Former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg dismissed his new nickname of #MayorCheat Tuesday after he prematurely gave himself the win at the Iowa Caucuses.
#MayorCheat appeared to trend on Twitter for a few reasons. Buttigieg’s campaign gave money to the firm responsible for the app that caused massive delays in the Iowa Caucus results, according to FEC filings. Additionally, the former mayor dubbed himself the winner despite no results.
“Looking at what happened last night, looking at all of the data that we’ve got, it was an extraordinary night and we are absolutely victorious coming into New Hampshire,” Buttigieg told “CBS This Morning” Tuesday.
“I think it’s safe to say no one in the country is more impatient than I am to hear the official results of the party. But we’ve also put out the results that we’ve got from over 1,200 districts. Our precinct organization reported based on a procedure that they were trained to do, and based off that it was a phenomenal night for us.”
WATCH:
The results of Monday’s Iowa Caucus have not been released as of Tuesday morning because of technology issues. Buttigieg’s campaign paid the firm, Shadow, tens of thousands of dollars in July of 2019, FEC filings show.
The campaign gave Shadow money for “text messaging services to help us contact voters,” they said in a statement according to the Washington Examiner.
Some used #MayorCheat to point out that Buttigieg preemptively called the results of the Iowa Caucuses. The former mayor sent out a series of tweets declaring himself the victor.
“Tonight, an improbable hope became an undeniable reality,” Buttigieg tweeted to begin a series of victory claims. “Iowa, you have shocked the nation. By all indications, we are going on to New Hampshire victorious.” (RELATED: ‘What An F-ing Disaster’: NBC Hot Mic Moment Appears To Catch Panelist Trashing Iowa Caucuses)
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. #IowaCaucuses
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 4, 2020
Others called him out for reportedly being the person who complained about how the Iowa Poll was conducted, causing it to be cancelled by the Des Moines Register Sunday.
The former mayor also included a video of him speaking about the victory that has not yet occurred.
“Right off the stage here in Iowa, incredible night, incredible result, and such phenomenal energy here,” Buttigieg said. “We’re headed to New Hampshire victorious and now we gotta build for the next phase.”
We’re on our way to New Hampshire, on to the nomination, and on to chart a bold new course for our country. But only if you’re with me.
If you can, please chip in: https://t.co/FkVn86Wbdu pic.twitter.com/RCHF3IbrxO
— Pete Buttigieg (@PeteButtigieg) February 4, 2020
Candidates will be selected by New Hampshire Feb. 11.
Iowa Democratic Party said the results will be in sometime Tuesday afternoon. The Democratic National Committee denied that the problems stemmed from an issue with the application used to report the results in a statement Monday evening.
The Iowa Democrats, however, said Tuesday that there was, in fact, a problem with the app.
“While the app was recording data accurately, it was reporting out only partial data. We have determined that this was due to a coding issue in the reporting system,” Iowa Democrats said in a statement.