Iowa caucus 2024 live updates: CBS News projects Trump will win Iowa caucuses

As precinct results began to trickle in showing former President Donald Trump with a comfortable edge, he spoke briefly to Iowans. 

He listed a number of things he thinks were better under his presidency than under Mr. Biden’s presidency.

“We didn’t have China threatening to take Taiwan; we didn’t have ships being blown up all over the Middle East like happened today,” he said, adding, “and everybody was doing much better in this room.”

“I was better for the farmers, they say, than any president in the history of our country,” Trump said, adding, “I stood up for ethanol like nobody has ever stood up for it.”

“But we had a country like we’ve never had,” Trump claimed. 

The former president also boasted about how well he is doing in the polls against Mr. Biden, and claimed the current president is destroying the country. 

Early entrance polls tell us half of caucus-goers consider themselves part of the MAGA movement. 

And a big majority of Iowa Republican caucus goers do not believe President Biden was elected legitimately in 2020.

And roughly nine in 10 of those who say they are backing Trump today don’t think Mr. Biden won in 2020.

— Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus   

Immigration is what’s most motivating Iowa Republicans to the caucuses today, based on early interviews conducted with voters heading into the Iowa caucuses. 

Throughout the campaign, immigration and the economy have been top concerns for Republicans in Iowa as well as nationwide. 

Beyond issues, what are Iowa Republican voters most looking for in a candidate? 

Someone who shares my values is a candidate quality they were most looking for. 

For Iowa GOP caucus goers, the most important candidate quality they want is someone who shares their values, followed by someone who would “fight’s for people like me.”

Most Iowa Republican voters are dismissing his legal woes. Six in 10 say if Trump was convicted of a crime he would still be fit to be president. 

— Jennifer De Pinto and Fred Backus 

CBS News projects that former President Donald Trump will win the 2024 Iowa GOP caucuses.

As of 8 p.m. ET as the caucusing begins, CBS News currently rates the 2024 Iowa GOP caucuses as “Lean Trump.” 

Iowa GOP chair Jeffrey Kaufmann outlined the voting process to members of the media ahead of the caucuses on Monday, touting its transparency and urging that the results of every one of the 1,657 precincts will be “triple, quadruple checked for the accuracy of those numbers.”

Kaufmann explained that the votes will be counted in front of the crowd that cast the vote, with opportunities for the candidates to have someone observe the counting, pledging that if the candidates believe that they “had a fair process,” then “we will have done our job before any votes even come in.”

“You will find no other place in the entire country, I don’t mean that as a metaphor, that is more transparent than what’s going to happen here tonight,” he said. 

— Kaia Hubbard and Sarah Barth 

Iowa GOP Chairman Jeffrey Kaufmann outlined the voting process to members of the media ahead of the caucuses on Monday, touting its transparency and urging that the results of every one of the 1,657 precincts will be “triple, quadruple checked for the accuracy of those numbers.”

Though polls show Vivek Ramswamy in fourth place in Iowa heading into the caucuses, some Iowans are touting the entrepreneur – the youngest in the race – as a “breath of fresh air.” 

Rich Lee of Iowa, 69, told CBS News campaign reporter Shawna Mizelle that Ramaswamy “speaks the truth with a smile,” giving him “a lot of hope for our children and grandchildren.”

“There’s a lot of chaos out there surrounding Trump and Vivek doesn’t have that baggage with him,” Lee explained. “And I think if people will just take the time to listen to him, they’ll be more inspired with every talk he gives.”

Ramaswamy dismissed the polls ahead of the caucuses, telling his supporters to brave the weather as he continued his campaigning in the final hours before the first-in-the-nation contest.

“We come rain or shine, snow or sleet,” Ramaswamy said.

Olivia Perez-Cubas, a Haley campaign spokesperson, says “the expectations are largely on the two other fellas,” referring to Donald Trump and Ron DeSantis. 

“We’ve got Donald Trump, who said repeatedly that he’s going to win by 60 points. We’ve got Ron DeSantis, who has invested over $150 million into Iowa. He has put all of his eggs into the Iowa basket. He has the endorsement of the governor. I mean, Iowa is do or die for him,” she told CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett. 

Perez-Cubas said the Haley campaign is confident it will have a strong showing in Iowa, but said the pressure is on Trump and DeSantis. 

“There’s a very large pressure on Trump and DeSantis to over-perform,” she said. “And ultimately, I think there are two tickets out of Iowa. I think one will go to Donald Trump and the next is going to go to Nikki Haley, and this is quickly becoming a two-person race.” 

A spokesperson for the DeSantis campaign tried to tamp down expectations for the Florida governor, selling him as the “underdog” against Donald Trump and Nikki Haley. 

