Pete Buttigieg Keeps Lead With 100 Percent of Iowa Caucus Results Reported

Pete Buttigieg, Democratic presidential candidate and former South Bend, Indiana mayor attends a campaign event in Merrimack, New Hampshire on Feb. 6, 2020. Reuters/Eric Thayer

Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, 38, remained in the lead with all of the Iowa caucus results reported late Thursday.

But Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), 78, was close behind, and the race had not been officially called as of Friday morning.

According to results posted by the Iowa Democratic Party, Buttigieg had 564 state delegate equivalents and Sanders had 562.4 with all precincts reporting. That was 26.2 percent and 26.1 percent, respectively.

Because of the narrow lead, groups and news organizations that call races said they wouldn’t call the race at this time. There are reports of irregularities in the reporting, with a slew of precinct chairs alleging the official numbers are different from the ones they reported, and the Democratic National Committee has called for a re-canvass of votes. The state party said it would conduct a re-canvass if requested by one or more candidates.

“The Associated Press calls a race when there is a clear indication of a winner. Because of a tight margin between former Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders and the irregularities in this year’s caucus process, it is not possible to determine a winner at this point,” Sally Buzbee, senior vice president and executive editor at The Associated Press, said in a statement.

Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) holds a campaign event at La Poste in Perry, Iowa, on Jan. 26, 2020. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), 70, was in third with 387 equivalents and former Vice President Joe Biden, 77, was in fourth with 341.1. Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), 59, was the only other contender with more than 23, ending with 264.2.

The three-tiered caucus system had voters initially gather in groups showing their support for chosen candidates. Any groups that didn’t represent 15 percent of the total people in the room were considered non-viable, and people were able to switch to supporting another candidate if they chose. People in groups that were considered viable weren’t allowed to change.

After realignment, a new number was tallied known as final alignment.

Sanders led in both the first alignment and final alignment but was behind Buttigieg in state delegate equivalents, a number reached using the final alignment. Sanders had over 6,000 more votes in the first alignment, according to The New York Times, and over 2,500 more votes in the final alignment.

Both Sanders and Buttigieg have declared victory.

Correction: A previous version of this article erroneously stated that the Iowa Democratic Party had called the results on Thursday night. The Epoch Times regrets the error.