Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished in second place in Iowa on Monday night as the race now shifts to New Hampshire and South Carolina with questions swirling about what the second place finish will mean for his campaign going forward.\u00a0<\/p>\n
DeSantis outperformed some polling expectations on Monday night finishing at roughly 21%\u00a0when the Real Clear Politics average of polls showed him at 15.7% before votes were cast. However, Trump won a decisive victory with over 50% of the vote, the largest margin of victory in Iowa Caucus history, in a state where DeSantis had gone \u2018all in\u2019 with his campaign\u2019s time and resources.<\/p>\n
The DeSantis campaign touted the performance by saying that the Florida governor \u2018earned his ticket out of Iowa.\u2019<\/p>\n
Former Ambassador Nikki Haley, who many pundits believed was surging in Iowa and could potentially finish ahead of DeSantis, finished in 3rd place a couple of points behind DeSantis.<\/p>\n
\u2018They threw everything at Ron DeSantis,\u2019 a senior DeSantis campaign official told Fox News Digital late Monday night. \u2018They couldn\u2019t kill him. He is not only still standing, but he\u2019s now earned his ticket out of Iowa. This is going to be a long battle ahead, but that is what this campaign is built for. The stakes are too high for this nation and we will not back down.\u2019<\/p>\n
During his Monday night speech, DeSantis struck a defiant tone while speaking to his supporters.<\/p>\n
\u2018I can tell you, because of your support, in spite of all of that they threw at us, everyone against us, we\u2019ve got our ticket punched out of Iowa,\u2019 DeSantis said.<\/p>\n
\u2018This is our responsibility to carry this torch and to preserve this sacred fire of liberty, DeSantis said. \u2018We thank you for your effort. We thank you for your support. You helped us get a ticket punched out of the Hawkeye State. We have a lot of work to do, but I can tell you this as the next President of the United States, I am going to get the job done for this country. I am not going to make any excuses and I guarantee you this. I will not let you down.\u2019<\/p>\n
Despite the close 2nd place finish, questions about whether DeSantis has the momentum and funding to compete with Trump in future states are likely to continue.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Kellyanne Conway, former senior advisor to President Trump, told Fox News before the caucuses on Monday night that DeSantis \u2018should continue on whether he finishes second or third.\u2019<\/p>\n
Fox News Chief Political Analyst Brit Hume pointed out that a second place finish in Iowa has historically led to securing the nomination on the GOP side.<\/p>\n
\u2018Let\u2019s not forget that second place has led to a lot of people winning the nomination in Iowa, you finish second in Iowa it\u2019s worth something,\u2019 Hume said as the results were coming in on Monday night. \u2018There are a lot of places where it wouldn\u2019t be and in the coming races in the future it won\u2019t be as much but out here when you win second you go on and who knows you might win the nomination.\u2019<\/p>\n
Some on social media have called for DeSantis, and the other candidates, to drop out of the race given Trump\u2019s dominant and historic victory on Monday night winning by roughly 30 points.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Deciding to drop out is the hardest decision a presidential candidate can make. It\u2019s deeply personal and emotional, no matter how obvious or rational it seems,\u2019 GOP strategist Alex Conant, founding partner at Firehouse Strategies, told Fox News Digital hours before the votes were cast in Iowa on Monday night.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018If DeSantis does not beat Trump in Iowa tonight, he won\u2019t beat him anywhere and his campaign will be effectively over. But it will be up to him when to drop out, and that\u2019s anyone\u2019s guess.\u2019<\/p>\n
DeSantis, who will hold two campaign events in South Carolina on Tuesday before flying to New Hampshire to campaign, has said multiple times that he is staying in the race regardless of Monday\u2019s outcome in Iowa.<\/p>\n
\u2018This campaign is built for the long-haul,\u2019 DeSantis Comms Director Andrew Romeo said on January 12. \u2018We intend to compete for every single available delegate in New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina and then into March. That begins on Monday\u2019s Iowa Caucus, and the next day we will kick our campaign into overdrive in both South Carolina and New Hampshire.\u2019<\/p>\n
\u2018We hope Donald Trump is ready for a long, scrappy campaign as we work to share Ron DeSantis\u2019 vision across America. Game on.\u2019<\/p>\n
Because Iowa awards delegates proportionately, all of the top four candidates will receive delegates.<\/p>\n
Trump currently holds large leads in the polls in both New Hampshire and South Carolina. The former president, according to the Real Clear Politics average of polls, holds a 14 point lead in New Hampshire and a 30 point lead in South Carolina.<\/p>\n
The DeSantis campaign has touted his endorsements in Haley\u2019s home state of South Carolina pointing out that he has earned more than she has.<\/p>\n
\u2018Despite South Carolina being Nikki Haley\u2019s home state, DeSantis has already built up an impressive grassroots organization,\u2019 a campaign spokesperson recently told Fox News Digital. \u2018He has endorsements from 74 current and former elected officials, while Haley has just 14. This includes 19 state legislators for DeSantis, compared to Haley\u2019s 11.\u2019<\/p>\n\n
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished in second place in Iowa on Monday night as the race now shifts to New Hampshire and South Carolina with questions swirling about what the second place finish will mean for his campaign going forward.\u00a0 DeSantis outperformed some polling expectations on Monday night finishing at roughly 21%\u00a0when the Real Clear <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":14135,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-14134","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-politics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14134","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14134"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14134\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14135"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14134"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14134"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shareperformanceinsight.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14134"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}