Caucus day has come and passed for Iowa, and the results are in. On Feb. 1, thousands of voters swarmed to vote.

         On the Republican side, Ted Cruz earned the top vote with 27.6%. Behind Cruz was Donald Trump with 24.3%. For Democrats, Hillary Clinton won with 49.9% of the votes. Coming close behind Clinton was Bernie Sanders with 49.6% of the votes (#FeelTheBern). While the Republican vote was split across the voters, the Democratic vote was split almost evenly among Sanders and Clinton. The third Democrat running, Martin O’Malley, only received 0.6% of the vote and has dropped out of the Presidential race.

         The Iowa caucuses are the first in the primary elections. It is the first vote where candidates can get a feel for how the country is likely to vote. For Hillary Clinton, it was a realization that the presidency is not a sure thing for her. For Bernie Sanders, it was a realization that he can win over voters with his more liberal ideas. Ted Cruz  gained more steam in his campaign and is the expected Republican candidate. Donald Trump did not win, but he has stated that his campaign did not suffer a huge blow.

         The Iowa caucuses are a big topic of discussion because of how they are run. Yes, they are important because they are the first primary elections, but they are also run in an interesting way. When the people go to vote, they all gather in groups by who they are going to vote for. People who do not know who to vote for go to these groups and decide if they want to join. If a group is split evenly, the group then flips a coin to see what candidate they will vote for. Once each group knows who they are voting for, the people in the group are counted. In Iowa, they do not use ballots and voting booths as traditional voting places do. It is said that in this particular caucus, there were many coin flips to decide between Clinton and Sanders. Because Clinton’s and Sanders’ numbers were so close, many called for a recount. With the recount, Clinton still won, but just barely.

       The next primary election will be in New Hampshire. With the results in Iowa being so close for Democrats and the Republican results being so varied, it will be exciting to see the results of the next election.