Texas Sen. Ted Cruz nailed his first victory in Iowa's Republican caucuses on Monday night as the evangelicals who supported him showed their strength in the first major electoral event in America leading to the November presidential election.

Iowa was considered a must-win state for Cruz if he is to seriously challenge Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump, who still commands a sizeable lead in the national polls.

With 99 percent of the Iowa votes counted on Monday evening, Cruz garnered 28 percent (51,649 votes) while Trump had 24 percent (45,416 votes), Fox News reported.

Sen. Marco Rubio placed a strong third with 23 percent (43,132) of the votes.

In just eight days, the electoral battle will shift to New Hampshire where Trump reportedly has a much stronger following.

In the Democratic contest, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders figured in a virtual tie, each getting 50 percent of the votes, with 100 percent of the votes counted. Clinton garnered 700 votes while Sanders had 695.

The result was considered a major victory for Sanders who trailed Clinton badly over the summer. Many had expected the former first lady and former secretary of State to clobber Sanders, a 74-year-old socialist who hadn't even been a member of the Democratic Party.

For Cruz, the victory showed that he did the right thing in sticking to his hard-line conservatism, courting evangelicals, bashing the media and parrying Trump's assaults, according to Fox News.

Cruz managed to win despite slipping in recent weeks as Trump questioned his Canadian birth and called him a nasty guy.

In his victory speech Monday evening, Cruz declared, "God bless the great state of Iowa! Let me first of all say: To God be the glory. Tonight, is a victory for the grassroots. Tonight is a victory for courageous conservatives across Iowa and all across this great nation. Tonight, the state of Iowa has spoken. Iowa has sent notice that the Republican nominee and the next president of the United States will not be chosen by the media. Will not be chosen by the Washington establishment. Will not be chosen by the lobbyists. But will be chosen by the most incredible, powerful force, where all sovereignty resides in our nation – by We the People, the American people."

For Trump, the loss showed that he is not that invulnerable as his consistent high scores in national polls show. However, he is expected to bounce back much stronger in New Hampshire and South Carolina.

After the results were in, Trump thanked Iowans for their support and congratulated Cruz, calling the Texas senator his friend, WND reported.

"I'm really honoured," he said. "I want to congratulate Ted, and I want to congratulate all of the incredible candidates – including Mike Huckabee, who has become a really good friend of mine. So congratulations to everybody."

For Rubio, his surprisingly strong third-place finish put him close to Trump, thus vindicating his strategy of trying to emerge as the establishment alternative.

Rubio told his supporters: "So this is the moment they said would never happen. For months, they told us we had no chance. For months they told us because we offer too much optimism in a time of anger, we had no chance. For months they told us because we didn't have the right endorsements or the right political connections, we had no chance. They told me that we have no chance because my hair wasn't gray enough and my boots were too high. They told me I needed to wait my turn, that I needed to wait in line. But tonight, tonight here in Iowa, the people of this great state have sent a very clear message. After seven years of Barack Obama, we are not waiting any longer to take our country back."

Mike Huckabee quits GOP race

Meanwhile, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee said Tuesday that he was abandoning his quest for the White House after a dismal showing in the Iowa caucuses, Newsmax reported.

Huckabee won the Iowa caucuses and seven other states in 2008.

But on Tuesday, he finished with just 2 percent of the caucus vote.