The ex-president who would be King receives a caucus coronation
The parking lot at the Belmond-Klemme high school was completely full of cars and trucks, signaling at a glance the high turnout before the Wright county Republican caucuses. A 10-ft mound of snow festooned with DeSantis signs signaled the kind of weather conditions that voters came out into – frigid, snowbound, and icy.
In the gymnasium the bleachers were full on both sides. Both sets of bleachers were seas of gray, as gray hair was the defining, unifying quality of the vast majority of attendees. Well upwards of 95% of those present were in the fifty and up crowd. Generation Z was barely represented. Which could be a harbinger of the ultimate electoral challenge the Republicans will face in November.
The line of speakers standing, waiting their turn for the microphone – as gray as those in the crowd – ran all the way from the podium at the center of the wall to the far back corner behind one of the two sets of bleachers. Speakers seeking office (such as candidates for the Supervisors’ positions) spoke of their qualifications, their experiences, what they believed, and what they hoped to accomplish.
Other speakers waxed philosophical about the Founding Fathers, or spoke forebodingly, in darkly hyperbolic terms about the Biden administration and the future of freedom, suggesting that if the Biden presidency isn’t brought to an early end, it’s the end of America. The irony of that kind of rhetoric, considering the positions the two leading candidates have taken when it comes to Presidential accountability, fell on deaf ears, drowned out by strong applause in this nation that at its founding threw off an unaccountable King.
Still, some of the most prominent voices of the local GOP spoke strongly in praise of democracy, and pointed out how this exercise shows our community, and American democracy remain strong.
“I’ve been with the sheriff’s office for 25 years. In that time I’ve worked my way up the ranks. I’ve been the sheriff for the last 11 years, and I look forward to continuing to serve the citizens of Wright County,” said Sheriff Jason Schluttenhofer, a Republican who in his speech referred to himself as a “constitutional Sheriff”, adding “I feel blessed to be part of this community.”
Rep. Mark Thomspon hailed the “historic and outstanding turnout,” which he said “shows people are awake and care about the future of our country.”
“I’m really pleased with the turnout, for the weather that we had,” said Supervisor Dean Kluss, noting that the official count of caucus participants was 384 voters. “I’m encouraged that Belmond, the town that it’s hosted in – on a night with sub-zero temperatures – had 139 people turn out. That doesn’t happen everywhere, but it does in Iowa.”
“There was a tremendous turnout for such a cold day, this Martin Luther King Day,” said county Board of Supervisors Chairman Karl Helgevold. “It shows your Wright County Voters are very engaged in the process.”
The process was, as this reporter bore personal witness to, free and fair, and honestly done. The press was given unfettered access, and treated quite respectfully. And the final count of the Wright County caucus was:
212 votes for former president Donald J. Trump (55%).
88 votes for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (23%).
55 votes for former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (14%).
26 votes for Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (7%).
2 votes for former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (0.5%).
1 vote for Texas businessman and pastor Ryan Binkley (0.2%).
0 votes for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (0%).
Statewide, according to the Associated Press, the Iowa Caucus results were:
56,260 votes for former president Donald J. Trump (51%).
23,420 votes for Florida Governor Ron DeSantis (21.2%).
21,085 votes for former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley (19.1%).
8,449 votes for Ohio businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (7.7%).
191 votes for former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson (0.2%).
35 votes for former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (<0.1%).
84 votes for other candidates (<0.1%).
The decisive winner was Trump (who currently faces 91 criminal charges in four active indictments, including those relating to his actions in and following the last election, won by current President Joe Biden) who took just over half of the votes cast, and earned 20 delegates towards the national Republican Party nomination. Also earning delegates were DeSantis (who earned 9 delegates), Haley (who earned 8 delegates), and Ramaswamy (who earned 3 delegates).
