Emma Kinery

Bloomberg

Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren are in a dead heat for the top spot in Iowa, with Pete Buttigieg making a credible claim for third place in the first Democratic nomination battle of the 2020, according to a new survey.

Biden and Warren each have 23% support, according to a landline phone poll and internet survey by Emerson Research released on Thursday. Buttigieg has 16%, surpassing Bernie Sanders’s 13% but within the poll’s 3.2 percentage-point margin of error.

Warren’s steady rise in Iowa has come largely at the expense of Sanders. Among Iowa caucus-goers who supported Sanders in 2016, 19% still support the Vermont senator and 26% now support Warren. Biden has the support of 42% of Iowa caucus-goers who backed Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Warren Picks Up Endorsements of 24 Iowa Leaders (12:54 p.m.)

Elizabeth Warren received the endorsements of 24 Democratic leaders in Iowa, the state that holds the critical first-in-the-nation presidential nominating contest.

The endorsers include former Iowa Lieutenant Governor Sally Pederson, former Iowa Secretary of State Elaine Baxter and Mary Wolfe, a state representative.

“Elizabeth is the candidate for change,” Pederson wrote in an op-ed published Wednesday. “She understands that to rescue our democracy and our economy we must end the corruption that enriches the few while leaving everyone else behind.”

Warren has a narrow lead in Iowa polls and is in a statistical tie with longtime front-runner Joe Biden in many national surveys.

Coming Up

Joe Biden will attend the Women’s Leadership Forum Conference organized by the Democratic National Committee in Washington on Thursday. Warren will deliver remarks at the Women Will Vote gala in Washington Thursday evening.