2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses

Main article: 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses
← 2016 February 3, 2020 2024 →
NH →
49 delegates (41 pledged, 8 unpledged)
to the Democratic National Convention
The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the number of state delegate equivalents (SDEs) won[a]
 
Candidate Pete Buttigieg Bernie Sanders Elizabeth Warren
Home state Indiana Vermont Massachusetts
Delegate count 14[b] 12[c] 8[d]
First vote 37,572
(21.3%) 		43,581
(24.7%) 		32,589
(18.5%)
Final vote 43,209
(25.1%) 		45,652
(26.5%) 		34,909
(20.3%)
SDEs 563
(26.2%) 		562
(26.1%) 		388
(18.0%)
 
Candidate Joe Biden Amy Klobuchar Andrew Yang
Home state Delaware Minnesota New York
Delegate count 6[e] 1 0
First vote 26,291
(14.9%) 		22,454
(12.7%) 		8,914
(5.1%)
Final vote 23,605
(13.7%) 		21,100
(12.2%) 		1,758
(1.0%)
SDEs 340
(15.8%) 		264
(12.3%) 		22
(1.0%)
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  Pete Buttigieg
  Amy Klobuchar
  Bernie Sanders
  Elizabeth Warren
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The 2020 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses, the first nominating contest in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, took place on February 3, 2020. Pete Buttigieg received the most state delegate equivalents (SDEs) and therefore the most delegates, with one SDE and two delegates more than Bernie Sanders, who had narrowly won the popular vote with 26.5%.[1] It was the first time that the Iowa caucuses published the popular vote results of their contest. Buttigieg became the first openly gay person to ever earn the most delegates in a state's presidential contest in the United States. The Iowa caucuses were closed caucuses, wherein only registered members of a party were eligible to vote,[2] and awarded 49 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 41 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the caucuses.[3]

The 2020 Iowa Democratic caucuses were controversial due to the delays in reporting the results. These delays, caused in part by problems with a mobile application created by Shadow Inc. that was used to report voting totals, led to the resignation of Iowa Democratic Party chair Troy Price.[4] Further controversy resulted from errors and inconsistencies regarding the calculation and reporting of State Delegate Equivalents (SDEs) in several caucus locations.[5][6][7][8][9] Following a three-day delay in vote reporting, the Iowa Democratic Party declared that Buttigieg had won two more delegates than Sanders.[1]

The official result and calculation of pledged national convention delegates was delayed until six days after the election due to the need for a correction of reported results from 3.1% (55) of the precincts.[10][11] Buttigieg and Sanders then requested a partial recanvass for 8.1% of the official result,[12][13][14] which resulted in Buttigieg's lead over Sanders narrowing to 0.08 SDEs.[15] A final recount for 63 of the recanvassed precincts (3.6% of all results) was requested by both campaigns on February 19.[16][17] Two days later, the Iowa Democratic Party announced that it had accepted recount requests for 23 precincts (1.3% of all results).[18] The recounts took place from February 25 to February 27,[19] with the Iowa Democratic Party announcing the results of the recounts on February 27, 2020.[20] The results were certified by the state committee on February 29.[21] The Associated Press at that point still refused to call a winner due to too many discrepancies in the precinct vote records, though they acknowledged the official results in their delegate count,[21] and Sanders challenged the results after certification before the DNC Rules and Bylaws Committee, but there were no media reports about the outcome of that challenge.[22]

Despite his underperformance, Joe Biden would go on to win the nomination, becoming the first Democratic candidate to do so without winning Iowa since Bill Clinton in 1992. Additionally, with Biden defeating incumbent president Donald Trump in the general election, he became the first candidate to do so without finishing in the top 3 in Iowa since the inception of the caucuses in 1972.


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  1. ^ a b Astor, Maggie; Stevens, Matt (February 1, 2020). "How Will the Winner of the Iowa Caucuses Be Chosen? Here's What You Should Know". The New York Times. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
  2. ^ Susan Milligan, Seth Cline (January 27, 2020). "The Battleground States: Iowa Caucuses". U.S. News & World Report. Retrieved February 11, 2020.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference IAResults was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ "Iowa Democratic Party chair resigns after caucus fiasco". NBC News. February 12, 2020. Retrieved February 13, 2020.
  5. ^ "AP Explains: Why isn't there a winner of Iowa's Dem caucuses". AP. February 10, 2020.
  6. ^ Cohn, Nate; Katz, Josh; Lu, Denise; Smart, Charlie; Smithgall, Ben; Fischer, Andrew (February 6, 2020). "Iowa Caucus Results Riddled With Errors and Inconsistencies". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved February 7, 2020.
  7. ^ "NBC News review of Iowa caucus vote finds potential errors, inconsistencies". NBC News. February 7, 2020.
  8. ^ Agiesta, Jennifer; Merica, Dan (February 7, 2020). "CNN analysis shows errors in Iowa results count". CNN.
  9. ^ Opsahl, Robin; Akin, Katie (February 6, 2020). "Des Moines Register, others find inconsistencies, errors in Iowa Democratic Party caucus data". Des Moines Register.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference NYTresults(Feb.9) was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference IDP was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ Cite error: The named reference recanvass_vs_recount was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  13. ^ Cite error: The named reference FoxnewsRecanvass was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  14. ^ Cite error: The named reference TimeRecanvass was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  15. ^ Cite error: The named reference PoliticoRecanvass was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  16. ^ Cite error: The named reference PoliticoRecountRequest was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  17. ^ Cite error: The named reference CNNrecount was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference PoliticoRecount was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ Cite error: The named reference kwwlfeb28 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  20. ^ Rynard, Pat (February 27, 2020). "Final Iowa Caucus Results: Pete Buttigieg Wins". Iowa Starting Line. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
  21. ^ a b "AP Explains: Why there isn't a winner of Iowa's Dem caucuses". Associated Press. February 29, 2020. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
  22. ^ Cite error: The named reference certify was invoked but never defined (see the help page).