Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a town hall meeting at Tipton High School in Tipton, Iowa on Saturday, December 28th. (Jordan Gale The New York Times/ GroundTruth Project)
Even as the New Hampshire primary is underway today, the specter of the Iowa caucuses still hangs over Democrats.
With the AP saying it was “unable to report a winner” and news organizations such as the New York Times reporting inconsistencies in precincts’ vote tallies, the primary results from Iowa remain in question. The current count makes Pete Buttigieg’s victory over Bernie Sanders a difference of one delegate and 0.1% of the vote and left the highest-polling contender Joe Biden in fourth. While the DNC considers a “recanvassing” of the Iowa vote, here’s a look back at the hard-fought race, through the lens of emerging photographer Jordan Gale.
Over the past year Gale photographed the 27 democratic presidential hopefuls as they trekked through the first-in-the-nation nominating state, summer to winter, pleading their candidacy in high school gymnasiums, coffee shops, and private residences, to local teachers, farmers, and out of work factory workers. Iowa for this short amount of time holds the power to possibly predict the next president of The United States. These photos capture the groundwork that each candidate and their campaign put in to the Iowa caucus.
Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is gifted a birthday cake after holding a town hall meeting at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on Monday, January 13th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Presidential hopeful Andrew Yang holds a town hall meeting at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on Monday, January 13th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Cory Booker speaks with reporters backstage at The Iowa Democratic Wing Ding in Clear Lake, Iowa on Friday, August 9th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Former Vice President Joseph Biden speaks at the Iowa Democratic Wing Ding fundraiser in Clear Lake, Iowa on Friday, August 9th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Elizabeth Warren takes selfies with supporters after a town hall at The Labor Temple in Keokuk, Iowa on Monday, December 16th (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Elizabeth Warren holds a town hall at The PZAZZ Convention and Event Center in Burlington, Iowa on Monday, December 16th (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Elizabeth Warren holds a town hall at The Iowa Memorial Union Building in Iowa City, Iowa on Monday, December 2nd. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Elizabeth Warren talks to the press after a town hall at The Iowa Memorial Union Building in Iowa City, Iowa on Monday, December 2nd. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Kirsten Gillibrand at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, August 10th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Mayor Pete Buttigieg holds a town hall at The McCreary Community Center in Perry, Iowa on Sunday, December 22nd. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Mayor Pete Buttigieg holds a town hall at Indianola High School in Indianola, Iowa on Sunday, December 22nd. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Mayor Pete Buttigieg holds a town hall at The McCreary Community Center in Perry, Iowa on Sunday, December 22nd. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Former Vice President Joseph Biden speaks at The River Center in Davenport, Iowa on Wednesday, October 16th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Cory Booker speaks at The Center for Worker Justice of Eastern Iowa, in Iowa City, Iowa on Saturday, December 7th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Cory Booker speaks at The Iowa Memorial Union in Iowa City, Iowa on October 7th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a town hall meeting at Tipton High School in Tipton, Iowa on Saturday, December 28th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Former Vice President Joe Biden holds a rally at Hotel Ottumwa in Ottumwa, Iowa on Saturday, December 21st. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Former Vice President Joseph Biden answers questions from local democrats at the Ft. Museum Opera House in Fort Dodge, Iowa on Thursday, October 31th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Bernie Sander’s holds a climate rally with U.S. Reps. Rashida Tlaib and Ro Khanna at The Graduate Hotel in Iowa City, Iowa on Sunday, January 12th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Trump supporters protest outside Senator Bernie Sanders Climate Crisis Summit with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa on Saturday, November 9th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Amy Klobuchar speaks to Henry County democrats at Central Park Coffee in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa on Friday, December 20th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The Wall Street Journal/GroundTruth)Scattered chairs and an empty stage after, Mayor Pete Buttigieg held a town hall meeting at Maquoketa Middle School in Maquoketa, Iowa on Monday, December 30th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Members of a Waterloo, Iowa automotive club participate in a parade in Independence, Iowa on Thursday. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Bystanders at The Iowa State Fair glance over as Senator Kristin Gillibrand tours the fairgrounds on Saturday, August 10th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Iowa democrats watched Senator Bernie Sanders speak in The Pedestrian Mall in Iowa City, Iowa on Friday, October 25th. (Jordan Gale The New York Times/ GroundTruth Project)Elizabeth Warren signs at the Iowa Event Center in Des Moines, Iowa on Friday, November 1st. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)The Pete Buttigieg bus is loaded up after a town hall meeting in Clinton, Iowa on Tuesday, September 24th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)The end of a campaign event in Fort Dodge on October 31. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)Senator Elizabeth Warren speaks at The Val Air Ballroom in West Des Moines, Iowa on Monday, November 25th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)A campaign worker placed Amy For Iowa poster, before Senator Amy Klobuchar campaign event with community members at Arandas 3 Mexican Restaurant in Wapello, Iowa on Friday, October 18th. (Photo by Jordan Gale – The New York Times/GroundTruth)
Photographer’s note
I moved back to my hometown of Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the middle of winter in early 2019. At the time I had hopes of making some work in the upcoming political season, but I ended up almost exclusively shooting the campaign trail through 2019 for The New York Times. Some candidates will host up to four events a day, spanning the distance of the state. I can estimate I put up to 20,000 miles on my 2005 Mercury Sable just last year alone. After months of coverage, and a couple season changes the campaign trail almost seems like an alternate reality. The process feels far removed from each Iowa community when you’re looking out from the inside. We’re currently less than a week away from caucus night but I still hear people saying they’re undecided, or that they flat out won’t caucus. Some people just want the ads to stop.
It’s hard to feel like you’re witnessing history when you’re sweaty, packed into a food truck with four other photographers at the State Fair, struggling to get a photo of Bernie Sanders eating a corndog. Maybe in hindsight everything will make sense and appear concrete in history, but right now I just focus on the cracks in the campaign trail.
