Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis narrowly beat former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley to finish in second place Monday in the Iowa caucuses in a tight contest for the runners-up spot after former President Donald Trump steamrolled his way to a landslide win.
Florida Governor and Republican presidential hopeful Ron DeSantis speaks at a watch party during the ... [+]
The Associated Press called the runners-up race for DeSantis at around 10:30 pm local time, as the Florida governor received 21.2% of the votes against Haley’s 19.1%, with around 90% of the ballots counted.
Both candidates, however, were well behind Trump, who won more than 51% of the votes, strengthening chances of a 2020 rematch between him and Biden.
With 38 of the 40 delegates assigned as of 11 p.m. on Monday, Trump secured 20 delegates, with DeSantis and Haley winning eight and seven respectively.
Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy finished fourth place, with 7.7% of the vote, and announced he was dropping out of the race.
Ramaswamy told supporters he called Trump to congratulate him for winning and added: “Now going forward, he will have my full endorsement.”
This is a developing story.