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Who Won The 2016 Iowa Caucus? Donald Trump Loses In Upset To Ted Cruz, Democratic Race Tight

By Nathan Francis
Published on: 13:31 PST, Feb 1, 2016

Who won the 2016 Iowa caucus?

The first voting in the 2016 presidential election cycle has come to a close, and as the votes are being tallied, it appears that both Democrats and Republicans are headed for tight races.

UPDATE: ABC News has declared that Texas Senator Ted Cruz will win the Republican caucus in an upset over Donald Trump.

Despite the loss, and barely finishing above third place finisher Marco Rubio, Trump expressed optimism about winning in New Hampshire.

“And we’ve had every indication, we’re going — we have a poll: We’re 28 points ahead, New Hampshire, we love New Hampshire, we love South Carolina, and we’re leaving tonight and tomorrow afternoon,” Trump said in his concession speech (via Vox). “We’ll be in New Hampshire and that will be something special. It’s going to be a great week, and we’re going to be up here next week.”

A jubilant Ted Cruz spoke to supporters within minutes of the results being made official.

“Tonight is a victory for the grass roots. Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa and across this great nation. Tonight the state of Iowa has spoken,” Cruz said.

On the Democrats side, Sanders and Clinton remained in a virtual tie as the clock struck midnight in Iowa. Though Clinton gave a victory speech, several hours later the race remained too close to call.

[NOTE: This story will be updated as final results from the 2016 Iowa caucus become available.]

Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders had been surging in recent weeks, erasing a once double-digit deficit to Hillary Clinton to actually lead by a slim margin in the most recent voting. Early voting results from the 2016 Iowa caucus show that Clinton had a slight lead over Sanders, but the numbers may be moving in his favor.

Much of Sanders’ support comes from younger voters, as his messages of attacking the student loan crisis and establishing free higher education resonate particularly well with millennials. And early results from the 2016 Iowa caucus shows that he may be doing well with this group.

Early numbers showed that 59 percent of Iowa Democrats who showed up were there for their first caucus ever. This likely means a younger voter base, one that would lean more toward Sanders.

Like Bernie Sanders, Donald Trump seemed to have a strength in first-time caucus goers, as he took about half of these first-timers.

Trump also seemed to match the mood of voters. Iowa Republicans tilted heavily toward an outsider, which fits Trump (and Ben Carson, to a lesser extent).

But despite what appeared to be these built-in advantages, it was Ted Cruz with the lead close to an hour after Iowa caucus polls closed. He held that lead through the evening, as Marco Rubio surged to a better-than-expected performance.

Many believe that Rubio’s third-place win could be enough for the party establishment to rally around him. Trump has remained something of a political outsider, sometimes even thumbing his nose at the Republican establishment.

Whatever happens, Iowa’s caucus results sets up what should be an interesting showdown in New Hampshire.

This will be updated continually to tell who won the 2016 Iowa caucus.

[Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images]

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