GRUNDY COUNTY- On one side of the political aisle, a popular incumbent president cruised to victory and captured all but three of the votes cast in Grundy County at Monday night’s caucuses. On the other, despite a smooth process locally, the future of the event itself is in doubt after inconsistencies, the failure of an app and a wave of general uncertainty about who actually won Iowa before the first release of results on Tuesday evening.
Republican President Donald Trump is the undisputed winner of the Iowa caucus both here and statewide: according to Grundy County Republicans Chairman Brian Andersen, he received 168 of the 171 total votes cast, and challenger Joe Walsh, a former Congressman from Illinois, received just one vote. Vice President Mike Pence, who is not running for president, also received two votes.
“Some people had never caucused before, and they were excited about being there to support Trump. They were excited about showing their support in that way,” Andersen said. “They’re still focused on keeping taxes low, the strong economy, the second amendment and some of those things that Trump has been solid on for those first four years and just continuing in that direction.”
Across Iowa, Trump received about 97 percent of all votes cast in the GOP caucus. Walsh, who was booed at one site for speaking against the president, has complained that his surrogates were not allowed to speak at several caucus sites but concluded on Tuesday that he is not a “serious challenger.” Bill Weld, the former governor of Massachusetts, did not receive a single vote in Grundy County.
On the Democratic side, a prolonged delay in results and mass confusion overshadowed a relatively uneventful night in Grundy County, where moderate candidates won or tied for victories at five of the seven precincts, and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders won or tied at three of them.
Former Vice President Joe Biden received the most support at the Dike precinct with 18 votes on first alignment, and at the Reinbeck precinct, Biden, Senator Amy Klobuchar and former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg tied with 16 votes apiece on the first alignment.
Buttigieg was the top vote getter at the Beaman-Conrad precinct with 11 on the first alignment. Four separate caucuses were held in Grundy Center at the high school auditorium—one for town residents, one for Holland residents, one for Wellsburg and one for the rural area surrounding Grundy Center. In the Grundy Center town caucus, the largest in Grundy County with 103 voters, Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont tied with 27 votes each.
At the rural Grundy Center caucus, Sanders took 11 of the 27 total votes on first alignment, and in the Holland precinct, Sanders led with seven votes after the first alignment. Buttigieg led the Wellsburg area caucus with five votes after the first alignment.
“Everything went really smoothly, as smoothly as a caucus can go,” Grundy County Democrats Secretary Robert Earle said of the local experience. “Everybody was patient and understanding, and we moved through it pretty efficiently.”
Most projections predict that Sanders and Buttigieg will be the top two vote getters statewide, with Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, Klobuchar and Biden rounding out the top five.
During a conversation with the Register, Andersen admitted that because of the delay in results and media scrutiny over the Democratic caucuses, he is worried that Iowa could lose its first in the nation status.
“That was kind of my thought. I’m afraid because we kind of go together (with the Democrats). I’m actually concerned that this puts a black eye on Iowa in general in terms of being first,” he said. “I’m curious what the discussion’s going to be like in the future and whether we can even continue in a caucus format… People were laughing on TV, and that doesn’t really reflect well on us.”
In 2012, eventual Republican nominee Mitt Romney was prematurely declared the winner of the Iowa caucus, but a recount later revealed that former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum had actually defeated Romney by 34 votes. Since then, Andersen noted, the party has dedicated time and resources to ensuring that the process goes off more smoothly.
Unlike the Democrats, the Republicans simply vote in a secret ballot format more in line with a traditional primary and do not force candidates to meet a 15 percent viability threshold or recruit supporters from other campaigns that don’t reach that number.
“I don’t think I really would personally like the system the Democrats do with viability,” Andersen said.
Earle argued that because of the caucus format, it’s unreasonable to expect instant results.
“I think people need to change their expectations about how fast that should happen. I think people need to have a little bit more patience,” he said. “In a caucus as opposed to a primary vote, patience is the sole cardinal virtue.”
According to the Iowa Democratic Party, the first round of results were set to be released at 4:00 p.m. on Tuesday as this issue of The Grundy Register went to press. The party will hold its county convention on Saturday, March 21.
