New results released Wednesday night show Bernie Sanders significantly closing Pete Buttigieg’s lead to just three state delegate equivalents.
Buttigieg has now won 550 state delegates to Sanders’ 447, a margin of just 0.1 percent. Sanders still leads on the popular vote with 26.5 percent of the final alignment total to Buttigieg’s 25 percent.
NBC News national political correspondent Steve Kornacki said depending on turnout in the remaining satellite caucus, Sanders could nudge Buttigieg for first place.
After the New York Times rated Buttigieg’s chances of winning Iowa all but certain on Wednesday, it suspended its “election needle” after it failed to take into account satellite caucuses.
Sanders’ campaign allocated significant organizing power to these satellite caucuses, with many being held in mosques, universities and in Latino areas.
For instance, at Muslim Community Organization in Des Moines, Sanders picked up all of the precinct’s delegates after no other candidate reached viability.
The Iowa Democratic Party said it had finished counting votes for the night just after midnight in Des Moines. In a statement, the party said it had results from all but one precinct, with records still in transit. It added that it was reviewing a further 53 precincts.
