The Iowa caucus took place on Monday, Feb. 1 at 7 p.m. Central Standard Time Zone.
For the Democrats, former First Lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton defeated Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders by 0.03 percent.
Clinton received 23 delegates, while Sanders received 21.
Martin O’Malley, who served as Maryland’s governor from 2007 to 2015, received zero delegates, which led to O’Malley suspending his campaign.
“Tonight, I have to tell you that I am suspending this Presidential bid,” said O’Malley. “But I am not ending this fight. Our country is worth saving, the American dream is worth saving, and this planet is worth saving. So as we march forward, to the fall, let us all resolve together, that the love, the generosity, the compassion and the commitment of this campaign, will continue to point our country forward.”
For the Republicans, Ted Cruz was declared the winner, with Donald Trump coming in second and Marco Rubio finishing with third.
Cruz received eight delegates, while Trump and Rubio both received seven delegates.
Trump did, however, receive more total votes then Rubio. The nine remaining Republican candidates trailed behind from the top three finishers, with Ben Carson finishing in fourth place with a total of three delegates.
On the night of the final GOP debate before the Iowa caucus, Trump chose to boycott the debate and instead decided to hold a rally in Iowa to raise money for veterans. Trump estimated that, on the night of his rally, $6 million was raised for veterans.
Many believe that Trumps decision to not participate in the final GOP debate led to his defeat to Cruz in the Iowa Caucus.
Matt Carbonaro, a sophomore and political science major at West Chester University, considers himself to be an avid Trump supporter. Despite this, Carbonaro was not pleased that Trump skipped out on the debate.
“This was the last chance before the caucus to give his final message to the voters,” said Carbonaro. “He was really in good shape with his prior debate, especially the spar with Cruz over New York values, which many pundits believed he got the best of. Now, going to the debate, he was the favorite to win. But Donald Trump felt he was mistreated by Fox News and especially [by] Megyn Kelly. That gave the voters the message that he can’t handle tough questions and can come off as a baby that won’t get his way.”
The New Hampshire primary will take place on Tuesday, Feb. 9, followed by Super Tuesday on Tuesday, March 1.
In the past 10 elections, seven winners of the Iowa caucuses went on to be the nominee for their party, including George W. Bush for the Republicans and Al Gore for the Democrats in 2000, John Kerry for the Democrats in 2004 and Barack Obama for the Democrats in 2008.
“This is only one state out of 50, but it shows what the voters are thinking,” said Carbonaro. “The demographics in this state are incredibly different. It has more Christians and social conservatives in the state, so it fits certain candidates like Ted Cruz who went on to win the state. Ted Cruz spent so much time and money in that state, [and] he had an incredible ground game which was in comparison to President Obama back in 2008.”
According to Carbonaro, the Iowa caucus “starts to cut the field down as well.”
“Campaigns start running low on money, and they can see the support for them isn’t impressive,” said Carbonaro. “Iowa really doesn’t effect the rest of the race, especially for Republicans, because the past two winners were Rick Santorum and Mike Huckabee, and they didn’t have much success after.”
Recent polls expect Trump to have a victory in New Hampshire, while Sanders is projected to defeat Clinton in the Democratic field.
Kevin Harper is a fourth-year student majoring in professional studies. He can be reached at KH818254@wcupa.edu.