DES MOINES — Ted Cruz held on.

The Texas senator, a clear frontrunner in Iowa just a month ago, took the top spot in the state's first-in-the-nation GOP caucuses Monday night, receiving 28 percent of the vote with 99 percent of precincts reporting.


But Donald Trump’s close second-place finish and a strong third-place showing from Marco Rubio could leave the Republican presidential race just as muddled as it’s been for months — with three strong contenders for the party’s presidential nomination bunched together and likely to fight on, possibly all the way to the GOP convention.

Trump, who may have lost support after skipping a GOP debate here last Thursday, received 24 percent of the vote, while Rubio grabbed 23 percent.

The 1-2 finish of the two anti-establishment firebrands, who took more than half of the overall vote, is indicative of an election cycle driven by voters’ deep antipathy toward Washington politics and the Republican Party’s ongoing rightward shift. “Tonight is a victory for the grassroots,” Cruz told supporters as he claimed victory just before 10:30 p.m. local time. “Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa and for courageous conservatives across this great nation.”

Cruz never mentioned Trump by name, but he took several implicit swipes at his rival. “Tonight is a victory for every American who understands that after we survive eight long years of the Obama presidency, no one personality can right the wrongs done by Washington,” he said in a marathon speech that monopolized an infomercial-length block of time before a large conservative audience.

But the GOP establishment can take consolation in Rubio’s strong third-place finish — and the fact that he is clearly on the sharpest upward trajectory while his two rivals, despite finishing ahead of him, are seeing their support tick down in recent weeks as the result of unrelenting attacks between them (Trump, specifically, was the target of a super PAC that spent $2.5 million attacking him in Iowa in the past two weeks). After Saturday’s Des Moines Register poll showed Rubio at 15 percent, the surprise 23 percent support he received Monday night is more than enough to claim momentum as the race turns to New Hampshire this week where he will make the case that he can be the establishment’s alternative to Trump and Cruz if mainstream Republicans consolidate behind him.

Rubio quickly delivered what amounted to a victory speech, just minutes after networks called the race, allowing him to grab prime attention. "So this is the moment they told us would never happen," said an exuberant Rubio upon taking the stage. "They told me my hair wasn't grey enough. They told me my boots were too high. They told me to wait my turn."

Adopting the tone of a presumptive nominee, he told supporters that Monday's vote was "an important first step toward defeating Hillary Clinton."

"When I am our nominee, we are going to unify this party and we are going to unify the conservative movement. We are going to take our message to the people," Rubio exclaimed.

The Florida senator quickly departed Iowa for an overnight flight to New Hampshire, where establishment rivals John Kasich, Chris Christie and Jeb Bush — all non-factors in Iowa — are making what amounts to a last stand. His team is optimistic that he'll be able to capitalize on a bounce out of Iowa to consolidate the mainstream Republican vote in the state's first-in-the-nation primary next Tuesday.

The other candidates badly trailed the top three finishers. Ben Carson secured a fourth-place finish, with 9 percent of the vote, Rand Paul claimed fifth with 5 percent, and Bush suffered a major setback, claiming less than 3 percent of the vote. Mike Huckabee, who finished with a little less than 2 percent, suspended his campaign Monday night.

Trump, who closed the gap in the race's final weeks by attacking Cruz, couldn't seal the deal despite a record caucus turnout of more than 170,000 and an influx of first-time participants that many believed might put him over the top.

A subdued Trump showed flashes of humility, delivering a short concession speech with his wife Melania by his side. “We finished second and I want to tell you something, I’m just honored,” adding, “I want to congratulate Ted.”

He also predicted things would only go up from Iowa. “I think we’re going to be proclaiming victory, I hope,” he said. “We will go on to get the Republican nomination, and we will go on to easily beat Hillary or Bernie or whoever they throw up there.”

He also cheekily proclaimed his love of Iowa — “I think I may come here and buy a farm.”

Huge crowds overwhelmed caucus organizers at precincts across Iowa Monday. In many precincts, the caucuses were delayed due to long lines. But as the paper ballots were counted one by one, the results that trickled in offered the first indication of a tight race between the two frontrunners, one that validated their two very different approaches to Iowa voters.

The Iowa battle between Trump and Cruz, which turned nasty in the race's closing weeks, was one between precision and performance art. Cruz, whose campaign relied on a sophisticated data operation and massive army of volunteers on the ground to turn out the specific voters it needs to win, took the more traditional approach to Iowa’s caucuses. The Texas senator, with just hours to spare, on Monday completed his "full Grassley" of visiting all 99 of Iowa's counties ahead of the caucuses. Cruz said he did it to "show the respect I think anyone who wants to compete in this state owes to the men and women of Iowa, to look you in the eyes, answer your hard questions."

Trump, who had his own voter targeting effort underway, relied on the power of his personality and overarching campaign narrative — that brilliantly simple promise to “make America great again” that has resonated with so many — to expand the electorate with first-time caucus participants and swamp his rivals. His campaign ditched the traditional Iowa playbook. The Manhattan billionaire eschewed convention and mostly avoided the retail politics that most voters here expect, delivering his message for free over the nation's television airwaves and in person at large rallies. He spent his first night in an Iowa hotel room just last week.

On Monday, Trump had refused to play the expectations game. “We’re going to have a tremendous victory,” he told an afternoon rally in Cedar Rapids, one of two such events he held during the day.

But the brash billionaire, whose personal brand is built on the idea that he wins, will have to wait at least nine days for his next chance at a real victory.

"On to New Hampshire," he said before stepping off the stage.

Katie Glueck and Sarah Wheaton contirbuted to this report.