Sanders raised $25mn in Jan for presidential campaign

Washington : Veteran US Senator Bernie Sanders has said that his presidential campaign raised $25 million in January.

Taking to Twitter on Thursday, the Vermont Senator said the amount was contributed by more than 648,000 individuals, with an average donation of $18, reports Xinhua news agency.

The contender for the Democratic Party's nomination to challenge sitting President Donald Trump made the announced days after Monday night's Iowa caucuses, the first-in-the-nation nominating contests in the 2020 primary.

Sanders and Pete Buttigieg, former mayor of South Bend, Indiana, are in a tight race for the first place, according to partial results released by the Iowa Democratic Party (IDP).

With 97 per cent of Iowa's precincts reporting, Buttigieg is leading with 26.2 per cent of state delegates. Sanders, closely following him, has garnered 26.1 per cent.

Both Sanders and Buttigieg have claimed victory in the Iowa Democratic caucuses.

Tom Perez, chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), on Thursday called for a recanvass of the caucus results that has been delayed by a technical issue.

Perez, in a tweet, said he's calling on the IDP to "immediately begin a recanvass" in light of "the problems that have emerged in the implementation of the delegate selection plan and in order to assure public confidence in the results".

The proposed recanvass, according to the chairman, is "a review of the worksheets from each caucus site to ensure accuracy".

The IDP will continue to report results, he said.

According to the partial results, Senator Elizabeth Warren and former Vice President Joe Biden, who's leading in national polls, round out the top four with 18.2 per cent and 15.8 per cent, respectively.

Senator Amy Klobuchar, garnering 12.2 per cent, takes the fifth place. No other candidates received double-digit support.

Iowa also held Republican caucuses Monday night, in which Trump easily won, as he was facing no significant challenge.

The 2020 presidential race is shifting to the northeastern state of New Hampshire, whose primary is scheduled for February 11.

(inputs from IANS)