J.B. Pritzker, a Biden campaign surrogate, says Iowa caucuses show ‘opportunity for Democrats’
Democrat Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker is claiming that Donald Trump’s performance at the Iowa caucuses is showing the "weakness of Donald Trump."
Pritzker, a Biden campaign surrogate, made the remark on MSNBC Monday night as votes were still being counted. Trump ended up winning the contest by a large margin, capturing 51.01% of the votes, followed by Ron DeSantis at 21.23%, Nikki Haley at 19.12% and Vivek Ramaswamy at 7.66%, who later suspended his campaign and endorsed Trump.
"This is the most famous Republican. He’s the guy who, you know, basically built the modern Republican Party, the MAGA Republican Party that Democrats are running against and half the people in that party didn’t vote for Donald Trump," Pritzker told MSNBC.
"So, I think that is telling. It tells you the weakness of Donald Trump and also the opportunity for Democrats, because in the end, look, if the base doesn’t turn out for Donald Trump in the general election enthusiastically, and Democrats turn out its base, this is all about, you know, independents, and independents don’t like Donald Trump," he added. "So, I think we’re in a pretty good place tonight to see what’s happening on the Republican side."
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Former President Donald Trump takes the stage at a caucus night party in Des Moines, Iowa, on Monday night. (AP/Andrew Harnik)
Pritzker then said, "If Donald Trump in fact is the winner tonight and able to win in New Hampshire and in South Carolina, probably the race is over, but the truth is all of these candidates are running as sort of mini-me Trump Republicans."
Pritzker last year said he would support Biden’s 2024 re-election campaign.
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Illinois Gov. J. B. Pritzker speaks during the Clinton Global Initiative meeting on Sep. 19, 2023, in New York City. (John Nacion/WireImage/Getty Images)
Meanwhile, Biden, in a tweet late last night, described Trump as the "clear front runner" following Iowa.
DeSantis and Haley came in second and third in Iowa, while Ramaswamy, who finished fourth, has suspended his campaign. (Getty Images)
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"Looks like Donald Trump just won Iowa. He’s the clear front runner on the other side at this point," Biden said in a post on X. "But here’s the thing: this election was always going to be you and me vs. extreme MAGA Republicans. It was true yesterday and it’ll be true tomorrow."
Greg Norman is a reporter at Fox News Digital.