The governor of Florida,Ron DeSantis,has attempted to take a positive from the Iowa result,where he will finish a distant second to Donald Trump.
“They threw everything but the kitchen sink at us,” DeSantis told supporters. “They spent almost $50 million attacking us,no one has faced that much … the media was against us,they were writing our obituary months ago.”
DeSantis also criticised the media for calling the result within 31 minutes,“before people got the chance to vote”.
“They were just so excited about the fact they were predicting that we wouldn’t be able to get our ticket punched here out of Iowa,but I can tell you because of your support – in spite of all of that they threw at us,everyone against us – we got our ticket punched out of Iowa.”
DeSantis had long staked his success in Iowa on courting the state’s Christian conservative voting bloc.
He embraced a hardline stand on abortion,backing a ban on the procedure at six weeks,while Trump suggested a more flexible standard. He often spoke at rallies about strapping on “the armour of God”. He inveighed against policies that supported transgender rights.
It didn’t work. The early entrance polling showed Trump with nearly twice the support of the state’s evangelical voters over DeSantis:51 per cent to 29 per cent.