Buttigieg, Sanders in virtual tie with 97 percent of Iowa precincts reporting

Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are in a virtual tie in the Iowa Democratic caucuses, according to the latest results, released overnight.

With 97 percent of precincts now reporting, Buttigieg has 26.2 percent of state delegate equivalents and Sanders has 26.1 percent, a difference of 3 out of 1,097 votes.

Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) trails with 18.2 percent.

Former Vice President Joe Biden has 15.8 percent, and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) has 12.2 percent.

No other Democratic presidential candidates broke the double-digit level in state delegate equivalents in the caucuses, which were marred by technical problems.

Sanders leads the popular vote, according to the results, getting 26.5 percent compared to Buttigieg’s 25 percent. That translates into a difference of about 2,500 votes.

Warren is also in third place in the popular vote in Iowa, getting more than 18,000 votes.

Buttigieg had held a narrow lead over Sanders in earlier tallies of state delegate equivalents.

The chairman of the Iowa Democratic Party, Troy Price, said in a call with state party officials Wednesday night that full results should be released by Thursday morning, according to CNN.

A person on the call also told the network that Price promised an independent review.

Marty Johnson contributed to this report, which was last updated at 7:48 a.m.