Donald Trump cruises to victory over Kamala Harris in Iowa as GOP romps to big wins
Former Republican President Donald Trump has once again cruised to victory in Iowa, tallying his third presidential win in the Hawkeye State — this time over Vice President Kamala Harris.
In the end, it wasn't close.
The Associated Press called the race about 9:40 p.m. Tuesday. According to partial, unofficial results released by the Iowa Secretary of State late Wednesday morning, Trump led Harris 56% to 43%.
Republicans had another strong showing across the state. Legislative leaders said they believed they were on track to grow their majorities.
And Republicans defended at least three of their four congressional seats. The last, where Democrat Christina Bohannan is challenging Republican U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks in the 1st District, remained too close to call as of Wednesday afternoon, although Miller-Meeks declared victory soon after midnight.
Republicans, many wearing red blazers or dresses, cheered on their candidates Tuesday night from the Iowa GOP watch party at the Hilton Downtown Des Moines.
Fox News’ election night broadcast displayed results from around the country, and cheers went up around the room as the network called a series of states for the former president — including Iowa.
Across town, the historic hotel Fort Des Moines’ Grand Ballroom, where Democrats gathered for the election night watch party, hummed with nervous excitement just as polls closed in Des Moines. Several hundred Democrats, some of whom still wore the rain from a final door knocking push, noshed on pulled pork sliders and mini beef wellingtons.
But by 10:30 p.m., just under an hour after Iowa was called for Trump, the event had all but cleared out. Most of the high-top party tables were crowded with discarded drinks, and just a couple of dozen people remained camped out in front of a jumbo-screen airing CNN.
Party leaders departed unceremoniously. Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart did not address the spectators or take question from reporters after the race had been called for Trump.
“There are still votes being counted, so it’s just too close to call," said party spokesperson Paige Godden. "The numbers are too close.”
She said party leaders would look at the final vote outcomes and determine a plan for the days ahead.
‘It started right here in Iowa’: Iowa GOP takes credit for Trump’s success
Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird credited Iowa for starting former President Donald Trump on a path to victory thanks to his overwhelming win in the Iowa Caucuses in January.
“We are just so excited about what’s happening all across this country,” she said at the Iowa GOP watch party. “And we’re not going to let anybody forget it started right here in Iowa.”
Live election updates: Follow along for the latest election updates and results
Bird said Trump’s 30-percentage point win in January’s caucuses put him on a path to success.
“We’re going to take some credit here in Iowa for the Iowa Caucuses, aren’t we?” she said. “Because President Trump had an unprecedented win in the Iowa Caucuses. He won them bigger than anybody ever had, and that launched him back to the White House, right where we need him.”
Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig praised Gov. Kim Reynolds and Republicans in the Iowa Legislature for working as a team to deliver GOP wins in Iowa.
“I’ve been saying it all fall: Aren’t you glad you live in the state of Iowa?” he said as the crowd cheered.
Naig said the 2024 election has been about “fundamentals” like border security, fighting inflation, energy security and food and agriculture security.
“Democrats want to remake our country,” he said. “Republicans want to save our country. We want to preserve our country. And I want to thank you for what you’ve done to ensure that we’ve got more of those Iowa values showing up at the courthouse, the Statehouse and Washington, D.C.”
Republicans say Iowa Poll's big miss energized voters
Republicans and Democrats were watching Iowa’s presidential contest with renewed interest Tuesday after a new Des Moines Register Iowa Poll showed Harris leading Trump by 3 percentage points.
Neither Republicans nor Democrats had viewed the state as competitive in the months leading up to Election Day. And Iowa did not see any campaigning from either candidate ahead of Election Day this year — a clear departure from past cycles — as the candidates instead focused their attention on key battleground states.
But the new poll, which showed Harris leading Trump 47% to 44% among likely voters, briefly pushed Iowa back into the national spotlight during the campaign’s final days.
Still, Iowa Republicans — who tallied strong early vote totals and surpassed Democrats in voter registration numbers — remained convinced they would deliver the Hawkeye State to Trump when votes were counted Tuesday night.
