When Are the Democratic Primary & Caucus Elections?

We’ve already had the Democratic caucus in Iowa and the New Hampshire primary, which kicked off an intense primary season. In fact, the Democratic debates in February will be happening in the middle of caucus and primary elections. Here’s a look at the packed schedule before the Democratic National Convention.

The Nevada Caucus Is on February 22 2020

Here’s a look at the primary schedule, provided by 270ToWin.

The Iowa caucus on February 3 was the first one and it had a lot of issues. In fact, a winner has still not been officially declared. Iowa has held the first caucus in the nation since 1972.

New Hampshire’s Democratic primary was on February 11.

The Nevada Democratic caucus will be on February 22.

South Carolina’s primary is February 29.

On Super Tuesday on March 3, 15 states will host their primaries and caucuses, including California and Texas. This year, California has moved up its primary from when it usually is held in June, making Super Tuesday an even bigger deal. Here are the states participating in Super Tuesday:

• Alabama
• American Samoa (Democratic caucus only)
• Arkansas
• California
• Colorado
• Democrats Abroad
• Maine
• Massachusetts
• Minnesota
• North Carolina
• Oklahoma
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Utah
• Vermont
• Virginia

On March 8, Puerto Rico will host its Republican primary.

On March 10, primaries and caucuses will be in Idaho, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota (Democrat only), and Washington.

On March 12, the Virgin Islands will have its Republican caucus.

On March 14, Guam (Republican only), Northern Mariana, and Wyoming (Republican convention) will be held.

On March 17, primaries will be in Florida, Illinois, Ohio, and Northern Mariana (caucus). Arizona will also have a Democratic primary, but the Republican primary was canceled.

On March 24, American Samoa (Republican caucus only) and Georgia’s will take place.

On March 27, North Dakota will host its Republican convention.

On March 29, Puerto Rico will host its primary (Democratic only.)

270 To Win notes that by the end of March, more than 50 percent of the Democratic party’s delegates will already be decided.

On April 4, primaries will be held in Louisiana, Wyoming (Democratic caucus only), Alaska and Hawaii. (Alaska and Hawaii opted out of their Republican primaries.)

On April 7, Wisconsin will host a primary.

On April 28, primaries will be held in Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and New York.

On May 2, primaries will be in Guam and Kansas.

On May 5, Indiana will have its primary.

On May 12, Nebraska and West Virginia will have their primaries.

On May 19, Kentucky and Oregon will have their primaries.

On June 2, Montana, New Jersey, New Mexico, South Dakota and Washington D.C. will have their primaries.

On June 6, the U.S. Virgin Islands will have its Democratic caucus.

About the Conventions

The Democratic National Convention will take place July 13-16. According to Ballotpedia, there will be 4,750 delegates total, including 3,979 pledged and 771 automatic (more commonly known as superdelegates.) In order to not have a contested convention, a candidate needs 1,991 pledged delegates on the first ballot. (Superdelegates aren’t allowed to vote on the first ballot.) If no candidate gets this majority of pledged delegates, then a second ballot (or more) will take place and both pledged and automatic delegates can vote this time. From then on, a candidate needs the majority of all delegates to win, which is more than 2,375 votes.

Note that typically, delegates are allocated proportionally according to the primary results. But a candidate can typically only get delegates if they have at least 15 percent of the votes in a caucus or primary, Ballotpedia points out.

Automatic delegates typically include DNC members, Democratic members of Congress, party leaders, and such. They can vote for anyone they want, while pledged delegates must declare their preferred candidate as a condition of being elected a delegate.

The Republican National Convention will be August 24-27. Note that rules for delegates in the RNC are different from the DNC, so the explanation above does not apply to the RNC.

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