With the Iowa Democratic Party reporting results from all precincts Thursday, former South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg has been declared the winner with 26.2 percent of the state delegate equivalent count, according to reporting from CNN. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders came in second with 26.1 percent—a one-tenth-of-one-percentage-point margin.
Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren landed in third place with 18 percent while former Vice President Joe Biden came in fourth place with 15.8 percent. Rounding out the top five was Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar with 12.3 percent.
Buttigieg was informed of his lead by CNN's Chris Cuomo at the beginning of Buttigieg's town hall meeting in New Hampshire Thursday night.
"That's fantastic news to hear that we won," Buttigieg said. "Senator Sanders clearly had a great night, too, and I congratulate him and his supporters."
"But I also know that we're in New Hampshire now," Buttigieg continued, "and we've got to look ahead."
Results from the Iowa caucus have been the subject of controversy since the release of the final results was delayed for almost a week. The Iowa Democratic Party has blamed a coding error in a voting app used to tabulate the tallies for the delay.
Democratic National Chairman Tom Perez called for a total recanvassing of Iowa in order to make sure the reporting had been done correctly.
When asked if he thought a recanvassing should occur Buttigieg said, "Whatever they need to do in order to make sure that the information is clear and verified."
"But what I'll say is nothing can take away what happened on Monday," Buttigieg continued. "Just an extraordinary moment for the movement that we have built."
Just an hour before the full results had been released, Sanders told CNN's Anderson Cooper that he considered himself the victor in Iowa.
"We did very well," Sanders said. "We won in Iowa."
Buttigieg, however, had claimed victory in Iowa on Monday night without waiting for the final results to be tallied.
"So we don't know all the results," Buttigieg said to a crowd of supporters in Iowa after the caucuses, "but we know by the time it's all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation. Because by all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious."
Buttigieg explained his comments by telling CNN that precinct information provided by his campaign indicated he had "the momentum" and that he "stepped on that plane victorious on our way to New Hampshire."
The Iowa caucus is arguably the most important step in snowballing to the Democratic nomination. Not only does it shed light on candidates' electability and real support among voters, but American voters also treat Iowa's results as an indication in determining who can win the presidency.
A Buttigieg win could lead to more donations, supporters and endorsements for him, which would be paramount if the field of candidates continues to diminish.
New Hampshire is up next for the Democrats, and all candidates in the top tier still feel they have a shot at going the distance and winning the candidacy.
The graphic below, provided by Statista, illustrates the results as reported by CNN.
This article was updated to include an infographic.
Correction Feb. 7, 2020, 9:47 a.m.: An earlier version of this story misstated the vote that South Bend, Indiana, Mayor Pete Buttigieg won. He leads the state delegate equivalent count, not the popular vote. The headline and story have been corrected.
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