So since 1992, no one has become a Democratic presidential candidate who has not won in Iowa or New Hampshire. The Republicans have never had an official party candidate since the emergence of the modern pre-election system in the 1970s who had not won in either of the two early pre-election states. Just one month after the first area code, Super Tuesday takes place, with elections in over a dozen member states. This year it will be voted in both California and Texas, the two most populous countries. This means that almost two-thirds of the delegates will be assigned in February and March.
Bill Clinton was the last Democratic candidate who failed to win either of the first two primaries
Are voices binding? While the primaries arose out of non-binding popularity tests (“beauty contests”) for the candidates, the Democratic Party today obliges all delegates designated by primaries to vote for “their” candidate at the party convention – be it for a certain number of ballots or until Applicant releases the delegates.
What happens to the votes of applicants who have left? In principle, the delegates of retired candidates are “free”. However, the applicants often make a recommendation for a competitor remaining in the race, to whom the delegates can then vote, but do not have to.
Super delegates hold only 16 percent of the vote at the party convention
What are super delegates? So-called super-delegates are politicians who officially take part in the party conference, including members of the party organization and congress groups, governors and former party leaders. So they are part of the party establishment and can freely decide at the convention who they want to vote for. The idea is that with their political experience they can correct the decision of the grassroots. Democrats make up 17 percent of the votes at the party convention. In 2016, most of them spoke out early for Hillary Clinton, which led to criticism from the base and camp of Bernie Sanders. The rules have therefore been changed for 2020. Super delegates should no longer be allowed to participate in the first ballot of the convention, which drastically reduces their influence. The Republicans also know super-delegates, but there are only three per member state and they are usually forced to vote for the winner of the respective area code.
What happens if the primaries fail to make a decision? In the unlikely event that no candidate has won an absolute majority of the delegates in the course of the primaries, there is the option of a “contested convention” or “brokered convention”: in this case, the delegates are first asked to vote at the party conference. If no one receives an absolute majority in the first round, internal party negotiations begin. In the subsequent electoral courses, almost all delegates are gradually freed from their voting constraints and are free to choose an applicant. In this way, the balance of power at the party convention can shift. The last time a candidate came to the party convention without a majority of the delegates was in 1984. Walter Mondale was missing a few dozen votes in advance, but he was nominated for the candidate.
As with the Republicans four years ago, more exponents than ever before have applied for the presidential candidacy with the Democrats. Over twenty prominent contenders threw their hats in the ring. However, some of them gave up the race before the primaries began – either because they ran out of money or because the polls never got beyond a low single-digit percentage range. What is sobering for the party is that only white people figure among the favorites. At the beginning of the campaign, the Democrats boasted that they had the most ethnically diverse field in history and thus also represented their voters. An overview of all current and former applicants, as well as their short biographies, can be found here.
