Republican voters will render a first verdict on the entreaties Donald J. Trump’s rivals have made to move the party past his grip, as he seeks a turbocharged launch to the nomination.
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People listening to Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida speak at a campaign rally in Grimes, Iowa, in the week leading up to the caucuses. Mr. DeSantis campaigned heavily in the state.
The coldest Iowa caucuses in history arrive Monday night amid expectations that Republicans in the state will put former President Donald J. Trump on the march to a third G.O.P. presidential nomination.
The battle for second place, hard-fought between Gov. Ron DeSantis of Florida and Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina, will anoint Mr. Trump’s closest rival ahead of the New Hampshire primary election and beyond.
The stakes for Iowans are high. Mr. Trump is pursuing a return to the presidency despite — or perhaps because of — 91 felony counts from four criminal prosecutions, a looming fraud judgment that could decide the fate of his New York real estate empire and a pending decision on the defamation of a woman he has already been held liable for sexually abusing.
His opponents have implored Republican voters to move past the “chaos” and controversies of the Trump era and pick a different standard-bearer to go up against President Biden, who beat Mr. Trump in 2020. Iowans will render the first verdict on those entreaties.
Here is what to watch as results roll in.
ImageUntil the final weekend, former President Donald J. Trump and his campaign projected confidence in a blowout victory in Iowa. Credit…Haiyun Jiang for The New York Times
Will Mr. Trump crack 50 percent?
Traditionally, Iowa caucuses are squeakers, so close that Democrats failed to produce definitive results in the chaotic 2020 contest. Republicans falsely declared Mitt Romney the narrow winner in 2012, depriving the actual victor, Rick Santorum, the momentum that a caucus triumph can bring.
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Source: nytimes.com
