Trump takes Washington County caucuses

WASHINGTON — Turning out amid stifling cold temperatures and a hotly contested political environment, Republicans in Washington County voted overwhelmingly in favor of former President Donald Trump in their caucuses Monday night.

According to Washington County Republican Central Committee Chair Merle Miller, Trump ended the night with a tally of 496 votes in the county where registered Republicans outnumber Democrats by more than 2 to 1. Ron DeSantis finished the night with 193 ballots, to Nikki Haley’s 105 and Vivek Ramaswamy’s 65, according to the county’s precinct result sheets.

Trump won the plurality of the votes at every precinct in the county, and over half everywhere but Riverside (48.6%,) Washington Ward 4 (42.4%) and Washington Ward 3 (48.6%.)

The Associated Press, Fox News, NBC News and CNN had all called the rest of the state in the businessman’s favor by 8 p.m., as incoming data confirmed enough survey and poll findings to deduce that competitors had no path to first place. The outcome cements the candidate’s long-suspected front-runner status as voters elsewhere watch for results.

"It really is an honor that, minutes after, they’ve announced I’ve won — against very credible competition," Trump said to Fox News shortly after the word got out. “It is a tremendous thing and a tremendous feeling."

Among those who voted at the Washington County Courthouse Monday night, Ken Jubell said he was excited to cast a ballot for Mr. Trump.

“He never had the opportunity to finish what he started because of the political attacks, he has an ax to grind,” Jubell said. “I’m pretty politically active, so I know the world. He’ll finish what he started.”

Jeffry Greene, speaking from the back of the courtroom, gave a speech on the previous president’s behalf. He said Trump’s experience in office would allow him to hit the ground running if elected in November, despite a lengthy list of criminal indictments and political controversy.

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“I believe he has greatly sacrificed for the betterment of this country,” Greene said. “He learned who’s who in the D.C. Zoo, and how it operates. The first term allows you that. He would be a much more effective second-term president, by far, than any of the other candidates, that would have to go through that learning curve … we need an effective president now, and not a first-term, much less effective president. We don’t have that time.”

Merle Miller, a Trump campaign volunteer and chair of the Washington County Republican Central Committee, said he was “confident” going into Monday night, but still elated with the result.

“People have made up their mind early on, who they’re going to vote for, and they brought that to fruition last night,” he said. “We were doing everything all day long, making calls, working up until probably 5 o’clock. And it paid dividends, it paid huge wins, which we knew it would, based on the conversations we were having.”

Not everyone in the county was thrilled by the night’s outcome, however.

One man at Washington’s first ward precinct stood up and asked the chair to let him give a speech against Trump, a request that was denied by the chair, who said only one person was allowed to speak about a given candidate.

“Nobody said anything negative about Trump, I’d like to say a few words,” the man said, before being asked to sit down.

Adam Brock showed up to the Washington County Courthouse wearing a shirt that read, “Save Trump: Vote Vivek,” and sat next to Marc Korver, who donned a star-spangled suit and a hat signed by the Republican candidate.

But as the two watched volunteers count ballots Monday night, their precinct tallied only five votes in favor of the Ohio entrepreneur: fewer than the seven scored by Haley, for whom nobody volunteered to give a speech in Ward 1.

Brock, who was once a Trump supporter, had hoped Ramaswamy could deliver on campaign promises like slashing the scope of the federal government and prioritize ideologies often preached by the former president, without tying them to the man himself.

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“I’m asking you to open your eyes to the hard truth: they will not let Donald Trump anywhere near the office of the White House again,” Brock said, addressing Washington’s first ward precinct as a caucus captain for Ramaswamy. “Our America First movement cannot end with Donald Trump, cannot fall for the trick. Vivek is our last chance to make sure ‘America First’ outlives Trump. I know it may feel uncomfortable to switch your vote from Trump to Vivek tonight, but I’m asking you to do it for our country.”

Ramaswamy announced that he was ending his presidential campaign around 11 p.m. Monday night after finishing in a distant fourth in the Hawkeye State.

A second place finish for Ron DeSantis in both the county and the state was taken as a loss by many of his supporters, despite disproving numerous pollsters who expected the conservative Florida governor to finish behind Nikki Haley in Iowa.

Matt Wells, a longtime DeSantis campaign volunteer in the area, said he was “highly disappointed” by the result, lamenting the roughly 85% of registered Republicans who did not go to the polls Monday night.

“Cold weather notwithstanding, the fact only about 115,000 Iowans chose to participate, and half then chose the failed former president, means that we've lost our way,” Wells said in a text message Tuesday morning. “Donald Trump likely has enough support to win the primary, but he will lose in November, especially if he's a convicted felon.”

Still, the race did manage to galvanize at least a few new voters.

Washington resident John Hays was among them. Despite living just a block or so from the nearest precinct, he said he’d never attended a caucus before, but was inspired to do so by his pastor this year.

“Tonight, I’d like to gain a perspective of each candidate,” he said. “I heard some preaching yesterday from Pastor Brown (at) Marion Avenue Baptist Church. He said, ‘It’s your right, it’s your privilege, it’s actually an honor to go and be a part of the process to go.’”

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Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com