Statewide it was Trump first and DeSantis second

At the beginning of the grassroots political process, Virgil Johnson (right) signs in to attend the Denison Ward 2/Denison Township Republican precinct caucus at Denison High School on Monday night. The registration table is staffed by his son, Darin Johnson (at left) and Jim Hugg. Photos By Gordon Wolf

Despite the bitter weather on Monday, more Republicans turned out for the caucuses in Crawford County than may have been expected.

A total of 385 presidential preference votes were cast among the eight precinct caucuses conducted in eight different rooms at Denison High School.

Prior to the precinct caucuses, Republicans gathered in the high school’s Fine Arts Center to listen to instructions and to hear speeches given by supporters of former president Donald Trump, Ron DeSantis, Nikki Haley, Ryan Binkley and finally Vivek Ramaswamy.

Gwen Ecklund also spoke to promote the Crawford County Republican Women’s group.

The events in the Fine Arts Center started at 7 p.m., and at 7:30 p.m. people were dismissed to their respective precinct caucus sites where the rules for the night’s business were explained, including the election of delegates to the county convention and the forming of platform planks.

And of course, the presidential preference balloting took place.

But just prior to the balloting, or perhaps as it began in some local precinct groups, national news organizations called the caucus for Trump, at 7:31 p.m., an action that has garnered complaints.

In the voting, Crawford County Republicans were in step with their peers across the state when they overwhelmingly selected Trump as their candidate. He received 202 of the 385 preference votes cast – about 52% of the total.

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**State Senator Jason Schultz (right) presides at the Schleswig/Ricketts/Kiron Republican precinct caucus in the Denison High School vocal music room.**

Statewide, Trump received 56,260 of the 110,298 votes cast, for 51%.

In Crawford County, Vivek Ramaswamy received 92 votes for about 23.9%, Nikki Haley received 48 votes for about 12.5%, and Ron DeSantis received 37 votes for about 9.6%. Ryan Binkley received 6 votes for 1.5%. Asa Hutchinson and Chris Christie did not receive any votes.

Unlike Crawford County, Republicans statewide put DeSantis second. He received 23,420 votes for 21.2%.

Haley received 21,085 votes for 19.1%, Ramaswamy received 8,449 votes for 7.7%, Binkley took 7% of the total with 774 votes, Asa Hutchinson received 191 votes for 2% and Christie received 35 votes for .7%. Another 84 ballots were cast for other candidates.

Ramaswamy and Hutchinson dropped out of the race after the Iowa caucuses. Christie had dropped out the race last week.