2024 election: Latest updates on the presidential campaign trail

The late night host was on scathing form ridiculing the now-former Republican candidate on his show on Tuesday evening.

“Even though he was running against Trump, he never missed an opportunity to plant one on his big orange ass,” Kimmel said.

“And that call went straight to voicemail,” Mr Kimmel joked. “He’s never going to hook up with you, dude. It’s just not gonna happen.”

Vivek Ramaswamy, who ended his own presidential campaign after Iowa, appeared on stage with Trump in Atkinson, New Hampshire, last night and enjoyed a warm reception, with the crowd chanting “VP” at one point, arguing for him as the Republican front-runner’s next running mate.

Amazing that it was only this weekend that Trump attacked his then-rival as “not MAGA” and warned Iowa voters not to be “duped” into voting for him.

Ramaswamy also dutifully appeared on Fox News last night and called on Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis to follow his example by dropping out and endorsing Trump.

Laura Ingraham also advocated for the same outcome.

Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson dropped out of the 2024 presidential race on Tuesday after a whisper of a performance in the Iowa caucuses.

Mr Hutchinson had been one of two prominent Republicans in the race most vocal about their concerns stemming from the candidacy of Donald Trump, who set a record with his own blowout performance in the caucuses, taking 51 per cent of the vote.

In a statement, he acknowledged that his message of opposition against the frontrunner had not gone over well among Republican voters.

John Bowden reports from Des Moines:

The entrepreneur has dropped out of the race after racking up less than eight per cent of the Iowa caucus vote. Ahead of the caucuses, the Republican candidate encouraged his followers to “stick it to the media and shock the world.”

His campaign seemingly hinged on providing shock value.

Mr Trump was Monday night’s overwhelming winner, picking up 51 per cent of the vote in the Hawkeye State and bringing him closer to securing the Republican presidential nomination as primary season finally got under way.

“Looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He’s the clear frontrunner on the other side at this point,” Mr Biden posted on X overnight.

Republican presidential contender Ron DeSantis has said he is the only candidate “who’s not running a basement campaign” after rival Nikki Haleydropped out of ABC News’ planned New Hampshire debate, forcing the network to cancel the event.

Mr DeSantis took part in a CNN town hall in the Granite State on Tuesday evening, where he hit out at his Republican rivals in the 2024 White House race.

“I’m the only candidate that actually agreed to come to New Hampshire to debate,” he said.

“I’m the only one who’s not running a basement campaign at this point.”

Earlier on Tuesday, Ms Haley posted on X that she would not be taking part in any further GOP debates unless front-runner Donald Trump finally agreed to join her and Mr DeSantis on stage.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis trailed behind both candidates in the county with 755 votes.

ABC News has scrapped Thursday night’s Republican primary debate in New Hampshire after Nikki Haley vowed that she would only take part if Donald Trump faced his rivals on the stage.

“Our intent was to host a debate coming out of the Iowa caucuses, but we always knew that would be contingent on the candidates and the outcome of the race,” the network said in a statement.

“As a result, while our robust election coverage will continue, ABC News and [local news station] WMUR-TV will not be moving forward with Thursday’s Republican presidential primary debate in New Hampshire.”

The outlet said that neither Ms Haley nor Mr Trump had confirmed their participation by the deadline, leaving only Ron DeSantis.

After the Iowa caucuses, Ms Haley had posted on X that Mr Trump had “ducked all” of the GOP debates and now has “nowhere left to hide”.

“The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it,” she said.

Ron DeSantis’s campaign accused the media of “election interference” for projecting Donald Trump as the winner of the Iowa caucuses while voting was still taking place on Monday evening.

The Associated Press and other news organisations projected Mr Trump as the clear victor of the first contest in the Republican primary campaign just 30 minutes after voting began, with over 50 per cent of the vote.

At the time of writing, Mr DeSantis was running second with around 20 per cent, while Nikki Haley was close behind in third.

“It is absolutely outrageous that the media would participate in election interference by calling the race before tens of thousands of Iowans even had a chance to vote,” the campaign’s communications director, Andrew Romeo, said in a statement.

“We’ve had five great debates in this campaign. Unfortunately, Donald Trump has ducked all of them,” Ms Haley said in a statement on Tuesday. “He has nowhere left to hide. The next debate I do will either be with Donald Trump or with Joe Biden. I look forward to it.”

The former South Carolina governor’s statement arrives after she garnered the third most support at the Iowa caucuses, trailing behind Mr Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.

Still, following the caucuses, Ms Haley said, “I can safely say tonight Iowa made this Republican primary a two-person race.”

Last week, Ms Haley went head-to-head in a debate with Mr DeSantis. Their ratings on CNN were trounced by Mr Trump’s appearance at the same time on a Fox News town hall.