Trump misses out on 1 delegate in Iowa

MANCHESTER, N.H. -- President Donald Trump is essentially guaranteed to win the Republican nomination for president this cycle, but in Iowa, he failed to net every delegate up for grabs, according to the Iowa Republican Party.

Former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld, the last man standing in the Republican primary besides the incumbent president, will receive one of the 40 delegates from the Iowa Caucus, according to the state party. Trump will receive 39 delegates.

"Donald Trump has done his best to deny that he is not the universal choice of Republicans. The fact that we earned a delegate in the nation's first contest makes it clear that is not the case," Weld communications director Joe Hunter told ABC News. "Republicans do want a choice."

Unlike the Democrat caucuses, there is no viability threshold for the Republican caucuses in Iowa, so Weld was able to get just enough of the vote in the state to get a delegate. According to data from the Iowa Republican Party, 426 caucusgoers supported Weld on Feb. 3 compared to the 31,423 caucusgoers who supported the president.

"President Trump enjoys unprecedented support among Republicans, as evidenced by the turnout record he set in the Iowa Caucus. He has already delivered a long list of incredible accomplishments for conservatives and the country. If there was grassroots support for a primary challenger then one would have caught on by now," a Republican National Committee official told ABC News in a statement. "Obviously there is not."

Trump communications director Tim Murtaugh echoed the RNC, telling ABC News, "There is unprecedented support for President Trump among Republicans and he set a record for votes and vote percentage in the Iowa GOP caucuses."

Unless Weld is able to get a plurality of the delegates in at least five states -- which is highly unlikely -- his name won't be on the nominating list at the party's convention, so even though this delegate is bound to him, the delegate will not get to cast a vote for Weld at the convention in Charlotte, North Carolina, in August, according to the RNC's convention rules.

However small it may be, Trump losing out on one delegate signals at least some fracturing within the Republican party -- and it could foreshadow similar results in upcoming elections.

Weld was able to get enough support despite the Trump campaign deploying more than 80 surrogates all over Iowa on the day of the caucus, Feb. 3. These included top surrogates like White House chief of staff Mick Mulvaney, the president's two eldest sons, Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump, senior Trump campaign adviser and presidential daughter-in-law Lara Trump and campaign manager Brad Parscale.

In New Hampshire, the backyard of Massachusetts, where Weld served as governor from 1991 to 1997, polls indicate greater support for the Republican challenger than there was in Iowa.

Among likely Republican primary voters in New Hampshire, 7% support Weld, according to a poll released Monday by CNN and the University of New Hampshire. In a NBC/Marist poll released Friday, 7% of likely New Hampshire Republican primary voters supported Weld's campaign.

In both polls, Trump had the support of around 90% of likely Republican primary voters in the Granite State.

ABC News' Will Steakin contributed to this report.