Republicans in Iowa picked former President Donald Trump on Monday, and the Republican primary field reset in anticipation of the upcoming votes in New Hampshire. 

The Republican party resets heading into New Hampshire

After former President Donald Trump’s win in the Iowa caucuses, his rivals are looking to thwart his path as the primary battle shifts to the East Coast. Their sights are now set on New Hampshire.

The coldest Iowa caucuses on record could not stop enthusiastic Trump supporters from delivering him a win with 51% of the vote.

Still, both of his opponents claim they’re encouraged about moving forward.

Notably, the Iowa caucuses’ second-place finisher, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, took his battle against former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley directly to her home state. DeSantis was there Tuesday morning after the Iowa caucuses.

“You think of Haley — she was governor here for six years," DeSantis said. "Can you name any big achievements under her tenure?”

The Florida governor edged out Haley slightly in Iowa — 21% to 19% — and wants to show he’s building support across the country.

But DeSantis hasn’t forgotten the next primary fight will be in a week in New Hampshire. That’s more favorable territory for Haley. The Granite State, where Haley is looking for an upset against Trump, is more moderate and independents are allowed to vote in the primary. 

“I will be back in the great state of New Hampshire, and the question before Americans is now very clear," Haley said. "Do you want more of the same? Or do you want a new generation of conservative leadership?”

Before making a campaign stop in New Hampshire, Trump was in New York for the start of his defamation damages trial brought against him by E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump of sexually abusing her in the 1990s.

But for Iowans, it was case closed on Trump — they were undeterred by his ongoing legal troubles.

In Des Moines, the former president complimented the other Republican candidates and called for unity.

“It would be so nice if we could come together and straighten out the world and straighten out the problems and straighten out all of the death and destruction that we’re witnessing,” Trump said.

Following New Hampshire, the candidates’ popularity will be tested in states like Nevada, South Carolina and Michigan, culminating in Super Tuesday, where 17 states and territories will hold primaries and caucuses.

After finishing third in Iowa, Haley says she’s done with debates, unless Trump takes part.

She says she’s fed up with Trump skipping the debates — he’s skipped all of them so far, so she threatened on X, formerly Twitter, that she won’t do another, unless Trump commits to one.

Shortly after the results came in, two people dropped out of the race: businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson

With Ramaswamy and Hutchinson out, there are now just three major candidates in the running for the GOP nomination.

Over the weekend, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio announced his endorsement for Trump. He shared a message on social media, saying he and Trump achieved major policy change while he was in office.

Rubio went on to say he supports Trump because his leadership is the only way to fix what he calls a disaster created by President Joe Biden.

New Hampshire is next up with their primary scheduled next week on Jan. 23. That’s followed by South Carolina and Nevada in February. Then, March 5 is super Tuesday, which will feature over a dozen states holding primary elections.

Florida will hold its primary election on March 19.

Equality Florida reacts to proposed pronoun legislation

Two bills under consideration by Florida lawmakers stirred controversy on pride day in Tallahassee.

One bill, Senate Bill 1382, would restrict the use of gender pronouns for government employers and with government contractors.

The other, House Bill 1233, would require a person's biological sex to be listed on driver's licenses and birth certificates.

“I come to tell you that with the harm that the Republicans have caused on the transgender and the LGBTQ community, they have violated every oath that they have given, even to the Constitution,” state Sen. Shevrin Jones said during a press conference.

Roughly 200 advocates against the proposals rallied Tuesday in opposition. Together, they said they are against at least 20 bills under consideration in the current legislative session.

Republicans claim these bills are about biology, not ideology.

“We didn’t start the culture war," said state Rep. Dean Black. "For at least 6,000 years, men have been men and women have been women and nobody had a problem with that until recently.” 

In addition to the language regarding licenses and ID cards in HB 1233, the measure, if passed as written, would require that if health insurance covers gender transition procedures, then it must also pay for a person to reverse the transition.

House District 35 special election vote today

A state house seat is up for grabs in Central Florida.

Voters in parts of Orange and Osceola counties went to the polls today to choose their candidate for Florida House District 35.

The race is between Democrat Tom Keen and Republican Erika Booth.

They are running for the seat vacated by Republican Fred Hawkins, who resigned in June to become the president of South Florida State College.

If Republicans hold on to the seat, they will have 85 seats in the house compared to 35 Democrats.

The Florida Senate is split 28 to 12 in favor of republicans.