Campaign

Sanders and Buttigieg in dead heat with 100 percent of Iowa caucus results in

by Julia Manchester

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) are in a dead heat for first place in Iowa on Thursday with 100 percent of the caucus results in. 

Buttigieg leads by a narrow margin with 26. 2 percent among Iowa State Delegate Equivalents, while Sanders is on his heels at 26.1 percent. 

Buttigieg, receiving the news during a CNN town hall in New Hampshire on Thursday evening, said it was “fantastic news to hear that we won.” 

“I want to say that Senator Sanders had a great night too, and I want to congratulate him and his supporters,” the former mayor added. 

When asked about the party’s decision to recanvass, Buttigieg said he would leave it up to the party.

“Whatever they need to do in order to make sure that the information is clear and verified,” Buttigieg responded.
 
However, the Sanders campaign also declared victory during a press conference in Manchester on Thursday evening. 
 
“Tonight’s release of data by the Iowa Democratic Party confirms Sen. Bernie Sanders won the Iowa caucus,” Jeff Weaver, Sanders campaign senior adviser, said in a statement. 
 
“We also feel confident that the discrepancies we’re providing tonight, in addition to those widely identified in the national media, mean that the SDE count will never be known with any kind of certainty. Given the rules changes we fought for that required the release of the popular vote count, SDEs are now an antiquated and meaningless metric for deciding the winner of the Iowa caucus.”
 
The latest data also shows Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in third place with 18 percent and former Vice President Joe Biden trailing in fourth place at 15.8 percent, while Sen. Amy Klobuchar rounds out the top five with 12.3 percent. 

Since Monday, technical difficulties and inconsistencies have plagued the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) and delayed the results of the caucuses, casting the final vote result into chaos and uncertainty. 

The results come hours after Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) Chairman Tom Perez called for a recanvass of votes in Iowa due to worries about inconsistencies in the tally.

“Enough is enough. In light of the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results, I am calling on the Iowa Democratic Party to immediately begin a recanvass,” Perez said in a tweet. 

Perez’s comments followed a New York Times report saying the results contained errors and inconsistencies that contradicted caucus rules in some cases, although the newspaper noted that there was no evidence the inconsistencies were intentional.

It is unclear whether additional steps will be taken to ensure the validity of the final data and its conclusions. These results may not be final due to the DNC’s call for recanvassing and possible errors in the latest count. 

Midday on Thursday, IDP Chairman Troy Price said that the state’s Democratic party would be willing to recanvass at the request of any campaign, though it would have to provide a valid reasoning for the measure. 

“Should any presidential campaign in compliance with the Iowa Delegate Selection Plan request a recanvass, the IDP is prepared,”  Price said in a statement.