Kim Norvell | The Des Moines Register

For more than a year, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren was praised for her campaign's organizational strength, lauded by Iowa politicos as the most sophisticated in Iowa.

But on caucus night, Warren's organization failed to convert caucusgoers from the first alignment to the final alignment, losing supporters in more than half (58) of the 106 counties or satellite locations — the most of any other viable candidate.

The senator from Massachusetts won just one county based on state delegate equivalents, the metric widely used by the Iowa Democratic Party, media and campaigns to declare a caucus winner.

Traditionally, Iowa caucusgoers have rewarded candidates with superior on-the-ground relationships.

Kelsey Kremer/The Register

Yet Warren placed third, earning 18% of state delegate equivalents — 8.1 percentage points less than her progressive rival, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, and 8.2 points less than Pete Buttigieg, the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor. The results were not final more than a week after caucus night, given technical problems and Buttigieg's and Sanders' requests for some of the results to be audited.

Regardless of her third place showing, Warren supporters have been touting one fact only she can claim: Warren won the most votes, based on final alignment numbers, in both Iowa's bluest county and its reddest county.

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The liberal county she won: Warren put up her best performance in Johnson County, winning the most state delegate equivalents at 33%. It was the only county she won on caucus night.

In Johnson County, home to the University of Iowa, 47.2% of active voters were registered as Democrats as of Feb. 1 — the highest margin in the state. It also boasts a far younger population than most of Iowa, with a median age of 29.9 years.

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Iowa Caucus: Elizabeth Warren party photos

It was the county that boosted Sanders, her far-left rival, when he ran for president in 2016 against Democrat Hillary Clinton. He barely trailed Warren in 2020, earning 32.3% state delegate equivalents.

Johnson County is also one of two counties where Warren had the most people caucus for her, based on final alignment numbers. She won 33.7% of the popular vote.

Where did other candidates perform well in Iowa?

The conservative county she almost won: Sioux County in far northwest Iowa is the second of two counties where Warren had the most people caucus for her, based on final alignment numbers. She left with 26.2% of the popular vote.

Though U.S. Sen Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota won the most state delegate equivalents in Sioux County, with 23.7%, Warren was not far behind, earning 22.5%.

With just 8.5% of active voters registered as Democrats, Sioux County is the most conservative county in Iowa. President Donald Trump's margin of victory over Clinton there in 2016 was 68% — the highest margin in Iowa.

While all leading candidates eventually held events in Sioux County, Warren was the first to visit there, holding a town hall in July in Orange City, where the crowd of 275 gave her a standing ovation.

The county that gave her no delegates: Ida County in northwest Iowa is the only county where Warren earned zero state delegate equivalents. (She earned fewer than one delegate in 54 counties.)

Demographically, it's one of the smallest and whitest counties in the state. Only three counties in Iowa have fewer registered Democrats.

Warren was the first choice of just 10 people across seven precincts. After realignment, she held on to just one caucusgoer.

Kim Norvell covers growth and development for the Register. Reach her at knorvell@dmreg.com or 515-284-8259. Follow her on Twitter @KimNorvellDMR.