Pete Buttigieg takes lead in Iowa caucuses partial results

DES MOINES — Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders are leading in partial results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses released Tuesday afternoon, nearly a full day after the Hawkeye State held the first presidential nominating contest in the nation.

Iowa’s Democratic Party said results from 62% of precincts show Mr Buttigieg on 26.9% with Bernie Sanders on 25.1%.

Elizabeth Warren was third on 18.3% and Joe Biden fourth on 15.6%.

The eventual nominee will challenge President Donald Trump, a Republican, in November’s White House election.

Amy Klobuchar was on 12.6%, and Andrew Yang on 1.1%, according to the other preliminary results released on Tuesday evening from all of Iowa’s 99 counties. Tom Steyer and Tulsi Gabbard were on less than 1%.

But the state party has still not declared a winner from Monday’s vote, which was derailed by technical malfunctions.

The results represent the share of delegates needed to clinch the party nomination under America’s quirky political system. Iowa awards only 41 of the 1,991 delegates required to become the Democratic White House nominee.

But in the popular vote count, partial results showed Mr Sanders leading with 28,220 ballots, while Mr Buttigieg was second at 27,030.