Entering the Democratic caucus, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders polled at a virtual deadlock. Iowans proved Monday night they were very evenly split between the two candidates, as a mere 0.4 percent separated the two candidates at the end of the night.

Clinton claimed the slight edge, however, as she carried 49.9 percent of the vote to Sanders’s 49.5 percent.

“As I stand here tonight breathing a big sigh of relief, thank you Iowa,” Clinton said.

The victory gives Clinton 23 of the state’s 44 delegates to the Democratic National Convention, which will take place in Philadelphia from July 25-28 of this year. 2,382 of the 4,763 available delegates are needed to gain the nomination. Nebraska will hold its caucus on March 5, with 25 delegates up for grabs.

In her victory speech, Clinton went after Republicans instead of her close rival Sanders.

“I believe we have a very clear idea that the Democratic Party and this campaign stands for what is best in America,” Clinton said. “When it’s all said and done, we have to be united against a Republican vision and candidates who drive us apart and divide us.”

Sanders, a relative unknown a couple months ago, compared his recent surge in Iowa to what he hopes will be a “political revolution” extending to the rest of the country. “What Iowa has begun tonight is a political revolution,” Sanders said. “A political revolution that says when millions of people come together and…begin to stand up and say loudly and clearly that ‘enough is enough.’”

The Democratic caucus in Iowa, like the Republican caucus, works differently than a primary. Like the Republicans, voters attend a caucus at their precinct and allow for precinct captains to make a final pitch for candidates.

However, the Democrats ask for supporters to stand in separate areas marked out for each candidate once voting begins. Voters are then tallied, and each candidate has to receive at least 15 percent of the vote in order to be considered viable. If that is not reached, then a re-vote commences as other candidates try to woo the displaced voters.

Former Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley dropped out of the race after receiving a paltry 0.6 percent of the Iowa vote, and failed to reach the 15 percent

viability mark in many of Iowa’s precincts. His departure leaves Clinton and Sanders as the only two candidates left on the Democratic side.