Buttigieg in First After (Some) Iowa Caucus Results Released: ‘Did They Just Make Things Worse?’

Anthony Gockowski

 

After a disastrous caucus night, the Iowa Democratic Party has finally released the results of Monday night’s contest, but not all of them.

Around 4 p.m. CT, the Iowa Democratic Party posted the results of the caucuses, nearly 24 hours after they started. However, only 62 percent of precincts, or 1,099 of 1,765, are reporting.

In an upset to Sen. Bernie Sanders, South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg is currently in the lead with 26.9 percent of state delegates while former Vice President Joe Biden is sitting in fourth place with 15.6 percent.

The results are:

  1. Pete Buttigieg: 26.9% (27,030 popular vote)
  2. Bernie Sanders: 25.1% (28,220 popular vote)
  3. Elizabeth Warren: 18.3% (22,254 popular vote)
  4. Joe Biden: 15.6% (14,176 popular vote)
  5. Amy Klobuchar: 12.6% (13,357 popular vote)

Turnout for the Democratic caucuses was estimated at around 170,000, compared to 240,000 Iowans who participated in 2008.

Iowa Democrat Party Chairman Troy Price held a press conference Tuesday afternoon and said the delay in results was “unacceptable.”

“As chair of the party, I apologize deeply for this,” he said. “Last night, we were faced with multiple reporting challenges and decided, out of an abundance of caution, to protect the integrity of the Iowa caucuses and their results by taking the necessary steps to review and confirm the data.”

He said a “thorough, transparent, and independent examination” of the caucus catastrophe will occur.

“Let me be clear: my number one priority has been ensuring the accuracy and integrity of the results and we have been working all night to be in the best position to report results,” Price continued.

He said he will stay on as party chair through the caucus process and “whatever happens after that is to be determined.” Price did not say when the remaining 38 percent of results will be released apart from a vague “as soon as we can.”

Several candidates delivered premature victory speeches Monday night, including Buttigieg, who faced backlash Tuesday for declaring victory.

Reactions to the fiasco continued to roll in throughout the afternoon and some wondered if reporting partial results late actually made things worse.

“I cannot believe this. They’ve given us part of the data, with a huge chunk of precincts outstanding, with one candidate winning the delegate count—and another (with furious/paranoid supporters) winning raw votes. So far. Did…did they just make it worse?” Fox News contributor Guy Benson wrote on Twitter.

Donald Trump Jr. noted that Biden had “Iowa almost to himself for three weeks” while his competition was stuck in Washington, D.C. for the Senate trial.

“Pete was able to capitalize on having senators stuck in D.C., why couldn’t Joe?” he said.

Ben Shapiro jokingly called on the United Nations to “monitor the Democratic primaries until we can be assured of their veracity.”

Billy Grant, a Minnesota-based political consultant, said Klobuchar “has absolutely no path to victory” after her apparent fifth-place finish.

“It appears rumors of Amy Klobuchar surge were entirely false. She finished a distant fifth place as most polls indicated. Klobmentum is dead,” he said.

https://twitter.com/RealBillyGrant/status/1224817200793563138

Read more coverage of the Iowa caucuses here.

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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of The Minnesota Sun and The Ohio Star. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Pete Buttigieg” by Pete Buttigieg. Photo “Bernie Sanders’ By Gage Skidmore. CC BY-SA 2.0.

 

 

 

 

 

          

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