Near Tie Between Pete Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders in Iowa Image Senator Bernie Sanders at his caucus night watch party in Des Moines on Monday. Credit... Hilary Swift for The New York Times Pete Buttigieg’s slim lead in the Iowa caucus results almost entirely evaporated overnight. The Iowa Democratic Party released another batch of results late Wednesday, and with 97 percent of precincts reported, Mr. Buttigieg and Bernie Sanders were in a near tie.

The position of the other top contenders — Elizabeth Warren in third and Joseph R. Biden Jr. in fourth — has not changed.

It’s not clear when the rest of the results will be known, and with the margin so narrow, it’s also hard to tell when a winner will be able to be declared. Follow the latest results here.

Meanwhile, the New Hampshire primary campaign is in full swing. Four of the Democratic candidates appeared on CNN on Wednesday night for town-hall-style programs broadcast from Manchester.

Feb. 6, 2020, 9:41 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2020, 9:41 a.m. ET By What happened last night? Image Pete Buttigieg at a campaign stop in Brentwood, N.H., on Tuesday. Credit... Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times The Iowa Democratic Party put out a series of incremental updates on the caucus results on Wednesday, none of which really moved the overall picture — until last night. Now, Bernie Sanders and Pete Buttigieg are nearly tied in the state delegate count, a measure Mr. Buttigieg previously led by a small but seemingly stable margin. Helping Mr. Sanders close the gap were results from satellite caucuses, sites set up both in Iowa and in far-flung locations — places like Florida and the former Soviet republic of Georgia — to make the caucus process somewhat more accessible. With the latest results included, Mr. Buttigieg and Mr. Sanders are now separated by just three state delegates out of 2,098 allocated so far, with Mr. Buttigieg ahead. With a batch of caucus results still outstanding, the race is clearly too close to call by the delegate measure, the traditional metric for determining a winner in Iowa. What has remained consistent, however, is Mr. Sanders’s lead in both the first and final alignments of caucusing — effectively a measure of the popular vote. He is ahead of Mr. Buttigieg by 1.5 percentage points in the final raw-vote total and a margin of about 2,500 votes, a lead that is highly unlikely to disappear in the last rounds of reporting. Also unchanged has been the order of finish among the rest of the candidates: Elizabeth Warren has maintained her position in third place, by both delegate and popular-vote measures, followed by Joseph R. Biden Jr. and then Amy Klobuchar. Read more

Feb. 6, 2020, 9:30 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2020, 9:30 a.m. ET By A New York Times analysis finds many errors in the Iowa results. Results from the Iowa Democratic caucuses were delayed by “quality control checks” on Monday night. Days later, quality control issues have not been resolved. The results released by the Iowa Democratic Party on Wednesday were riddled with inconsistencies and other flaws. According to a New York Times analysis, more than 100 precincts reported results that were internally inconsistent, that were missing data or that were not possible under the complex rules of the Iowa caucuses, though there is no evidence that the mistakes were intentional. Read more:

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Feb. 6, 2020, 9:25 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2020, 9:25 a.m. ET By Bernie Sanders has a huge January haul. Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont raised $25 million in January, his campaign said on Thursday, a staggering sum that gives him an enviable financial advantage at a crucial moment in the Democratic primary race. He plans to use the windfall to immediately buy $5.5 million in television and digital ads across 10 states, at a time when some of his rivals are shifting or cutting their existing ad reservations. Read more:

Feb. 6, 2020, 12:46 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2020, 12:46 a.m. ET By Tom Steyer, who barely registered in Iowa, attacks Buttigieg. Tom Steyer spent nearly $17 million on television ads in Iowa but emerged from the caucuses with less than 1 percent of the state delegate count. What happened? This was one of the first questions of Mr. Steyer’s hourlong CNN town hall, and his response was the first in a series of attacks on Pete Buttigieg, who is virtually tied with Bernie Sanders at the top of the Iowa caucus results. Mr. Steyer directed his aim at Mr. Buttigieg’s lack of support among black voters nationally. “Whoever is going to be the Democratic nominee is going to have to be able to show that they can win in diverse states,” Mr. Steyer said, citing his stronger poll numbers in Nevada and South Carolina. “There are people who are struggling to do that. Like Pete Buttigieg.” In response to the next question — about whether Democrats really wanted to nominate someone who, like Mr. Steyer, has no government experience — Mr. Steyer said he had three decades of business experience and argued that Mr. Trump would “chew up and spit out” an opponent who had only a couple years of such experience. “Like Pete Buttigieg.” He seemed to be mentioning Mr. Buttigieg a lot, the moderator, Dana Bash, noted. Was he saying the former mayor of South Bend, Ind., was too weak to take on Mr. Trump? “In terms of the economy, I have literally three decades of private-sector experience,” Mr. Steyer responded. “You’re not going to be able to get by with a couple of years at McKinsey if you’re going to take on this president on the debate stage.” Read more

