Relishing victory in the first Republican nominating contest of the US presidential election, Senator Ted Cruz called his defeat of Donald Trump in the Iowa caucuses a tribute to “conservative grass r
Relishing victory in the first Republican nominating contest of the US presidential election, Senator Ted Cruz called his defeat of Donald Trump in the Iowa caucuses a tribute to “conservative grass roots.”
Cruz also said the result from Monday’s contest was a rebuke to what he called President Barack Obama’s liberal agenda and a win for “Judeo-Christian values”.
On the Democratic side, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton won by a razor-thin margin against US Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the closest in Iowa Democratic caucus history.
Cruz won the Republican Iowa caucuses with 28 per cent of the vote compared with 24 per cent for businessman Mr Trump, whose aggressive and unorthodox campaign has been marked by controversies ranging from his calls to ban Muslims temporarily from entering the United States to his pledge to build a wall along the US-Mexican border.
An uncharacteristically humbled Trump, 69, congratulated Mr Cruz and said he still expected to win the Republican nomination. Opinion polls show Mr Trump leading nationally and in New Hampshire, which holds the next nominating contest next week.
Ms Clinton, 68, prevailed by only four delegates, according to party figures. Mr Sanders, 74, a self-described democratic socialist who has strongly attacked Ms Clinton’s campaign from the left, declared the result a virtual tie after he had trailed the former First Lady in opinion polls for months.
“I think the significance is for folks who did not think Bernie Sanders could win, that we could compete against Hillary Clinton, I hope that thought is now gone,” Mr Sanders told CNN.
For the Republicans, Marco Rubio, 44, a US senator from Florida, came in third with 23 per cent, making a stronger-than-expected finish.
