Iowa caucuses: Sanders and Buttigieg claim victory amid Democrat vote count debacle
- Iowa Democratic caucuses turn to chaos as party fails to declare winner
- Breakdown was likely related to an app that was used by voters
Senator Bernie Sanders claimed victory in the Iowa caucuses, citing internal campaign data that placed him ahead of Pete Buttigieg after a major delay to the release of official results.
The first vote of the US election season, Iowa’s caucuses kick off the Democratic primary that will determine who challenges Donald Trump in November.
Data released by the Sanders campaign, which said it represents results from nearly 40 per cent of precincts in Iowa, showed the leftist senator garnering 28.62 per cent of the vote, followed by moderate Buttigieg on 25.71 per cent.
“We recognise that this does not replace the full data from the Iowa Democratic Party, but we believe firmly that our supporters worked too hard for too long to have the results of that work delayed,” Sanders adviser Jeff Weaver said.
The data collected by Sanders campaign volunteers showed progressive Senator Elizabeth Warren in third place, with 18.42 per cent of the vote, with former vice-president Joe Biden slipping to fourth place on 15.08 per cent.