Early Tuesday morning, while Democrat Iowa caucus results had yet to be counted and announced, many candidates took to the stage to make speeches, including South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg.
Despite no news of any results from any precincts, Buttigieg took the stage to declare victory, telling the crowd, “Tonight an improbable hope became an undeniable reality.”
He also tweeted a supposed victory message, writing “Iowa, you have shocked the nation. By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.”
He also wrote, “The skeptics said ‘not now.’ ‘Not this time.’ All this talk of ‘belonging,’ of bridging divides, is too naive. Too risky. So tonight I say—with a heart filled with gratitude—Iowa, you’ve proved those skeptics wrong.”
But it doesn’t appear Buttigieg has proven anything, especially since there are no results being reported. It looks as if the young mayor is trying to create a narrative of winning. Earlier on Monday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (D-VT) had a heavy lead in the PredictIt betting scores, but as of 6:00 a.m. ET on Tuesday, Buttigieg has taken more of the market share with 36 cents, while Sanders’ share dropped to 65 cents.