Feb. 6, 2020, 12:21 a.m. ET Feb. 6, 2020, 12:21 a.m. ET By Pete Buttigieg holds slimmest lead over Bernie Sanders with 97% of Iowa caucuses reporting results. Image Pete Buttigieg after participating in a Climate and Clean Energy Town Hall in Concord, N.H., on Wednesday. Credit... Elizabeth Frantz for The New York Times A new batch of results has almost eliminated Pete Buttigieg’s narrow lead over Bernie Sanders. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Mr. Buttigieg now has 550 state delegate equivalents to 547 for Mr. Sanders, a difference of one-tenth of a percentage point. Before this latest update, the margin had been seven-tenths of a percentage point. The overall order is unchanged: Elizabeth Warren remains in third place, with 381 state delegate equivalents, followed by Joseph R. Biden Jr. in fourth and Amy Klobuchar in fifth.

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Feb. 5, 2020, 11:16 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 11:16 p.m. ET By Andrew Yang doubles down on criticism of Mark Zuckerberg and Facebook. Image Andrew Yang at a town hall event in Keene, N.H., on Wednesday. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times MANCHESTER, N.H. — The businessman and entrepreneur Andrew Yang, who is running a self-proclaimed Silicon Valley campaign, took direct aim at one of tech’s biggest behemoths during his CNN town hall late Wednesday, calling on Facebook to police the truthfulness of political ads on its platform. Mr. Yang, who often seeks to avoid leveling sharp criticism of other candidates, Trump supporters and humanity as a whole, has previously argued that the social media company should do as much. But during an hour of questions and answers that was often filled with levity, his forceful condemnation of both Facebook and its chief executive, Mark Zuckerberg, stood out. “We need to make Facebook own up to its responsibility as a mature company and get away from this total cop out that they’re like, ‘we’re not a publisher, and we’re a platform,’” Mr. Yang said of Facebook. “Are you kidding me? You’re the biggest publisher in the world today and you need to start acting like it.” Asked by moderator Don Lemon what he would tell Mr. Zuckerberg if he was watching, Mr. Yang was blunt: “Mark, your company is contributing to the disintegration of our democracy. If you’re an American and a patriot, and you care about the country your kids will inherit, then you need to have Facebook step up.” Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 10:10 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 10:10 p.m. ET By Pete Buttigieg calls himself ‘the momentum candidate.’ Image Mr. Buttigieg held a town hall event at the Rex Theater in Manchester, N.H., on Tuesday. Credit... Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times As he did Monday night before any results were announced, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., again declared himself the Iowa caucus winner during a conference call with supporters Wednesday night. “You made that historic win happen,” he said of the Iowa result, though news organizations have not called a winner. “Now because of what we were able to do there, we’re in position to arrive in New Hampshire as the momentum candidate in this race.” Mr. Buttigieg holds a narrow lead over Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont in state delegates won, according to partial results from the Iowa Democratic Party. Mr. Buttigieg, whose campaign plowed much of its money into a final Iowa push, made several pleas to supporters to contribute more cash ahead of New Hampshire’s Tuesday primary. “We need a surge in financial support right now in order to bring us to that finish line in New Hampshire,” he said. Later in the call Mr. Buttigieg pronounced himself pleased with the Iowa results that have been made available. “We are thrilled with the position we’re in — there is no campaign I’d trade places with,” he said. “Each day our campaign is making decisions about how to guide our resources and do everything we can to have a big night in New Hampshire, move on to Nevada, South Carolina and the Super Tuesday states beyond.” Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 9:59 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 9:59 p.m. ET By Elizabeth Warren says that ‘in 2020 we should have a woman president.’ Image Senator Elizabeth Warren at an event at Nashua Community College in Nashua, N.H., on Wednesday. Credit... Ruth Fremson/The New York Times Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, fresh from an Iowa finish that was a step behind the race’s two leaders, changed little of her go-to rhetoric during a CNN town hall event Wednesday in New Hampshire, where she stressed that she remained the best candidate to rid Washington of corruption. In questions about a range of topics, including appealing to independents, fixing the immigration system and curbing the opioid crisis, Ms. Warren flowed through personal stories and policy initiatives — a comfort zone from her campaign events, which rely heavily on audience questions. When asked whether the men in the 2020 race were better positioned because of their gender, Ms. Warren said, “I believe they think so, but they’d be wrong.” “In 2020, we can and should have a woman president,” she added. Read more

