MANCHESTER, N.H. — Former Mayor Pete Buttigieg of South Bend, Ind., has taken 13 pledged delegates from Iowa’s maligned caucuses and Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has won 12, The Associated Press said Friday.
The A.P. had announced Thursday afternoon that it would not declare a winner in Iowa’s first-in-the-nation contest, but the allocation provides new clarity about the accumulation of delegates that are necessary to win the Democratic presidential nomination.
Senator Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts took eight delegates, former Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. received six and Senator Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota has one, according to The A.P.
The A.P. calculated the distribution of 40 of Iowa’s 41 national convention delegates. It was not immediately clear why the 41st delegate was not allocated, but it may have been withheld because the news service did not declare a winner in the race. That leaves the possibility that Mr. Sanders could tie Mr. Buttigieg in pledged delegates.
The delegates won by Mr. Buttigieg and Ms. Klobuchar will qualify them for the Democratic National Committee’s Feb. 19 debate in Las Vegas (though it is possible Ms. Klobuchar could lose her single delegate if the results are re-examined by the Iowa Democratic Party). Mr. Sanders, Ms. Warren and Mr. Biden have already qualified for that debate through polling. The entrepreneur Andrew Yang did not receive any delegates and has not qualified for the Nevada debate.
Under party rules, a Democratic presidential candidate must receive 1,990 national delegates to clinch the nomination. Iowa’s spot at the front of the primary calendar has given it huge influence in the race, but its delegates amount to only a small fraction of the total needed.
Iowa Democrats will choose their delegates to the Democratic National Convention at the party’s state convention in June.