Senate GOP sees huge Trump win in Iowa

Republican senators expect former President Trump to win the Iowa caucuses by a large margin, giving him plenty of momentum to take the New Hampshire primary and cruise to the presidential nomination.

GOP lawmakers, including those who support Trump and those who want the party to find another standard-bearer in 2024, view Trump as the overwhelming favorite, though they think former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley still has a slim path to challenging for the nomination.

Republican senators have largely written off Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s chances after he burned through tens of millions of dollars. DeSantis is hoping to rally in Iowa, where he has long seen a strong result as imperative.

Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah), Trump’s biggest critic in the Senate GOP conference, is hoping a perfect storm will come together to slingshot Haley past Trump but he doesn’t think it’s likely to happen.

Romney, who ran for president in 2008 and 2012 — and won the GOP nomination in 2012 —predicts Trump will win by a large margin in Iowa, giving him even more momentum heading into the following primaries.