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Feb. 5, 2020, 9:32 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 9:32 p.m. ET 92% of precincts now in. The Iowa Democratic Party released another batch of results Wednesday night, and once again the leaders were unchanged: Pete Buttigieg held a narrow lead of state delegate equivalents over Bernie Sanders, with Elizabeth Warren in third and Joseph R. Biden Jr. and Amy Klobuchar further behind. See the latest results here.

Feb. 5, 2020, 8:52 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 8:52 p.m. ET By Andrew Yang bets big on New Hampshire (and says bettors are betting on him, too). Image Andrew Yang at a town hall event in Milford, New Hampshire, on Wednesday. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times KEENE, N.H. — Because of its open primary and large share of independent voters, Andrew Yang has come to see New Hampshire as “the most natural home” for his campaign. It’s time to work harder than ever #YangGang! New Hampshire has always been the most natural home for this campaign. Feb 11 is the new voting day - let’s call, canvas, text, donate, volunteer and get people excited about a brighter future for us and our families. 👍🇺🇸🚀 — Andrew Yang🧢🇺🇸 (@AndrewYang) February 4, 2020 And now, with less than a week to go before the New Hampshire primary, Mr. Yang is ramping up his pitch to appeal directly to those who voted for President Trump in 2016 and are now looking for a Democrat to woo them. Mr. Yang stayed on message in his second day of campaigning in New Hampshire this week — a place where his campaign both hopes and needs to overperform. But he dwelled longer than usual on an argument he has been making for months: That he is the Democrat most likely to beat Mr. Trump because Trump voters will support him. On Wednesday, Mr. Yang used his stump speech at one event and a question-and-answer session here in Keene to press the issue in front of New Hampshire voters, some of whom pride themselves on being political mavericks. He cited betting markets that, he said, showed he was the “heaviest favorite” in a head-to-head match up with Mr. Trump and surveys that he said showed relatively strong support for him over Mr. Trump among college Republicans and New Hampshire Trump voters. And he offered another piece of less empirical (and perhaps less convincing) evidence. “I’m the only candidate in the field he hasn’t tweeted a word about,” Mr. Yang said of Mr. Trump. “No. 1 because he knows I’m better at the internet than he is. And No. 2, because his most potent attack lines — ‘you’re a corrupt D.C. politician’ — don’t work on me.” Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 8:21 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 8:21 p.m. ET By Biden at CNN town hall says ‘I expected to do better’ in Iowa. MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. said on Wednesday that his performance in the Iowa caucuses had fallen short of his expectations, though he played down the significance of the contest in the overall nominating process. “I expected to do better, and I expected that our organization would perform better,” Mr. Biden said at a town hall event on CNN. “But the fact is, I’m happy to be here in New Hampshire.” Mr. Biden prefaced his comments by saying, “Look, let’s put this in perspective.” He noted that Iowa awards just a tiny fraction of the total number of delegates needed to win the Democratic presidential nomination. Partial results show Mr. Biden in fourth place in Iowa, trailing former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., as well as Senators Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts. Earlier Wednesday, Mr. Biden told a crowd in New Hampshire that the results in Iowa had been a “gut punch,” and he promised to make a comeback. “This isn’t the first time in my life I’ve been knocked down,” he said. Read more

