First Iowa caucus results show Buttigieg and Sanders in tight race
A day after reporting problems plagued the Iowa caucuses and delayed any official results in the nation's first contest for president, the Iowa Democratic Party has begun to release results, showing Pete Buttigieg and Senator Bernie Sanders in a tight race for the lead.
With 62% of precincts in, Pete Buttigieg has an estimated 26.9% of state delegates, a slight lead over Senator Bernie Sanders, who has 25.1%. Senator Elizabeth Warren has 18.2%; former Vice President Joe Biden has 15.5%; Senator Amy Klobuchar has 12.5%; and Andrew Yang has 1%.
In the popular vote count, Sanders has 28,220, ahead of Buttigieg at 27,030. Warren is in third with 22,254, followed by Biden at 14,176 and Klobuchar at 13,357.
A "coding error," as Iowa Democratic Party Chairman Troy Price told reporters ahead of the release, botched the reporting process. Price attempted to assure Iowans and Americans that the raw data is secure, and ultimate results will be trustworthy.
"We have been working day and night to make sure that these results are accurate," Price said, failing to satisfy many reporters' questions about why the app wasn't more thoroughly tested statewide before Monday night.
Chaos was the victor as Monday night rolled into Tuesday, and candidates began delivering optimistic speeches before heading to New Hampshire. Buttigieg gave a speech virtually indistinguishable from a victory speech, and declared on Twitter that "tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality."
The release comes hours before President Trump, who has seized on Democrats' failures in Iowa, delivers his State of the Union address.
This is a developing story and will be updated.
