Trump overwhelmingly wins the Iowa caucuses in first step toward Republican nomination

Former president Donald Trump overwhelmingly won the Iowa caucuses on Monday evening in the first official contest of the Republican presidential primaries.

Mr Trump posted a double-digit victory in Iowa eight years after he lost the Iowa caucuses to Sen Ted Cruz of Texas. The former president far-outpaced his nearest competitors, Florida governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, who served as US ambassador to the United Nations in his administration.

Mr Trump had spent the better part of a year criticising Mr DeSantis even before his former protege entered the Republican presidential primary. The governor came a distant second in the first Republican contest to find a candidate to take on Joe Biden in November.

Businessman and “anti-woke” campaigner Vivek Ramaswamy suspended his campaign in the wake of the caucus results and announced that he was endorsing Mr Trump.

The former president hinted at his resounding victory against the runners-up. “I want to congratulate Ron and Nikki for having a good time together,” he said. “I think they both did very well. We don’t know what the outcome of second place is.”

For their part, both Ms Haley and Mr DeSantis made the case for staying in the race. Despite failing to meet expectations, Ms Haley pledged she would stay in the race.

“Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Trump-Biden nightmare,” she said, saying that she will head to New Hampshire later in the evening. Ms Haley has already earned the endorsement of the state’s governor and some Democrats crossed over to caucus for Ms Haley. Despite this, she only earned third place in the caucuses.

Mr DeSantis, for his part, criticised the fact that media outlets declared Mr Trump the