Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Serving O'Brien & Clay Counties
Iowa Republicans pick 2024 preferences for president during caucus
Caucus-goers in the Hartley-Lincoln-Omega precinct review their ballots prior to voting Monday.
Tim Overmire counts presidential preference votes in the the Hartley-Lincoln-Omega precinct on Monday night.
Mark Schulz, Connie Olhausen and Chas Biery count presidential preference votes in the Hartley-Lincoln-Omega precinct.
Kelly O'Brien makes his pitch for former president Donald Trump.
Caucus-goers sing the national anthem prior to the evening's festivities at H-M-S High School.
The Hartley-Lincoln-Omega precinct had the highest turnout in O'Brien County on Monday with 87 participants.
Plenty of campaign goodies were available during the caucus.
Zac Patke, of Sheldon, makes his pitch for Ron DeSantis.
Kelly Nieuwenhuis, of Primghar, stumps for Nikki Haley.
Any debate about whom Iowa Republicans want in the White House next year was put to rest Monday night.
Former president Donald Trump breezed to victory during the Iowa GOP Caucus with 51 percent of the vote statewide. Participants braved frigid temperatures to cast their ballots during the event, which officially kicked off the 2024 presidential nominating process.
"It's been a long road getting here, but we're finally here," O'Brien County GOP Central Committee Chair Denny Werkmeister told the crowd gathered at the high school gym in Hartley. "With this excitement in the air tonight, it seems like it's building."
Trump was the clear-cut winner in O'Brien County, landing 329 votes. Second place went to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis with 91 votes, and third went to former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina governor Nikki Haley with 46 votes. Vivek Ramaswamy earned fourth place with 37 votes and Ryan Binkley was fifth with 19.
The results in O'Brien County were a carbon copy of those statewide with Trump first, DeSantis second, Haley third, Ramaswamy fourth and Binkley fifth. Both Ramaswamy and former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson dropped out of the presidential race following Monday's caucus. Hutchinson only received 191 votes statewide and none in O'Brien County.
Hyper-locally, the Hartley-Lincoln-Omega precinct reported the highest turnout at the O'Brien County GOP caucus with 87 participants. Sixty-six cast ballots for Trump, seven for Haley, six for DeSantis, five for Ramaswamy and two for Binkley. One voter cast their ballot for "Other."
It was the same story in Clay County. Trump was first with 390 votes, DeSantis was second with 120, Haley was third with 89 and Ramaswamy was fourth with 53. Binkley landed six votes and Hutchinson got one, with another voter casting an "Other" ballot. Trump won all 12 precincts in Clay County.
• Democratic preference vote underway
Iowa Democrats are casting mail-in presidential preference ballots this year.
Democrats wishing to participate in the vote have until Feb. 19 to request a card, which started being mailed out on Jan. 12. More information and request form can be found online at www. iowademocrats.org.
Democratic presidential candidates include: President Joe Biden, Marianne Williamson, and Rep. Dean Phillips (D-Minnesota).
