Cruz beats Trump in Iowa; Clinton, Sanders both claim victory
Feb 2
Texas Senator Ted Cruz handed a shock defeat to presidential contender Donald Trump in the Iowa Republican caucuses while in the Democratic camp both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders claimed victories as the race for the White House began today.
As the results of the Iowa Caucuses came in, the crowded Republican presidential race appeared to be narrowing down to a three-cornered contest with Marco Rubio coming a close third behind Cruz and Trump.
With almost all the votes counted, Cruz bagged 28 per cent of the total votes with a lead of over 5,500 votes against Trump’s 24 per cent. Rubio was third with 23 per cent.
Neurosurgeon-turned-politician Ben Carson was a distant fourth with nine per cent. On the Democratic side, it was too close to call between former Secretary of State Clinton and Sanders. Both of them split almost 50 per cent of the votes each.
Clinton, who is aiming to become the first woman president of the US, got 49.8 per cent of votes, with nearly 90 per cent of the votes counted.
Sanders, who was trailing behind Clinton by more than 20 points several weeks ago, polled 49.5 per cent of the votes.
From Iowa, the race to the White House now moves to New Hampshire where the primaries are scheduled for February 9 and then to South Carolina. In both the states, Trump is leading by a huge margin, according to latest opinion polls.
In the US, a series of elections are held in every state and overseas territory, starting in February, which determine who becomes each party’s official presidential candidate.
The winner of each collects a number of “delegates” – party members with the power to vote for that candidate at the party conventions held in July, where candidates are formally confirmed.
The more state contests a candidate wins, the more delegates will be pledged to support them at the convention.
As President Barack Obama cannot run again, both parties are holding competitive primaries this year.
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