Former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) were neck and neck in the Democratic Iowa caucuses with just 3 percent of the results left to be released.
Buttigieg, 38, was in first with 26.2 percent of the total state delegate equivalents, followed by Sanders, 78, who had 26.1 percent of the equivalents.
The first batch of results, released Tuesday after an application used to record votes didnt work properly on Monday night, showed Buttigieg with a lead of 1.8 percent.
Subsequent releases have shown his lead diminishing, culminating with the most recent release. Buttigieg now leads by just 0.1 percent.
Buttigieg stunned rivals by declaring victory on Monday night despite no results being released. “By all indications, we are going onto New Hampshire victorious,” he told supporters.
Buttigiegs campaign later said he was citing internal numbers.
Sanderss campaign initially released its internal numbers, showing Sanders in first in all three categories.
The three-tiered caucus system had voters initially gather in groups showing their support for chosen candidates. Any groups that didnt represent 15 percent of the total people in the room were considered non-viable, and people were able to switch to supporting another candidate if they chose. After realignment, the new number was used to reach the state delegate equivalents (SDEs).
The equivalents will ultimately translate into state delegates, or how many national delegates the candidates get at the Democratic National Convention, which is being held in July. Iowa has an estimated 49 delegates, comprised of 41 pledged delegates and eight superdelegates, which are typically elected officials.