With 71 percent of precincts reporting,
Pete Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, is leading
in the Iowa caucuses.
The nation's first presidential contest
has been plagued with reporting issues blamed on a faulty app used by
the Iowa Democratic Party.
More than 24 hours after doors closed,
the party began releasing results.
As of Wednesday morning, Buttigieg was
leading with 27 percent of state delegate equivalents, followed by
Sanders with 25 percent. Rounding out the top five are Massachusetts
Senator Elizabeth Warren (18%), former Vice President Joe Biden
(15%), Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar (13%).
FiveThirtyEight's Nathaniel Rakish
explained how Buttigieg and Sanders had split the vote.
“That split result is happening
because Buttigieg is doing well in rural counties, which have a lot
of delegates relative to their population, and Sanders ran up big
margins in urban areas and college towns, which punch a bit below
their weight in terms of delegates,” he
wrote.
At a campaign stop in New Hampshire,
Buttigieg, who is gay, became emotional in responding to the results
so far out of Iowa.
“It validates for a kid somewhere in
a community wondering if he belongs or she belongs or they belong in
their own family, that if you believe in yourself and your country,
there is a lot backing up the belief,” Buttigieg told a crowd in
Laconia.
Fred Karger, the nation's first openly
gay candidate for president, congratulated Buttigieg on his possible
victory.
“With the final results from last
night's wild and woolly Iowa Caucuses still pending, it sure looks
like my candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg will finish in first place or
a very close second place,” he said. “Pete's momentum coming off
this huge win in Iowa is reminiscent of Barack Obama's victory there
12 years ago.”