Ted Cruz won the Republican Party’s Iowa caucuses Monday night. With roughly 28 percent of the vote, Cruz outpolled Donald Trump, who brought in 24 percent, and Marco Rubio, who fell 2,000 votes short of catching the frontrunner business mogul for second place. Cruz’s victory came as a surprise to many analysts, as Trump went into the night with a comfortable lead in Iowa polls, and most experts predicted a large turnout would work in the populist Republican’s favor. Additionally, Rubio’s surprising third-place finish indicates momentum in a race where he was previously written off. Cruz was likely propelled to victory by strong support from evangelical voters, whom the Texan senator courted for months. According to poll data, he pulled in votes from 43 percent of self-identified conservatives and 33 percent of evangelicals.
