Hillary Clinton’s campaign on Tuesday morning claimed victory in the Iowa caucus, but Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) had yet to concede the race and results were not yet final.
“Hillary Clinton has won the Iowa Caucus. After thorough reporting – and analysis – of results, there is no uncertainty and Secretary Clinton has clearly won the most national and state delegates. Statistically, there is no outstanding information that could change the results and no way that Senator Sanders can overcome Secretary Clinton’s advantage,” Matt Paul, Clinton’s Iowa state director, said in a statement around 3:30 a.m. on Tuesday.
Sanders, who has not conceded the race, was asked on Tuesday morning whether he would contest the caucus results.
“Honestly we just got off the plane, we don’t know enough to say anything about it,” he told reporters, according to NBC News. “We look forward to doing well here in New Hampshire. And after that we’re off to Nevada and then South Carolina where I think we’re going to surprise a whole lot of people, just as we did in Iowa.”
Sanders Campaign Manager Jeff Weaver does not expect the campaign to contest the results in the Iowa caucus, according to Bloomberg News.
The Iowa Democratic Party (IDP) on Tuesday morning released results showing Clinton with a narrow lead over Sanders with just one precinct not reporting results.
“Tonight we saw an historically close Iowa Democratic Caucus that featured one of our strongest turnouts ever and passion and energy from Democrats all across our state,” IDP Chair Andy McGuire said in a statement.
According to the statement, without the final precinct, Clinton received 699.57 state delegate equivalents and Sanders received 695.49 state delegate equivalents. Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who has now dropped out of the race, received 7.68 state delegate equivalents. The outstanding precinct is worth 2.28 state delegate equivalents.
NBC News on Tuesday morning declared Clinton the “apparent winner” of the Iowa caucus based on the statement from the Iowa Democratic party.
