Hillary Clinton has narrowly scooped victory in the Democratic caucuses in Iowa, outpacing a unexpectedly strong challenge from Bernie Sanders to claim the first victory in the 2016 race for president.
The former secretary of state and first lady edged past the Vermont senator in a race the Iowa Democratic Party called the closest in its caucus history.
The party declared the result on Tuesday and said it would not be recounting any of the close ties.
A spokesman for the Sanders campaign said it did not intend to challenge the results.
Clinton, who is hoping to be America's first female president, won 49.86 per cent of the vote, according to the Associated Press, with Sanders on 49.57 per cent – a razor-thin margin of just 0.29 percentage points.
Clinton was for months the clear Democrat front-runner, but has rapidly been losing ground to Sanders.
Although Clinton is popular with women, self-declared socialist Sanders has been picking up votes from idealistic younger voters.
Clinton said she had breathed “a big sigh of relief” Monday night in Iowa, but the first round has been tougher than expected for the former first lady.
The two will face each other again at next week’s primary in New Hampshire, where Sanders has a strong lead of 18 points.
