Iowa Dems: Hillary won caucuses

The head of Iowa’s Democratic Party is declaring Hillary Clinton the caucus winner despite a razor-slim margin separating her from Bernie Sanders.

“Tonight we saw an historically close Iowa Democratic Caucus that featured one of our strongest turnouts ever and passion and energy from Democrats all across our state,” said Chairwoman Andy McGuire in a statement early Tuesday. “The results tonight are the closest in Iowa Democratic caucus history.”

McGuire said the former secretary of State had squeaked past the Vermont senator in the first presidential contest of 2016, “winning 699.57 state delegate equivalents Monday night, contrasted with 695.49 for Sanders.”

{mosads}”Former Gov. Martin O’Malley (D-Md.) received 7.68,” she added, “while 0.48 remained uncommitted after caucusing.” O’Malley suspended his campaign following Monday’s caucuses.

McGuire said that while the party is still awaiting numbers from a final precinct, Des Moines 42, their tally would not be enough to swing the result. That precinct awards 2.28 state delegates, not enough for Sanders to overtake Clinton.

“We will report that final precinct when we have confirmed those results with the chair,” McGuire said.

Others have also declared Clinton the winner of the Democratic caucuses, including MSNBC, NBC and The Washington Post.

But some have held back citing the close margin, including The Associated Press, which called the result “a cliffhanger.” The New York Times is also yet to call the contest, calling it “an intensely tight race.”

Clinton’s campaign declared victory early Tuesday.

“Hillary Clinton has won the Iowa Caucus,” Clinton Iowa state director Matt Paul said in a statement, according to ABC. “After thorough reporting — and analysis — of results, there is no uncertainty and Secretary Clinton has clearly won the most national and state delegates.”

“Statistically, there is no outstanding information that could change the results and no way that Senator Sanders can overcome Secretary Clinton’s advantage,” he added.

But Sanders has yet to formally concede the state, calling the contest a “virtual tie” in a speech late Monday.

His campaign has also complained that some caucus sites did not have enough election workers and questioned whether the results from those caucuses could tilt the results.

Iowa campaign officials have dismissed those complaints.

The Democratic caucuses attracted 171,109 voters, according to McGuire. That turnout, though, is below the 239,872 who came out in 2008.