Despite receiving support from ‘Republicans for a day,’ it wasn’t enough for former South Carolina governor to avoid third-place finish in first 2024 vote.
DES MOINES, Iowa—Nikki Haley was in the air and headed for New Hampshire before all Iowa caucuses had reported results Jan.15, leaving behind a third-place finish and speculation about how many of the nearly 21,100 votes she received statewide were cast by Democrats playing “Republican for a day.”
Mr. Trump won the GOP vote in 98 of Iowa’s 99 counties. While Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished a distant second with 23,420 votes, or 21.2 percent, edging past Ms. Haley by 1.1 percent, she was the only other candidate not named Trump to win a county.
The former South Carolina governor who served as a United Nations ambassador in the Trump administration received 1,271 votes, one more than the former president in Johnson County, the home of the University of Iowa and one of few Iowa counties where Democrats outnumber Republicans.
According to the Johnson County Auditor’s Office, as of Jan. 3, there were 39,216 registered Democrats, 13,948 registered Republicans, and 21,475 unaffiliated voters on its rolls.
Several polls and anecdotal observations from caucus captains and voters passed along to on-the-ground Epoch Times reporters strongly suggest Ms. Haley benefitted from Iowa election law, which allows eligible citizens to register to vote or switch parties at caucus sites before ballots are cast.
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It may take several weeks before county auditors and Iowa Republican Party officials can ascertain how many new voters registered for the first time or switched parties to participate in the Jan. 15 caucus.
No one was available to discuss the results or caucus-day registrations at the Iowa GOP office near the state capitol on Jan. 16. Phone calls and emails to party officials went unanswered.
But voters and caucus captains had plenty to say after votes concluded.
“Just guessing over 50 percent of new registrations were switching parties,” a precinct chair in Waterloo told The Epoch Times. “They mostly said, ‘We are independents, switching to Republican’, but from their body language, not so much.”
A voter in Grinnell told The Epoch Times that, “It appeared a lot of the people that had to sign up to be registered Republicans tonight ended up voting for Haley. I thought that was really interesting.”
Jacqueline Rieckena and Lily Duncan of West Des Moines actually arrived at soon-to-be-former candidate Vivek Ramaswamy’s caucus watch at The Surety Hotel, unaware that the former president had already been declared the winner.
They thought Ms. Haley was winning—as she had in their Precinct 311. According to Ms. Rieckena, who caucused for Mr. Ramaswamy, Ms. Haley won the precinct with 83 votes followed by Mr. Trump with 50, Mr. DeSantis with 33, and Mr. Ramaswamy with 17.
‘Lot Of New Registrations’
It was the same in several other precinct caucuses, she said. “Everywhere we’ve been, Nikki Haley won,” she said.
Ms. Duncan told The Epoch Times that “a lot of first-time caucus-goers” participated in her caucus, with “at least 30” switching parties from Democrat to Republican to vote for Ms. Haley.
A couple who spoke with The Epoch Times in Pleasant Hill at a church where they were caucusing said they were participating in the GOP vote because they fear Mr. Trump returning to power.
Christine Urish said she switched her registration from Democrat to Republican. Tom Crone, sitting next to her, said he was previously an independent.
Ms. Urish wasn’t sure if she would prefer Ms. Haley to Mr. Biden but was certain either would be better than the former president.
“He wants to be a dictator,” she said.
A significant number of newly registered voters participated in caucuses in Bremer County, but county Republican committee chair John Pentecost couldn’t say if they were Democrats, independents, or new members of the party.
“We did have a lot of independents that came and registered last night as Republicans. That surprised me,” he told The Epoch Times. “I don’t know if they will stay that way or if they’ll re-register as independent after the fact, but we took in a lot of new Republican voters last night, a lot of new registrations.”
Nathan Worcester, Janice Hisle, and Austin Alonzo contributed to this report.
Original News Source Link – Epoch Times
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