Candidates Give Victory Speeches in Iowa As Results Are Delayed

Results have been delayed in the Iowa caucus, as Democratic Party officials were seeking to reconcile “inconsistencies” in the initial tabulations.

The cable networks were forced to fill hours of airtime with chatter and occasional reports from caucus sites. Several candidates ultimately took the stage around 11 p.m. local time to give their victory speeches.

“I have a strong feeling that at some point the results will be announced,” Sen. Bernie Sanders told his supporters. “I have a good feeling we’re going to be doing really well here in Iowa.”

Former vice president Joe Biden said he, too, felt good about the results, while Mayor Pete Buttigieg flat-out claimed victory, saying the outcome would “shock the nation.”

“By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious!” Buttigieg said, adding that many were skeptical of his campaign. “Tonight I say with a heart full of gratitude: Iowa, you have proved those skeptics wrong.”

Sen. Elizabeth Warren, meanwhile, gave a speech focused on drawing a contrast with President Trump.

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“It is too close to call, so I’m going to tell you what I do know –” Warren began.

“You won!” a supporter shouted.

After midnight, the Sanders campaign released its own internal caucus results, which it said reflected the tally from a sample of about 40% of the state’s precincts. Sanders led in those results, with 28.6% of the delegates, followed by Buttigieg with 25.7%, Warren at 18.4% and Biden at 15%.

“We recognize 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 senior adviser Jeff Weaver said in a statement.

For the first time, the state Democratic Party is releasing vote totals in addition to delegate counts. The state party said it would release the initial vote totals, the totals after supporters of non-viable candidates realigned to their second choice, and the delegate counts. But the state party appeared to be having trouble receiving that data from the caucus sites.

“We found inconsistencies in the reporting of three sets of results,” party spokeswoman Mandy McClure said in a statement. “In addition to the tech systems being used to tabulate results, we are also using photos of results and a paper trail to validate that all results match and ensure that we have confidence and accuracy in the numbers we report. This is simply a reporting issue. The app did not go down and this is not a hack or an intrusion. The underlying data and paper trail is sound and will simply take time to further report the results.”

An earlier statement said the party was undertaking “quality checks” on the data.

Many of the candidates will head to New Hampshire on Tuesday, which holds its primary on Feb. 11.

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