally.
“For months they told us we had no chance. … They told me I needed to wait my turn,” Rubio said. “But tonight … here in Iowa, the people in this great state sent a very clear message. After seven years of Barack Obama, we are not waiting any longer to take our country back.”
Trump, for his part, argued he beat initial expectations by placing second and predicted he'd still win in New Hampshire next week.
“We will go on to get the Republican nomination, and we
will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever the hell they throw up there,” he said. He closed his speech by saying: "I think I might come here and buy a farm, I love it.”
Meanwhile, on the Democratic side, Clinton has held a very slim lead over Sanders.
Returns show her holding onto a 50-49 percentage point lead.
Entrance polls show Clinton leading among seniors, and Sanders leading among young voters.
Former Maryland Gov. Martin O'Malley, who was pulling in about 1 percent support, is planning to suspend his campaign later Monday night, Fox News has learned. And on the GOP side, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee also plans to suspend his campaign.
Interest and turnout appeared to be high on both sides. Republican officials report that several caucus sites were remaining open longer to accommodate long lines; some even ran out of registration forms or ballots.
Technically at stake are 30 Republican delegates and 44 Democratic delegates.
But even more important than the delegate count is the momentum a candidate – especially a surprise winner – can get out of a victory.
On the Democratic side, Sanders has fought to close a nearly 30-point polling gap this past summer, and has since drawn the race to a dead heat in Iowa.
With Sanders leading comfortably in the polls in the next-up contest in New Hampshire, the pressure is heavy on Clinton to secure an Iowa win.
“If Sanders wins, he goes 2 and 0 in the first two contests. That puts Clinton in a tough spot. But if she wins tonight, it gives her a shot at New Hampshire,” Democratic strategist Mary Anne Marsh said.
On the Republican side, Cruz has risen from the middle of the pack last year to essentially a co-leader in the state alongside Trump. His victory disrupts Trump's front-runner narrative and could jolt the GOP race, where candidates have struggled for months to arrest Trump’s rise.
The Iowa caucuses have had a mixed record in recent cycles, particularly on the Republican side, in picking the eventual nominees.
The GOP caucus winners in 2008 and 2012 were Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, respectively, neither of whom won the nomination. Both also are struggling in their presidential bids this year.
Eight years ago, though, then-Sen. Barack Obama’s Iowa win in the Democratic race helped set him on the trajectory to claim his party’s nomination and, then, the presidency.
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