The Iowa caucuses, which are the opening contest in the months-long Republican presidential primary process, begin at 8 p.m. EST. Trump's political strength heading into the Iowa caucuses, which come 426 days after he launched his 2024 campaign, tells a remarkable story of a Republican Party unwilling or unable to move on from him. On the eve of the caucuses, Trump predicted he would set a modern-day record for an Iowa Republican caucus with a margin-of-victory exceeding the nearly 13 percentage points that Bob Dole earned in 1988. Last month, some presidential campaigns were expecting close to 200,000 Republican voters to participate in the caucus. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in Des Moines, Iowa, and Adriana Gomez Licon in Council Bluffs, Iowa, contributed to this report.

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Persons: Donald Trump, ”, Hans Rudin, Trump, Haley, DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Asa Hutchinson, Chris Christie, Joe Biden, Adolf Hitler, “ Trump, Kathy DeAngelo, “, Bob Dole, Iowans, Martin Luther King Day, Nikki, Jake Hutzell, hasn’t, There’s, ___, Beaumont, Jill Colvin, Adriana Gomez Licon Organizations: DES, Republican, DeSantis, Arkansas Gov, New, New Jersey Gov, Democratic, Republican Party, Biden, U.S . Capitol, U.S, ” Republican, Trump, Des Moines Register, NBC, South, Iowa Republican, National Weather Service, GOP, ___ Peoples, Associated Press Locations: DES MOINES, Iowa, Bluffs , Iowa, New Jersey, New Hampshire , Nevada, South Carolina, Florida, America, Des Moines, Ames, Dubuque, Washington, Indianola , Iowa, Ames , Iowa, Des Moines , Iowa