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Feb. 5, 2020, 8:14 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 8:14 p.m. ET By Tom Steyer has dominated the airwaves in New Hampshire. Image The biggest spender is Tom Steyer, the billionaire businessman who has spent more than $144 million in his bid for the presidency Credit... Cameron Pollack for The New York Times MANCHESTER, N.H. — For over a year, the airwaves in Iowa were inundated by $70 million of political ads, as most of the top-tier campaigns went all-in on the first caucus state with substantially less attention paid to New Hampshire. But the airwaves in New Hampshire have seen plenty of the candidates; more than $40 million worth, to be precise, according to the tracking firm Advertising Analytics. The biggest spender, unsurprisingly, is Tom Steyer, the billionaire businessman who has spent more than $144 million in his bid for the presidency. (The other billionaire in the race, Michael R. Bloomberg, is not campaigning in the state.) In New Hampshire markets, Mr. Steyer has spent more than $17 million. The next closest advertisers are Senator Bernie Sanders, who has spent $4.8 million in New Hampshire, and Andrew Yang, who has spent about $3 million on ads in the state. But looking ahead at future reservations can reveal how campaigns are faring financially after the always expensive Iowa caucuses, and who is setting up for a final push in New Hampshire. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Steyer is also leading the pack, with roughly $800,000 in reservations over the next six days. Close behind him are two super PACs, Vote Vets, which has endorsed Pete Buttigieg, and Unite the Country, which was formed to support Joseph R. Biden Jr. Unite the Country has more than $720,000 in reservations, giving Mr. Biden some sorely needed air cover in the state. The former vice president has spent only $125,000 in New Hampshire on broadcast ads, by far the lowest of the top candidates. Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 6:51 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 6:51 p.m. ET By The candidates responded to Trump’s acquittal. Image Senator Elizabeth Warren arriving at the Capitol before the Senate impeachment trial on Wednesday. Credit... Al Drago for The New York Times The Democratic presidential candidates have been responding this afternoon to the thing they all knew was coming: the Senate’s acquittal of President Trump. And they all said what was, essentially, the only thing they could say: “Voters, please do what the Senate didn’t.” The Senate was the jury today, but we will be the jury tomorrow. The last word on Donald Trump and Trumpism will come through the American people—at ballot boxes across the country. — Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 5, 2020 “We cannot wait for history to render its verdict — that is our job,” former Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg of New York said in a statement. “We must do in November what all but one of the Senate Republicans did not have the courage to do: vote to remove a lawless, reckless president and turn the page on this dark chapter in the life of our country.” The Senate failed to do its job.



Now the American people must do theirs. — Michael Bennet (@SenatorBennet) February 5, 2020 Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts urged voters who oppose Mr. Trump not to give up. We can defeat Donald Trump and root out corruption in Washington. We can defeat his hate and bigotry, and build a country of our best values. We can make sure our country works for everyone, not just his wealthy, well-connected cronies. And we can only do it together. — Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) February 5, 2020 And the former hedge-fund executive Tom Steyer took a clear, if unnamed, jab at former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., who has leaned heavily on the idea that he is uniquely capable of restoring bipartisanship to American politics. The vote to acquit Mr. Trump is a lesson for those who think the @SenateGOP will magically negotiate in good faith and “meet in the middle."



There is no "middle." There's right and wrong.



We all need to show up in 2020 if we're going to get the change we want. — Tom Steyer (@TomSteyer) February 5, 2020 Read more

