by Timothy Levine, Executive Editor

With the results of both the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primary being released, Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders stand apart from the field in a tier of their own with Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren having disappointing showings.  

The Iowa Caucuses took place in Iowa on February 3, 2020. Normally, the night of the Caucus would be full of speeches going over each candidate’s results, however, the results were delayed and America had to wait six days until 100 percent of the results were reported.

The Iowa Caucus result delay stems from the integration of a new app The Iowa Democratic Party commissioned Shadow Inc., a for-profit technology company, to build according to The New York Times. This app was supposedly plagued with “coding” errors and many volunteers helping to run the caucus were unfamiliar with how to log in and use the app. The party stated that these issues caused “inconsistencies with the reports” and the investigation required time, which led to the delay according to Vox.

With the results now 100 percent reported, Pete Buttigieg can finally be declared the winner with 13 delegates and 26.2 percent of the votes. He holds the slimmest edge over Senator Bernie Sanders with twelve delegates and 26.1 percent of the votes. These two are in a tier of their own with Senator Elizabeth Warren and Former Vice President Joe Biden falling behind with eight and six delegates respectively. The only other delegate awarded went to Senator Amy Klobuchar who garnered 12.3 percent of the vote. Candidates Andrew Yang and Tom Steyer left Iowa empty-handed with zero delegates each.

The New Hampshire primary took place this Tuesday with results quickly following polls closing that evening, unlike the debacle that was Iowa. With the results currently at 98 percent reported, network projections have given Sanders the win with 25.7 percent of the votes and nine delegates. A strong showing from Buttigieg, following his momentum from Iowa, gave him a strong second-place showing with 24.4 percent of the vote and nine delegates as well, thanks to New Hampshire’s tier rules with delegate distribution. The only other candidate to gain delegates was Klobuchar with 19.8 percent of the votes and six delegates in a rather surprising showing for her, surging to third place.

Elizabeth Warren and Joe Biden both failed to gain any delegates with less than ten percent of the votes and finishing in fourth and fifth respectively.  This is very disappointing to both campaigns, as they hoped to pick up momentum for later primary elections. Biden, who was once considered the heavy frontrunner, is now in fifth place in total delegates and will need to win big in upcoming primaries. 

In other primary news, Andrew Yang has officially suspended his campaign following poor showings in both Iowa and New Hampshire. A long-shot candidate, Yang was able to surpass many career politicians in terms of fundraising and polling, however, these frustrating results for the Yang campaign give him no clear path forward to win this primary election.

The next primary election will be held in Nevada in the form of a caucus on February 22. Nevada awards 48 delegates, 36 of which are pledged based on the results of the caucuses. This will be an important state to win to gain momentum going into Super Tuesday, where 1357 delegates will be up for grabs.