Early results from Iowa's Democratic Party caucuses show that former mayor of South Bend, Pete Buttigieg, has taken the lead among other rival candidates.
In the first batch of long-delayed results from the chaotic Iowa Democratic Party caucuses on Tuesday, Buttigieg was leading with about 28 percent of the delegates and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) came second with 25 percent.
Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) placed third with 18 percent of the vote, while former Vice President Joe Biden lagged in fourth place with just under 16 percent. Senator Amy Klobuchar was fifth at 12 percent.
The first batch of results accounted for 62 percent of the approximately 1,700 precincts across the state.
Both Buttigieg and Sanders had claimed victory earlier in the day long before the actual results came in.
The results were published nearly 21 hours after Iowans cast their ballots, with officials blaming inconsistencies related to a new mobile app used for vote counting for the unusual delay in the Midwestern US state.
Republicans questioned the Democrats’ capability to run the country if they could not conduct a caucus, while President Donald Trump mocked the Democrats on Twitter and called the delay an "unmitigated disaster."
Before the results were released, campaign aides for Biden had cited gross failures in the caucuses.
The caucus kick-starts the five-month process of picking a challenger to the incumbent Republican president.