Many analysts also agreed going into election night that Iowa was still likely to favor Trump in the final count.
They ultimately were vindicated, and Republicans eagerly touted Trump's victory and bashed the poll and pollster J. Ann Selzer of Selzer & Co.
“Ann Selzer’s wrong! The Des Moines Register’s wrong! Donald Trump just won Iowa!” state party chair Jeff Kaufmann shouted at the GOP watch party.
He said the poll’s result energized Republicans.
“Let me tell you something, I knew the Selzer poll was going to try to switch some people, take some air out of our tires,” he said. “You know what happened after we saw the Selzer poll and the Des Moines Register’s sham of a poll? We got even more excited!”
The night was a rare miss for the Iowa Poll, which has long been considered a gold standard. From 2008 through 2020, the poll accurately reflected the winner of the presidential race in Iowa. In 2004, the final Iowa Poll found Democrat John Kerry leading Republican George Bush by 5 percentage points, but Bush went on to win Iowa by less than 1 percentage point.
Selzer said she planned to review the data to see where the poll went wrong.
"I’ll be reviewing data from multiple sources with hopes of learning why that happened," she said in a statement Tuesday night. "And, I welcome what that process might teach me."
More: Pollster J. Ann Selzer: 'I’ll be reviewing data' after rare Iowa Poll miss in Trump victory
Iowa Democrats were hopeful that Kamala Harris could boost enthusiasm
Trump easily carried Iowa twice before, defeating Democrats Hillary Clinton by 9.4 percentage points in 2016 and Joe Biden by 8.2 percentage points in 2020.
But Democrats were hopeful that Harris could help to turn the tide.
Democratic enthusiasm began to bubble over during the summer after Biden announced he would not seek another term and endorsed Harris, his vice president, for the presidential nomination.
Iowa Democrats quickly embraced Harris, unanimously voting to endorse her as the party’s nominee and supporting her at the party’s national convention in Chicago.
The Register's Iowa Poll showed the presidential race in Iowa narrowed significantly after Harris was nominated.
In a June Iowa Poll, when Biden was the expected nominee, Trump led by 18 percentage points, 50% to 32%.
In September, after Harris became the nominee, the poll showed a much narrower contest: Trump led by just 4 percentage points, 47% to 43%.
But Iowa holds just six votes in the Electoral College, making it a small prize for either candidate as they focused on reaching the 270 electoral votes necessary to clinch the White House.
Instead, both Trump and Harris were hyper-focused on seven battleground states: Nevada, Arizona, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, North Carolina and Georgia.
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Kaufmann said on a recent episode of Iowa PBS' "Iowa Press" that the state party has had to function without help from national Republicans this election cycle.
“We are very gladly doing what we need to do without the resources of the RNC and without the resources of the Trump campaign,” he said. “And I do that gladly, because he needs those resources in those seven swing states. I feel very, very comfortable with the president. We're seeing that he has coattails in many of our legislative races. So, we're comfortable right now.”
On a different episode of "Iowa Press," Hart told reporters that even if the national campaigns were focused on other states, Iowa Democrats noted the change in momentum that came with Harris’ addition to the ticket.
“I tell you what, it's not lost on us here in Iowa,” she said. “That is why we're focusing so hard on Democratic voter turnout and making sure that we are educating folks on what is at stake here and what our candidates have to offer.”
(This story was updated to accurately reflect the most current information.)
Brianne Pfannenstiel is the chief politics reporter for the Des Moines Register. She is also covering the 2024 presidential race for USA TODAY as a senior national campaign correspondent. Reach her at [email protected] or 515-284-8244. Follow her on Twitter at @brianneDMR.
Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at [email protected] or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on Twitter at @sgrubermiller.
Courtney Crowder, the Register's Iowa Columnist, traverses the state's 99 counties telling Iowans' stories. Reach her at [email protected] or 515-284-8360.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Donald Trump crushes Kamala Harris in Iowa as GOP romps to victory