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While we await a final tally from Iowa, here's how the Republican candidates stand.

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent

Entering Monday's Iowa caucuses, most of the electoral intrigue involved which candidate would take second place behind Donald Trump. In the end, it was Ron DeSantis who walked away with the runner-up prize.

It's not much of achievement, however, given the narrowness with which the Florida governor finished ahead of Nikki Haley, after investing so much time and resources in Iowa.

The result, and DeSantis's pledge to press on with his campaign, won't provide the kind of clear result that would set up a one-on-one face-off with Trump in the days ahead.

The one candidate who did drop out, Vivek Ramaswamy, will further clear the field for the former president, as public opinion surveys show that his supporters have Trump as their second choice.

While he only garnered about 8% in Iowa, every bit of backing counts, and tomorrow's endorsement will offer Trump yet another headline to boost him into New Hampshire.

Read more: What Trump's dominant win means for his rivals

Madeline Halpert
Reporting from New Hampshire

All was quiet here in Manchester, New Hampshire as we awaited the results of the Iowa caucuses this evening.

Tomorrow that will change, as Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis and other Republican presidential candidates host events across the Granite State and try to woo voters in the last week before primary elections on 23 January.

New Hampshire is a purple state, boasting a significant population of independent voters.

That bloc could prove critical for Trump and his top two competitors, Haley and DeSantis. It’s difficult to predict now who might emerge victorious in the state, experts say.

In recent weeks, Haley has cut the gap between her and Trump to single digits.

“Often, historically, we will look at Iowa and whatever they choose to do, we do the opposite,” says Matthew Bartlett, a Republican strategist in the state.

“If everybody expects us to zig, sometimes we will zag. There's always a surprise in New Hampshire.”

Sam Cabral & Matt Murphy
US reporters, in Washington DC

Image source, Getty Images

The 2024 race for the White House has officially kicked off, with Republican primary voters participating in the Iowa caucus last night - the first step in choosing their candidate to take on the Democrats in November's election.

If you are just waking up, or joining us late, here are the big takeaways:

Trump won big

Donald Trump scored a landslide victory to kick off the Republican primary race. He lost the Iowa caucus in 2016 - but significantly reversed that result last night by winning over key voting blocs in the state, including white evangelicals, younger voters and women.

Polls showed Trump as the clear frontrunner for months - but the scale of his victory was still staggering - he is on track to win nearly all 99 of Iowa's counties, with Nikki Haley defeating him by a single vote in one county.

Striking a subdued tone, Trump asked Americans to "come together" behind his campaign to beat President Joe Biden and fix the problems of the world at a rally following the result.

DeSantis pips Haley to second place

Ron DeSantis is projected to finish in second place in Iowa, edging out rival Nikki Haley but far behind Trump. The Florida governor had staked his campaign on a strong performance in the state- securing key endorsements, including from the Iowa's governor, and visiting all 99 counties - but recent polls indicated he was losing ground to Haley.

DeSantis celebrated the end result, saying it had come after critics "threw everything but the kitchen sink at us". His campaign confirmed DeSantis would stay in the race after his second-place finish.

Despite losing her face-off with DeSantis, Haley claimed she was now in a two-way race with Trump and that she remained "the last best hope of stopping the Biden-Trump nightmare".

She congratulated Trump, but touted her electability in a general election versus Democrat Joe Biden and asked voters to usher in "a new generation of conservative leadership".

Ramaswamy drops out

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy dropped out of the presidential race as he appeared on track to finish in a disappointing fourth place. The political novice shook up the debate stage early in the campaign but failed to gain much traction with Republican voters.

Ramaswamy offered his "full endorsement" to Trump and vowed to join him at a campaign rally in New Hampshire on Tuesday evening.

Image source, Getty Images

Anthony Zurcher
BBC North America correspondent, in Des Moines, Iowa

Image source, Getty Images

While Ron DeSantis' political fate was what everyone in Iowa's political circles was talking about on Monday, he has pledged to carry on his campaign.

Future success may be even harder for him, however, given that the candidate who did drop out, Vivek Ramaswamy, will further clear the field for Donald Trump.

Public opinion surveys overwhelmingly show that his supporters have the ex-president as their second choice. And on Tuesday, Ramaswamy will publicly endorse Trump in New Hampshire.

