总统候选人皮特·巴蒂吉格第二周二晚上，民主党爱荷华州党团会议的部分结果公布后，提前宣布了胜利。
但周一晚上，在结果公布之前，igieg宣称取得了胜利，这引起了人们的惊讶。由于党团会议结果报告的长时间拖延，民主党初选陷入混乱。截至周二晚上，最终结果仍不得而知，尽管官员们确实公布了部分结果。统计出62%的选票后，巴蒂吉格领先，在承诺的代表人数上与参议员伯尼·桑德斯持平。
“结果来自大多数选区，它们首先显示了我们的竞选活动，”Buttigieg讲述部分结果公布后的支持者。“一场有些人认为根本没有必要进行这种尝试的竞选，已经站在了这场用更好的未来愿景取代现任总统的竞争的前列。”
桑德斯和伊丽莎白·沃伦参议员在早期的结果中也表现突出。前副总统乔·拜登表现不佳，排在第四位。然而，还有整整38%的结果有待统计，最终结果可能与目前的排名有很大不同。
由于用于报告结果的应用程序存在技术问题，结果被民主党官员称为“不一致”。不清楚为什么周二晚上只有62%的选票被公布。在宣布部分结果之前，巴蒂吉格宣称自己是另一群支持者的胜利者。
“我们不知道所有的结果，但是我们知道当一切都说了又做的时候，爱荷华州，你已经震惊了整个国家，”Buttigieg在周一说。"从各方面来看，我们将胜利地前往新罕布什尔州."
2020年2月4日，在新罕布什尔州的拉科尼亚，皮特·巴蒂吉向他的总统竞选支持者发表讲话。
早期的胜利声明惹恼了几个Buttigieg的民主党对手，让许多观察家质疑他如何能在结果公布之前做出这样的声明。他后来解释他的说法是基于他竞选时的内部数据。
结果也引发了一些阴谋论。社交媒体上最流行的一个以Buttigieg运动为中心，向一家名为“影子公司”的技术公司支付了42，500美元，该公司后来生产了这个有问题的应用程序。
Buttigieg运动的发言人告诉记者新闻周刊该公司的合同是帮助发送短信联系选民，据说这项工作与他们为民主党全国委员会开发的任何其他应用程序完全无关。
对外合作中心文件确认该公司也被拜登竞选团队以及参议员柯尔斯顿·吉利布兰德短暂的总统竞选团队所利用。该公司为Buttigieg活动提供的服务在文件中被列为“软件权利和订阅”。
爱荷华州核心会议的结果可能最终会证实Buttigieg的胜利声明，但是官员们还没有公布最终结果的时间表。
PETE BUTTGIEG CLAIMS IOWA VICTORY FOR SECOND TIME, BUT STILL NO OFFICIAL WINNER AS RESULT DELAYS CONTINUE
Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg made a second early claim of victory, after partial results of the Democratic Iowa Caucus were released Tuesday night.
Buttigieg raised eyebrows by claiming victory on Monday night, before results were announced. The Democratic primary race was thrown into chaos by long delays in reporting the caucus results. The final outcome was still unknown as of Tuesday night, although officials did release partial results. With 62 percent of the vote counted, Buttigieg was leading the race, tying with Senator Bernie Sanders in pledged delegates.
"Results are in from a majority of precincts and they show our campaign in first place," Buttigieg told supporters after the partial results were announced. "A campaign that some said had no business even making this attempt has taken its place at the front of this race to replace the current president with a better vision for the future."
Sanders and Sen. Elizabeth Warren also had strong showings in the early results. Former Vice President Joe Biden underperformed, coming in a distant fourth. However, a full 38 percent of results had yet to be counted and the final outcome could be significantly different than current standings.
The results were held up do to what Democratic party official characterized as "inconsistencies" due to technical problems in the app used to report the results. It is not clear why only 62 percent of the vote was released Tuesday night. Prior to the partial results being announced, Buttigieg proclaimed himself the victor a different crowd of supporters.
"We don't know all the results, but we know by the time it's all said and done, Iowa, you have shocked the nation," said Buttigieg on Monday. "By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious."
Pete Buttigieg speaks to supporters of his presidential campaign in Laconia, New Hampshire on February 4, 2020.
The early claims of victory irked several of Buttigieg's Democratic rivals and left many observers questioning how he could make such a claim before the results were known. He later explained that his claims were based on internal numbers from his campaign.
The results also prompted a number of conspiracy theories. One of the most prevalent on social media centered on the Buttigieg campaign having paid $42,500 to a technology company called "Shadow Inc," the same company that later produced the faulty app.
A spokesman for the Buttigieg campaign told Newsweek that the company was contracted to help deliver text messages to contact voters, work said to be totally unrelated to any other apps they built for the DNC.
FEC filings confirm that the company was also used by the Biden campaign, as well as the short-lived presidential campaign of Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. Services the company provided to the Buttigieg campaign are listed as "software rights and subscriptions" in the filings.
The outcome of the Iowa caucus may eventually validate Buttigieg's claims of victory, but officials have released no timeline for when the final results will be released.
