As the official start of the United States Presidential Race kicking off in Iowa, tensions were high among both the Republican and the Democratic candidates. With just under 280 days America elects the 45th President to lead for at least the next four years, the race is beginning to intensify as the candidates leave Iowa, the first state in the nation to formally vote.

There were several GOP elephants performing in front of a packed house under the Republican Big Top in Iowa on Monday. Texas Senator Ted Cruz pulled ahead of his contentious rival, much to the credit of the Evangelical Christian vote. He won over majority of the state’s 99 counties and walked away with eight delegates and about 28% of the votes (51,649 votes).

Close behind the Senator, was the businessman and former reality show host Donald Trump pulling in the affection of about 24% of Iowa voters (45,416 votes). Trump claimed all but six of the remaining counties and seven delegates.

What’s even more interesting than Donald Trump taking second place despite his earlier Tweet: ‘No one remembers who comes in second’, is Florida Senator Marco Rubio coming in at a close third with 23%, just 2,284 votes away from the former Republican frontrunner. Rubio was able to pull together those votes from the six counties with the highest voter turnout.

Behind the three in the lead, the rest of the Republican hopefuls were just wrestling for relevancy. Carson came in at 9% landing him in fourth, while Rand Paul (4%) and Jeb Bush (3%) were both fighting to avoid the quagmire of the ‘terrible two’ percent that the other four candidates (Fiorina, Kasich, Huckabee, and Christie) were caught in.

Despite winning in the Iowa caucus in the 2012 election, former Senator Rick Santorum has successfully claimed the bottom for himself at a meager 1%.

Several candidates are leaving energized and ready to take on New Hampshire, while others and leaving the 2016 presidential race all together. Since Iowa, three of the twelve Republican candidates have suspended their campaigns for the 2016 Presidential election. Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee announced on that Monday that he would be dropping out of the race because “the voters are sick of [him],” while both Kentucky Senator Rand Paul and former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum announced their departure just two days later on Wednesday, February 3rd.

On the Democratic stage, there was a surprising showdown between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and self-avowed Democratic Socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders. The voters in Iowa were evidently torn as the votes were split relatively down the middle, Clinton winning 23 delegates (49.9% of the votes) to Sanders’ 21 (49.6% of the votes). Former Gov. Martin O’Malley however, wasn’t as popular, not receiving enough votes to receive a single percentage point, let alone a delegate.

Hillary Clinton narrowly escaped the Hawkeye State earlier this week with a technical victory. “Breathing a big sigh of relief,” she said as the pressure was on for the former frontrunner because of her 2008 loss to then Senator Barack Obama (37.6% Obama – 29.5% Clinton).

While Clinton won the numbers game in Iowa, Sen. Sanders had a victory of his very own. Although symbolic, the message that the Clinton campaign received ought to be unnerving and may prove to be crippling in New Hampshire, especially because of its proximity to Sanders’ home state of Vermont. Polls in New Hampshire, as of Wednesday, February 3rd, show Sanders ahead of his Democratic counterpart by about 20 points. Thursday’s Democratic Debate will be pivotal for Hillary if she aims to do well in the nation’s next primary.

Unfortunately for the less than 1% of Iowans that voted for former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, the message that was received was evidently clear enough to lead him to suspend his campaign the day of the Iowa caucuses along with Republican candidate Mike Huckabee.

Heading into the New Hampshire Primary, every one of the candidates will be battling to sway the voters in their favor as they make an attempt to earn their party’s nomination as the Republican and Democratic Presidential candidates for the 2016 election.