DES MOINES — Iowans showed up to caucus Tuesday night in unprecedented numbers.
The GOP saw more than 180,000 voters headed to precincts across the state, shattering the previous record of 121,354 reported in 2012, according to the Iowa Republican Party.
Polk County Republicans head Will Rogers said the unprecedented turnout was largely due to the large number of GOP candidates — 12 — vying for their party’s nomination.
“There are a lot of outsider candidates who are bringing people that haven’t been involved in the process before,” Rogers said.
Outsider candidates indeed owned the night at the first-in-the-nation caucuses, with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz riding the large turnout to a victory, and Trump coming in second; they polled 27.7 and 24.3 percent respectively, according to the Associated Press.
“Republicans who stayed home for Bob Dole and Mitt Romney finally came out for Ted Cruz,” said Bill Charlier, the Des Moines County head.
Cruz’s Boone County head, Benjamin Dorin, said the large number of first-time Republican caucus attendees likely catapulted Cruz to his first-place finish.
“Cruz was able to turn out the vote that people can’t ever turn out,” Dorin said.
Many first time caucus-attendees also turned out for Trump, enough to earn him second place in Iowa.
First-time caucus attendeeTanner Smith gave a speech on behalf of Trump at the Robert Lee Recreation Center in Iowa City. Smith said it is Trump’s unique financing that swayed his vote.
“I like that he self-funds his campaign, so you know that 99 percent of what comes out of his mouth is straight from him,” Smith said.
For other Iowa Republicans, the reasons are different.
“The negative appeal is what really got me out,” said Will Petar, a 25-year-old Des Moines resident supporting Rand Paul.“There are so many candidates that I really don’t want to become president.”
While Democrats broke no records, John Deeth of the Johnson County Auditor’s Office said many also stepped out to caucus for the first time — enough that several precincts across the state ran out of voter-registration forms.
“Based on the figures, there were a lot more first-time voters here than in 2008,” said Dallas County Democrats head Julia Stewart.
The total number of Democratics did not, however, match the numbers seen in 2008.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton were locked up in a virtual tie, with Clinton a whisper ahead at 49.8 percent to 49.6 percent with 99 percent of the vote counted at 12:32 a.m. Tuesday.
“In order to win in Iowa, you need support to be spread all across the state,” Deeth said. “Sanders is very popular in campus counties.
On both sides, the Iowa caucuses inspired many to register to vote, according to information from the Iowa Secretary of State’s Office.
In the four days leading up to the caucuses, the office saw 624 Democrats and 697 Republicans register.