Sanders and Buttigieg lead the way

*Disclaimer* At the time of writing, only 71 percent of Democratic votes were reported.
The 2020 Presidential Primaries got underway on Feb. 3 with the all-important Iowa Caucus. For those who don’t know, the Iowa Caucus is the first of many caucuses held in order to determine the final candidates for president. A caucus is a meeting at which local members of a political party register their preference among candidates running for office or select delegates to attend conventions on their behalf. This gives the candidates their first real idea of where they stand in the field. In fact, many candidates who fail to impress at the Iowa Caucus will drop out of the race altogether in the following days.
On the Republican side of the Iowa Caucus, it should come as no surprise that President Trump won, receiving over 97 percent of the votes and controlling all but one delegate. This is very typical of an incumbent candidate, as no sitting president has lost a primary election in modern history.
For Democrats, Iowa was much more interesting. Starting from the bottom, there were five candidates to receive a total of zero votes and, in turn, zero delegates. These candidates include Deval Patrick, John Delaney, Michael Bennet, Tulsi Gabbard, and Michel Bloomberg. While nothing is set in stone, these candidates will likely end their campaigns shortly.

Some candidates received votes but failed to secure any delegates. Tom Steyer, Andrew Yang, Amy Klobuchar, and Joe Biden fall into this category. This comes as quite a surprise, as Biden has been towards the top of many recent polls. It is currently unknown how Biden plans to proceed.
Moving into the top three, Elizabeth Warren was able to secure five delegates as well as a respectable 18.1 percent of the total vote. The second-place finisher, Bernie Sanders, earned 25.2 percent of votes and was awarded 11 delegates. The best, and perhaps, the most surprising result was that of Pete Buttigieg. He managed to earn 11 delegates like Sanders but received 419 total votes to Sanders’ 394. This puts “Mayor Pete” right into the discussion for nomination, though there still is a long road ahead.
The Iowa Caucus in no way is the end all be all on who will be nominated for or elected president. Republicans haven’t nominated an Iowa Caucus winner since 2000 (unless you count 2004 when George W. Bush was unopposed). However, with Trump receiving 97.1 percent of votes, it is entirely safe to assume that he will be nominated again.
The Democrats, however, have nominated the winner of the Iowa Caucus every year since 1996. Currently, with only 71 percent of votes reported, we aren’t entirely sure who won. However, if the current standings remain unchanged, Pete Buttigieg would be victorious in Iowa.
If tradition holds, we could see Buttigieg v Trump come to the November presidential election.