While he only garnered about 8% in Iowa, every bit of backing counts, and his support will offer Trump yet another headline to boost him into New Hampshire.

After a landslide win for Donald Trump, current President Joe Biden took to X, formerly known as Twitter, to take the opportunity to fundraise.

"Looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He’s the clear front runner on the other side at this point," he wrote. "But here’s the thing: this election was always going to be you and me vs. extreme MAGA Republicans."

In a call to action, Biden said "if you’re with us, chip in now".

Holly Honderich
Reporting from Des Moines, Iowa

During the final sprint in Iowa, Nikki Haley drilled down on one key point: Electability.

It worked pretty well. Entrance polls from this evening showed Haley was nearly tied with Donald Trump among voters who care most about that characteristic.

In her concession speech just now, Haley raised this once again, arguing that she is the only Republican candidate who could take on President Joe Biden - and win.

She could be right. Polls show Biden and Trump would be neck and neck in a general election, while surveys show Haley beating Biden by as much as 17 points.

"Our campaign is the last best hope of stopping the Biden-Trump nightmare," she said, earning some of her loudest applause of the night.

Despite being a concession speech, Haley had a definitively positive tone. She stuck with the concept that this is now a two-way race with Trump - her new favourite talking point.

Ron DeSantis's campaign would surely disagree, but Haley's campaign says they're playing the long game, looking ahead to New Hampshire where she's polling within 10 points, and then to South Carolina where she served as governor.

Is it spin or honest planning? We'll know better on 23 January, when voters in New Hampshire go to the polls.

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Des Moines, Iowa

It's suddenly become a very festive atmosphere at the Ron DeSantis headquarters, with the campaign and his supporters clearly seeing his second place finish as a victory and strong result.

As DeSantis spoke, his supporters waved placards, chanted his name, and clapped loudly at various points. Those reactions were particularly strong when he pointed his attacks toward the media and referenced Ronald Reagan.

Beer has been flowing freely, and I have seen wide smiles on the faces of his junior campaign volunteers and the people in the crowd.

"I'll take that result," a young supporter named Wyatt Landuyt-Krueger just told me.

He'd arrived at the event shortly before DeSantis arrived, after a two hour-drive from his caucus site in Cedar Rapid.

"Iowa is not the end all, be all," he added. "I'm happy... it would have been great to come in first, but I'm still in high spirits."

Just before he left, DeSantis shook hands and took selfies with members of the crowd.

If I didn't know better, I'd have thought this was a victory rally.

More than 90% of the vote has now been counted in Iowa.

And Trump's victory is projected to be a record, winning by more than double the previous largest margin in the Republican Iowa caucuses.

The best sign of Trump's dominance tonight is that he is on track to win nearly all 99 of Iowa's counties. In Johnson County, Nikki Haley appears to have eked out a win by a single vote.

Ron DeSantis has received less than half of Trump's votes but is projected to win second place. His campaign has confirmed he will stay in the race.

Turnout, however, looks close to record lows for the state. This is not surprising given the weather Iowans have encountered in the past few days.

With Nikki Haley failing to gather the momentum of a second-place finish in this contest and Vivek Ramaswamy dropping out to endorse Trump, tonight has been a record night for the former president.

Image source, Reuters

Haley begins her speech by thanking God and her family, going on to say: "I want to congratulate President Trump".

"We have had an amazing 11 months here in Iowa," she tells supporters.

"I kept coming back, even though the cold weather is brutal," she continued, eliciting laughter from the audience in the hotel ballroom.

She goes on to say that the question for voters in New Hampshire, the next state to hold its primary, is: "Do you want more of the same, or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership?"

"Trump and Biden are both about 80 years old," she adds.

Holly Honderich
Reporting from Des Moines, Iowa

We all knew Donald Trump would come in first this evening. The bigger question was who would follow (distantly) behind him: Ron DeSantis or Nikki Haley.

According to projections from CBS News, the BBC's US partner, Ron DeSantis has secured second place and left Haley in third.

So will Haley continue? All signs point to yes.

The Haley campaign has been careful to hedge their bets in Iowa, saying from the start they just wanted a "strong finish" - never specifying if that meant first, second or third place.

