By Leighton Klevana
This year’s Democratic Iowa Caucus, which took place on February 3rd, did not go as planned. Dubbed the beginning of the primary season, the Iowa caucus gets plenty of attention every presidential election year. Media outlets and candidates spend copious amounts of money, effort, and time in the Hawkeye state leading up to Caucus Day. It is seen as an important day for candidates because of the power it has over the entire primary season. The winner of the Iowa caucus has gone on to be the nominee for the Democratic Party every election since 1996, when Bill Clinton won in Iowa and later became President of the United States of America.
Iowa became the first caucus state in 1972, with less fanfare, but over the past 40 years, the caucus has grown substantially. Both parties, Republican and Democrat, stage a caucus, but both run incredibly differently. This year, with President Donald Trump already being the Republican candidate, the Democratic caucus was in the spotlight. 12 candidates were featured in their caucuses this year.
The Republican caucus gave the results that most were expected, with President Trump receiving 97 percent of the votes. Former Massachusetts governor Bill Weld and Former Illinois House of Representatives member Joe Walsh, the only other candidates featured on the Republican ballot, received 1.3 and 1.4 percent of the votes, respectively. The results of the vote only came in about 30 minutes after polls closed. The relative ease of the Republican’s caucus wasn’t mirrored by the Democrats.
Democrats run a caucus, which is different from a regular primary. Instead of voting, people fill a caucus site, which are locations spread across the state. High school gyms, cafeterias, and other large venues are used to house the caucuses. Attendees stand with other voters in a designated area for the candidate they want. Representatives for that candidate give speeches and try to entice voters to stand with them. Eventually, all of the candidates’ votes are counted, and if the candidate has received 15 percent of the votes or more, then they move on to another round of voting. There is a final aligning where voters can move between candidates one final time. Then the voters are counted, and results are sent to the Iowa Democratic party (IDP).
The only difference with this year’s caucuses was that the results were reported by each site on an app instead of by phone. The app was specifically designed for the Iowa Democrat Party. Shadow Incorporated, a technology company, created the app. It was later found by multiple sources to still be in its beta stages of development, and therefore not ready for wide scale use. However, any issues with the app were not known to the Iowa Democrat party or Shadow Inc. before the caucus night.
Going into the caucuses, the polls showed a competitive race. US Senator Bernie Sanders (VT-I) and former Vice President Joe Biden both had been polling at the top, with only a few percentage points separating the two. Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg and US Senator Elizabeth Warren (MA-D) trailed the two closely behind. All other candidates had a less than 5% chance of winning.
On February 3 at 7 p.m., the state of Iowa opened off the primary season. The night was going as planned, with caucuses being performed across the state. However, as hours passed following the closing of the caucuses, no votes were reported. By Tuesday morning, no winner had been announced, and candidates and citizens were growing angry.
Shortly after, media outlets began to attack the Iowa Democratic Party and the app for its shortcomings. Iowa’s Democratic Party chair Troy Price claimed “we were prepared. And we had worked closely with our partners, not just us, but with the DNC and with our tech partners.” Candidates were also caught off guard by the app failure. Sanders said, “Look, all I can say about Iowa is it was an embarrassment, it was a disgrace to the good people of Iowa.”
Final results of the Iowa Democratic caucus were not released until Sunday, February 9, five days after the main event. The results were tight, without Buttigieg and Sanders receiving 26.2% of the votes. However, the tiebreaker for both candidates was the delegates. Buttigieg edged Sanders out by one delegate and declared it a stunning success. Warren came in 3rd, with eight delegates, and Biden received 6, which was seen as a massive upset.
By Monday February 10, candidates had requested a recount, but final results remained almost unchanged. The candidates began to focus on the next primaries. New Hampshire and South Carolina provided both the Democrat Party and its candidates a second chance.
New Hampshire and South Carolina’s primaries yielded different results. In New Hampshire, Sanders’ neighbor state, he once again finished with only a few thousand votes separating him from Buttigieg. However, this time he edged the former mayor out by about 1 percent of the votes. Sanders took the win as a huge victory for his campaign, and was proclaimed the front runner of the Democratic candidates.
South Carolina’s primary on Feb. 29 gave candidates like Biden and Warren a final shot at pulling away from the back of the pack. The state’s population is more diverse than that of Iowa and New Hampshire. Nearly 30 percent of the population is African American, a group which had polled well for Biden. And with a last-minute endorsement by South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn, Biden was able to overwhelmingly win the primary. Biden received just shy of 50 percent of the votes. Sanders received less than 20 percent, Buttigeig and Warren less then 10 percent. The aftermath of South Carolina lead to both Buttigieg and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar dropping out of the race.
Today, Super Tuesday provides 14 primaries in one day. All remaining candidates need to win as many states as possible for the best position going into the Democratic National Convention in July.
The failure of the Iowa caucus was not forgiven. Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez even threatened to remove Iowa as the first primary site in the next election cycle. Within Iowa, the Democrats’ role in the primary season may face an uncertain future.
Featured image courtesy of Iowa Democratic Party.
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