Some 21 hours after Iowans gathered to hold their caucus that kickstarts the Democratic Presidential race, the Iowa Democratic Party released partial results Tuesday evening showing former Southbend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg with a slim lead over Senator Bernie Sanders in delegates.
The totals, which showed Buttigieg leading with about 27 percent of delegates to Sanders’ 25, were based on results from 62 percent of precincts and are not sufficient to declare the mayor the winner.
It’s unclear when the party intends to release the full results.
The partial results came after the Democratic Party was unable to provide results from the Iowa state caucuses Monday night despite spending millions of dollars, owing to what it called a technical glitch and President Donald Trump called incompetence.
Iowa is a closely-watched test in the months-long process to determine who will face Trump in November.
Republicans led by Trump gloated over the setback, and candidates who normally rely on the Midwestern state’s caucuses for momentum as the primary season unfolds were denied that bounce.
Liberal commentators also slammed the Democratic Party for its handling of the caucuses, calling it a historic disaster and an embarrassment for the party.
Though Buttigieg held a lead over Sanders in delegates according to the partial results, Sanders led the field in total votes both after the first round the “realignment” stage that is unique to caucuses.
If a candidate does not receive 15 percent of the vote after the first round in, caucus-goers are asked to join the camp of their second choice for the final round.
Internal figures released from the Sanders campaign on Tuesday showed the Senator in a “comfortable” first place in delegates based on tallies from about 60 percent of precincts, about five points ahead of Buttigieg.
‘Coding Issue’
In a statement released Tuesday morning, the Iowa Democratic Party blamed a “coding issue” in an app that was designed to report vote totals, resulting in “inconsistencies” and forcing officials to enter data manually.
The app in question was created just two months before the caucus by a firm called Shadow Inc., which employs several Democratic establishment figures including veterans of the Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton presidential campaigns.
The statement said that the party is confident that the issues with the app were technical and not the result of hacking.
“While our plan is to release results as soon as possible today, our ultimate goal is to ensure that the integrity and accuracy of the process continues to be upheld,” the party said.
Disappointing Showing for Biden
The partial results showed Senator Elizabeth Warren in third place followed by former vice president Joe Biden in a distant fourth.
If those figures hold when the final results are released, it could be a major blow for Biden, who has been the national frontrunner throughout the majority of the campaign.
Amid the confusion, Biden’s campaign counsel Dana Remus wrote to Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price blasting the “considerable flaws” encountered during the caucus and urged the party to further delay the release of the results.
Despite the poor showing, Biden sought to downplay the longterm impact of the results, saying he is focused on upcoming states.
“I’m feeling good,” Biden said Tuesday “So it’s on to New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina, well beyond. We’re in this for the long haul.”
Day of Confusion
In a speech late Monday night, Buttigieg seemed to declare victory before walking back his comments Tuesday morning.
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