Pete Buttigieg is backtracking his victory speech from Iowa, noting that he doesn't have any official numbers but that it's 'extraordinary' that his campaign made it this far
- Democratic presidential candidate and former South Bend, Indiana, mayor Pete Buttigieg claimed victory in the Iowa caucus on Monday night, despite a technical problem delaying official results.
- He later backtracked on his comment, saying his campaign just being in Iowa was a victory because people didn't believe he would make it as far as he did.
- He told MSNBC: "Here you have a campaign that was really questioned when we got in for whether we even oughta be here, whether we belonged in this race. And to not only establish that, but to reach the position that we did was a clear victory for our campaign."
- Buttigieg had previously said on Twitter that his campaign was "headed to New Hampshire victorious."
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg claimed victory in the Iowa caucus on Monday night after a technical problem delayed official results, but he later backtracked saying he meant just being part of the event was a win for his campaign.
Buttigieg, the former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, had said on Twitter Monday night that his campaign was "headed to New Hampshire victorious."
He told supporters in Des Moines that "an improbable hope became an undeniable reality," and that Iowa had "shocked the nation," despite not knowing complete results of the caucus.
On Tuesday morning, Buttigieg's campaign released internal data that showed him winning 28% of the state-delegate equivalent. His campaign said the data contained caucus results from 75% of Iowa's precincts.
When Buttigieg was later questioned on his claim of victory, however, he backtracked in an interview with MSNBC.
"We were looking at the internal numbers that we had and beginning to realize that something extraordinary had happened last night," he said. "Here you have a campaign that was really questioned when we got in for whether we even oughta be here, whether we belonged in this race. And to not only establish that, but to reach the position that we did was a clear victory for our campaign."
He told MSNBC that his campaign did not have any official information on caucus results that wasn't already made public.
But, he said, he saw his supporters "charged up" on Monday night.
Buttigieg wasn't the only candidate to claim caucus results on Tuesday morning. Bernie Sanders released internal campaign data showing him winning, while Joe Biden and Elizabeth Warren also expressed optimism.
- Read more:
- Trump is using the 'unmitigated disaster' of the Iowa caucuses to troll Democrats and say the only person who can claim victory is him
- 2020 Democratic candidates are claiming their own Iowa caucus results to fill the vacuum caused by a technical delay. Here's what they're saying.
- The Iowa caucus has unusual rules that mean the candidate with the most votes won't necessarily win the most delegates
- This flowchart shows how tonight's Iowa caucuses will unfold step-by-step across the state