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Meet the Press Blog

From the journalists at NBC News and the NBC News Political Unit

Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg prepare to caucus for him in Des Moines, Iowa, on Feb. 3, 2020.
Supporters of Democratic presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg prepare to caucus for him in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2020. Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images file

As Democrats oust Iowa from atop presidential calendar, here's a look at how they got here

A look back at the recent history of the caucus — the candidate surges, the surprise finishes and the technical snafus.

By Ben Kamisar

Democrats voted this past weekend to say goodbye to Iowa as the first state on their presidential nominating calendar, a move likely to end the state's almost 50-year history leading off the Democratic race for president.

Iowa has had a strong history of picking Democratic candidates that ultimately win the party's nomination — Jimmy Carter, Walter Mondale, Al Gore, John Kerry, Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton all won Iowa caucuses the year their party tapped them as its presidential nominee.

But that wasn't the case in 2020, when Democrat Pete Buttigieg ultimately won a caucus mired by technological mishaps that delayed the reporting of the results for days. It was that mishap, along with concerns from many Democrats about the lack of diversity among the electorate picking winners in each of the first two nominating states (Iowa and New Hampshire) that helped pave the way for this weekend's vote.

For more on the Democrats' history with the Iowa caucus, and how it's mattered in key presidential races over the years, check out this deep dive from ahead of the 2020 caucus written by NBC News and MSNBC National Political Correspondent Steve Kornacki.

Ben Kamisar

Ben Kamisar is a national political reporter for NBC News.