And, as Team Haley tell it, third place is a victory of its own for a candidate who was polling close to 1% when she first announced her candidacy. The next contest is in New Hampshire, where she has an outside chance at taking the state.

But no matter how her campaign spins it, Haley failed to accomplish one key goal: To turn this divided field into a head-to-head race between her and Donald Trump.

It's all happening now. We've got Nikki Haley up on stage at the Marriott Hotel in West Des Moines.

The former South Carolina governor and UN ambassador is speaking to her supporters just minutes after US networks reported that she had failed to finish second in Iowa.

While DeSantis speaks at his watch party, let's check in with Vivek Ramaswamy.

He has just told his supporters: "as of this moment we are going to suspend this campaign".

"There is no path for me to be the next president," the biotech entrepreneur added.

He said that from the beginning of his campaign, which at times courted controversy for its endorsement of conspiracy theories, he pledged to support "an American first candidate in the White House".

That is why, he said, he called Donald Trump earlier tonight, congratulated him and told the former president that he would endorse him.

Ramaswamy attempted to assuage some of his supporters who expressed clear disappointment as he spoke.

"Don't do it," a woman in the audience yelled when he announced he would back Trump.

Ramaswamy promised he would not disappear from the national stage and would soon return to the campaign trail in New Hampshire on Trump's behalf.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has appeared on stage, where Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds and Evangelical leader Bob Vander Plaats introduced him.

DeSantis starts by saying the "media was against us" and suggests the media called the election before people got a chance to vote, to which the crowd started booing.

He then says: "as the next president I will get the job done for this country".

Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from Des Moines, Iowa

Campaign officials here at the DeSantis watch party in Des Moines are calling his projected second place finish a victory for the campaign.

"They threw everything at Ron DeSantis. They couldn’t kill him. He is not only still standing, but he’s now earned his ticket out of Iowa," a senior campaign official told CBS, the BBC's US partner.

"This is going to be a long battle ahead, but that is what this campaign is built for. The stakes are too high for this nation and we will not back down," the official added.

The atmosphere here has taken on a more festive atmosphere in the last few minutes, with supporters telling me they are happy with the result.

The various high-profile lawmakers and local personalities speaking on stage are saying the same.

"He's ready for the long haul," said Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds. "Watch out America, Ron DeSantis is not done!"

As I type this, the crowd next to me has begun a "Ron! Ron!" chant.

He's about to speak on stage.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis is projected to finish second at the Iowa Caucuses, according to the BBC's US partner CBS News.

We'll bring you more on this shortly.

Biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy has dropped out of the race, according to a senior Republican official who spoke with the BBC's US partner CBS News.

After riffing at length about those who are supporting his campaign, Trump is laying out what he will do in a second term in the White House.

He touts the mantra "drill baby drill", vowing to ramp up domestic energy production.

"We're going to seal up the border," he says. "Right now, we have an invasion".

Trump, who recently said immigrants are "poisoning the blood" of the nation, alleges that migrants entering the country are coming from "prisons", "mental institutions", "terrorist" cells and countries people have never heard of.

He promises a "deportation level that we've not seen for a long time".

He also pledges to "straighten out our elections" and solve the war in Ukraine and Gaza "very fast".

Going back to a joke he repeats often, he says that former President Jimmy Carter is happy now because he'll be remembered as "a brilliant president compared to Joe Biden".

Finally, before leaving the stage, he told voters that this "very special night" is only the first "because the big night is going to be in November".

Anthony Zurcher
North America correspondent in Des Moines

Standing on a crowded stage - in front of massive screens that read "Trump wins Iowa" - Donald Trump opened with a magnanimous message: He wants to bring Republican and Democrats in the country together.

This sounds similar to the speech he gave when he won the presidency in November 2016, when he paraphrased President Abraham Lincoln and said it was time to "bind the wounds of divisions" in America.

This is not the rally Trump we've seen before, angry and aggrieved. With a national audience, he appears to have decided to be more subdued.

Trump hails the flurry of endorsements he has begun to receive, including from well-known members of the US Congress.

"One woman who stepped up in Iowa was your attorney general," he says, pausing his speech to hug Brenna Bird.

He then thanks a state lawmaker, Brad Zaun, who endorsed him in 2015.

Trump calls Zaun "the Marlboro Man" and pulls him in to say a few words to the audience.