“I think when you think about the expectations of this race, they are sky high for Donald Trump and they are sky high for Nikki Haley,” Andrew Romeo told CBS News’ chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett ahead of the caucuses. “The reality is if she doesn’t have that strong second, it’s going to be a major letdown for her campaign. Trump has sky high expectations. Ron DeSantis comes in to tonight as the underdog, but that’s exactly how we like it.” 

Romeo said the campaign is confident about their standing in the race, adding that “everyone has written our political obituary almost every week,” but “we’re still here.” 

“We’re still fighting and we value this underdog position that we’re in, and we feel strongly about where we’re going to end up tonight,” he said. 

While Republicans are caususing on Monday night, Democrats are conducting mail-in ballots. The results will be released on March 5, Super Tuesday.

“This gives us an opportunity to have everyone participate who wants to as an Iowa Democrat in who the next president should be,” Iowa Democratic Party chair Rita Hart told CBS News. 

Watch more of Lilia Luciano’s interview with Hart in the player above, as well as CBS Minnesota’s Caroline Cummings report on the weather. 

Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker was in Iowa Monday as a surrogate for the Biden-Harris campaign. He said the three leading Republican candidates are all the same, just in different packaging. 

“Tonight’s contest is simply a question of whether you like your MAGA-Trump agenda wrapped in the original packaging or with high heels or with lifts in their boots,” Pritzker said. “Instead their real decision will be made in the general election where the stakes couldn’t be higher.

Read more here from CBS Chicago. 

Trump campaign senior adviser Jason Miller said he and his team are “feeling good” about the night. 

Miller told CBS News chief Washington correspondent Major Garrett the campaign is “confident, not cocky” about Trump’s prospects. Miller said Trump supporters are used to camping out overnight for rallies, and chilly weather won’t deter them.

“Our people are going to show up,” Miller said. 

During a Sunday rally in Indianola, Iowa, Trump urged his supporters to get out and caucus for him, even at the expense of their health and life. 

“If you’re sick as a dog, you say, ‘Darling, I gotta make it,'” Trump told his rally-goers. “Even if you vote and then pass away, it’s worth it.”

The CBS News political team is on the ground in Iowa as voters are about to kick off the 2024 presidential election. “CBS Mornings” co-host Tony Dokoupil is joined by Ed O’Keefe and Robert Costa to break down what’s at stake in the Iowa caucuses.

The Iowa caucuses are Monday night. But this year, the presidential campaign trail runs through courthouses.

In Washington this past week, attorneys for former President Donald Trump argued in federal court that an ex-president should be immune from prosecution, arguments that seemed to get little love from the judges.

On Tuesday, Trump told reporters, “I feel that as a president, you have to have immunity. Very simple.”

A ruling could come in days, though it could be appealed to the Supreme Court. Read more here.

Republican presidential candidates are seeking to tap into voters’ discontentment with the U.S. economy as Americans hope for relief that eases their money concerns.

CBS News polling shows that a majority of Americans think the economy is in bad shape, despite many strong economic measures, such as low unemployment and a growing U.S. economy. 

But many voters are focused on the impact of inflation, which is rising at a slower pace than a year earlier amid the Federal Reserve’s interest rate-hike campaign. Even so, prices remain higher than prior to the pandemic, and millions of Americans say they are struggling to pay their basic household bills. 

Read more here.

A candidate must receive the majority of delegates to win the nomination. For Republicans, this means securing 1,215 of the over 2,400 delegates. For Democrats, there are about 3,900 pledged delegates, and 1,969 are needed to win.

Read more here. 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, once widely viewed as the favorite to challenge former President Donald Trump for the GOP nomination, but who now appears to be battling Nikki Haley for second place, said his campaign feels “really good” heading into Monday night’s Iowa caucuses. 

After months of extensive time and money spent on the Hawkeye State by his campaign and super PAC, DeSantis is hopeful about his return on investment, even as polls show Trump maintaining a dominant lead.

“When people take a poll, they can push someone one way or other, but there’s a lot of people that still haven’t made up a final decision,” DeSantis told “CBS Mornings” anchor Tony Dokoupil. “So I think we’re in good situation to be able to capture that.”

Read more here and watch Tony Dokoupil’s full interview with DeSantis:

Iowa Republicans will be voting for their preferred presidential candidate tonight in caucus precincts across the state after months of evaluating the candidates. A caucus is a political meeting, as opposed to a primary, which is an election. There are 1,670 precincts across Iowa that will be holding caucus meetings this evening.

A representative from each campaign is allowed to give a short speech in support of its candidate, and then ballots are handed out to the caucusgoers, who vote by secret ballot. The ballots are then collected and counted in open view of the caucus. A campaign representative is allowed to view the counting, but members of the press are not. 

After the results are tabulated, they’re recorded on a form by the caucus secretary and announced by the precinct chair and then submitted electronically to the Iowa Republican Party.  

Read more here.