Trump wins Iowa GOP caucuses

President Trump has won the Iowa Republican caucuses, an outcome that was never in doubt but officially kicks off his cruise to the 2020 GOP presidential nomination.

With less than 16 percent of precincts reporting, The Associated Press declared Trump the winner of the caucuses with nearly 98 percent of the vote. Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, who is running a long shot primary challenge against the president, is polling in a distant second place with less than 1 percent of the vote.

Trump’s reelection campaign unleashed an army of surrogates across the Hawkeye State ahead of the caucuses on Monday. Among them were his two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, as well as campaign manager Brad Parscale.

The results of the Democratic caucuses, meanwhile, are still far from certain. Recent polls show former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) vying for the top spot, while Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) and former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg are running close behind them.

Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), meanwhile, is also hoping for a top finish in Iowa to power her presidential bid beyond the first-in-the-nation caucus state into New Hampshire and beyond.