In winning over 51% of the vote in the Iowa caucuses last night and topping second-place finisher Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis by more than 30 percentage points, former President Donald Trump genuinely made history.
He is now the biggest-ever winner in the first-in-the-nation event in the GOP presidential nominating process since it began in 1976, beating Bob Dole's 37-to-24 percentage win over Rev. Pat Robertson in 1988. (Eventual nominee and President George H.W. Bush placed third in Iowa with 18% that year).
But much more significantly, Trump also demonstrated that — at least among Republicans in the Hawkeye State — there was a new coalition required for winning and one that he clearly knew how to woo.
"Trump's victory tonight showcases once again he changing GOP base," Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., wrote on social media platform X on Monday night.
"This is a working-class party now. The D.C. Republicans need to figure it out," he added.
"It's not your father's Republican Party," echoed longtime Sioux City Republican leader Bill Keetell.
Along with sweeping the votes of 65% of caucus participants without a college degree, Trump edged DeSantis among evangelical Christian voters in three counties with strong evangelical bases — Sioux, Lyon, and Warren.
Overall, he drew 53% of evangelical voters statewide and 61% of those who call themselves "very conservative."
The strength of the so-called "religious right" in the Iowa caucuses, which began with Robertson's 1988 showing, continued with traditional Roman Catholic Pat Buchanan's near-win in 1996, and was obvious in the last three contested caucuses (onetime minister Mike Huckabee in 2008, devout Catholic Rick Santorum in 2012, and preacher's son Ted Cruz in 2016) has now been demonstrated again with the votes it gave to Trump.
Although he was an occasional churchgoer with three trips to the altar, his Supreme Court appointments and other bows to voters considered "religious" prove, as one evangelical minister once put it, "he's someone we can do business with."
In contrast, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley depended heavily on more traditional and less conservative caucusgoers.
"My estimate of the moderate/liberal vote was Haley: 63, Trump: 17, DeSantis: 7," concluded Henry Olsen of the Center for Ethics and Public Policy.
Haley placed third statewide with roughly 20% of the vote, behind DeSantis's 21%.
With votes being counted Tuesday, turnout was about 120,000 participants statewide or the lowest since 2012.
Most local observers blamed this on the two feet of snow that hit the state throughout the weekend and sub-zero temperatures.
Weather notwithstanding, it seems a solid conclusion that the Iowa caucuses will be in for solid conservatism, fueled by blue-collar and religious voters, for years to come.
John Gizzi is chief political columnist and White House correspondent for Newsmax. For more of his reports, Go Here Now.
© 2024 Newsmax. All rights reserved.