2000 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses

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2000 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses
Flag of Iowa.svg
  1992 January 24th, 2000 2004  
NH  

57 Democratic National Convention delegates (47 pledged; 10 unpledged) [a]
  Al Gore, Vice President of the United States, official portrait 1994.jpg BillBradley (cropped).jpg
Candidate Al Gore Bill Bradley
Home state Tennessee New Jersey
Delegate count2918
SDEs1,257732
Percentage (of SDEs)62.85%36.60%

2000 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses election results map by county (vote share).svg
Caucus results by county
Gore:     50–55%     55–60%     60–65%     65–70%     70–75%     75–80%     80–85%
Bradley:     50–55%
Tie:     

The 2000 Iowa Democratic presidential caucuses occurred on January 24, and was the state caucuses of the Iowa Democratic Party. [1] It was the first election for the Democrats of the 2000 presidential election.

Contents

Campaign

Vice President Al Gore was seen as the frontrunner for the nomination, and successfully painted Bill Bradley as aloof and indifferent to rural issues. The Vice President received the endorsement from the Governor of Iowa Tom Vilsack and Senator Tom Harkin and had a tremendous lead over Senator Bradley, though Bradley got the endorsement of the Des Moines Register .[ citation needed ] Bradley started to gain momentum and the race become close. A week before the caucus polls had it 40% to 49% in Gore’s favor. On January 23, 2000, a day before the primary polls had Al Gore winning by 2 or 3 points.

Results

Caucus results

Caucus date: January 24, 2000

National pledged delegates determined: 47 (of 57)

2000 Iowa Democratic presidential caucus results [2]
PartyCandidateVotes (State Delegate Equivalents)PercentagePledged National Delegates
(expected on January 24)
Democratic Al Gore 1,25762.85%29
Democratic Bill Bradley 73236.60%18
Democratic Uncommitted110.55%0
Democratic Unallocated00.0%10
Totals2,000100.00%47
Voter turnout%

Al Gore won 91 of Iowa's 99 counties. Bill Bradley lost the rest of the primaries by large margins and Al Gore would eventually lose the general election to Governor of Texas George W. Bush. [3]

See also

References

  1. "Bush and Gore win Iowa caucuses". The Guardian. January 25, 2000. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
  2. "The Iowa Caucuses | Des Moines Public Library". DMPL. Retrieved November 5, 2025.
  3. "History of the Iowa Caucus | Iowa PBS". PBS Iowa. Retrieved November 5, 2025.

Notes

  1. The number of pledged national convention delegates is calculated through the number of state delegate equivalents (SDEs) won, however, a candidate must get both at least 15% of the total vote to get statewide delegates and at least 15% of the vote in a congressional district to get district delegates from that district. Each precinct has a certain number of SDEs and allocates them based on how many caucus goers there are for each candidate at that precinct.