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Feb. 5, 2020, 6:21 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 6:21 p.m. ET By Yang talks elections, vote-counting and technology. Image Andrew Yang speaking at the Milford Town Hall in New Hampshire on Wednesday. Credit... Todd Heisler/The New York Times MILFORD, N.H. — Andrew Yang’s stump speech has long been stuffed with jokes: about that one time his in-laws were proud of him, about speaking at his high school and discovering that the current students were not big fans of the place, and about “robot-butter trucks.” On Wednesday, just two days after a caucus counting debacle in Iowa, Mr. Yang added a new laugh line. “You all are going make a historic vote on Feb. 11,” he said here in New Hampshire. “And you know what’s equally as exciting? We’re going to know what that vote is on Feb. 11!” In a gaggle with reporters after his event here, he reiterated that the country could use a tech-savvy leader like himself. And while he stopped short of proposing federal involvement in state elections and caucuses, he said: “There are many, many organizations and resources throughout the country that would have been thrilled to have been involved with the Iowa process and make sure that what happened on Monday night did not happen.” “Right now, we’re putting some of these processes in the hands of individuals that don’t have technology as a core competence or an area of expertise,” he said. “And as a result we’re putting Americans in a position where they actually are questioning the integrity of our system, and it doesn’t need to be this way.” Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 5:05 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 5:05 p.m. ET By Buttigieg left the trail to raise money. Image Pete Buttigieg was holding two fund-raisers on Wednesday, according to his public schedule. Credit... Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., who appears headed toward a first- or second-place finish in the Iowa caucuses based on partial results, is taking a break from his victory lap to raise money. According to his public schedule, he held a fund-raiser in Summit, N.J., Wednesday afternoon and was planning two in New York City: one Wednesday night and one Thursday morning. Next week, after the New Hampshire primary, he will head to California for several more fund-raisers. Mr. Buttigieg reported $14.5 million cash on hand at the end of 2019. His campaign’s plan was to spend down those reserves in Iowa and New Hampshire, with the expectation that strong finishes in the first two states would lead to a fund-raising boom while weak showings would lead to him ending his campaign. Some of his opponents in the Democratic primary have criticized his fund-raisers. Senator Elizabeth Warren said at a debate in December, “Billionaires in wine caves should not pick the next president of the United States,” referring to one particular event Mr. Buttigieg had held in California. And several candidates, including Ms. Warren and Senator Bernie Sanders, have forsworn high-dollar fund-raisers altogether. Mr. Buttigieg has said that shunning wealthy donors amounts to trying to defeat President Trump “with one hand tied behind our back,” though Mr. Sanders has outraised him over the course of the campaign. Reid J. Epstein contributed reporting. Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 4:42 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 4:42 p.m. ET Four Democratic candidates vote to convict Trump. (He’s acquitted.) Image President Trump at the White House on Wednesday. He was cleared of both impeachment charges. Credit... Doug Mills/The New York Times The Republican-controlled Senate voted Wednesday to acquit President Trump of charges that he abused his power and obstructed Congress to aid his own re-election. The four Democratic senators running for president — Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Amy Klobuchar and Michael Bennet — joined the rest of their Democratic colleagues in voting to convict him. Those candidates will now head back to New Hampshire and resume their campaigning. Read more

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Feb. 5, 2020, 4:24 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 4:24 p.m. ET By New results in from Iowa. Same leaders. For the second time on Wednesday, the Iowa Democratic Party has released additional results from Monday’s presidential caucuses. The new numbers will appear on our results page shortly. The party has now posted results from 85 percent of the state’s more than 1,600 precincts. Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., has retained the lead in state delegate equivalents that he’s held since the first batch of results was released Tuesday, with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont trailing in a close second. Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts remains in third place and former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. is in fourth. Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota is fifth. The latest release is the fourth set of results the party has made public since Tuesday afternoon. Party officials have not indicated how long it will take them to finish tabulating caucus results. Iowa Democratic Party staff members in Des Moines have been releasing batches of results as they examine records of handwritten results worksheets from more than 1,600 precincts and check them against the data in the party’s computers. Read more

Feb. 5, 2020, 3:49 p.m. ET Feb. 5, 2020, 3:49 p.m. ET By Texas officials say Super Tuesday results may be delayed. MANCHESTER, N.H. — The infamous Iowa caucus delays may soon have a compatriot in Texas. Officials with the Texas Democratic Party said that the secretary of state told them that some presidential primary results could be delayed on election night, set for March 3, or Super Tuesday. The party officials said they learned in a meeting in January that a complex formula used to award delegates based on votes in State Senate districts could delay the delegate tally. The meeting was first reported by the Texas Tribune. With 228 delegates to award, any delay in Texas could create uncertainty on the most critical night of the presidential primary. The Texas secretary of state’s office did not respond to emails and voice messages requesting comment. Manny Garcia, the executive director of the Texas Democratic Party, called the potential for delays “unacceptable.” “Texans deserve to know who won their election,” Mr. Garcia said. “If, in fact, the secretary of state refuses to report all of the election results, including the presidential preference by senate district, it is a violation of the public trust and fails Texans.” He said that the state party was exploring other reporting options, should the secretary of state’s office not report the full results on the night of Super Tuesday. “If we can confidently acquire and report in a timely manner election results by every category necessary to award delegate counts then we will do so,” Mr. Garcia said. “Transparency is our top priority. We will make further comments on our plans in the near future.” Read more