Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

February 1 – June 14, 2016
4,766 delegates to the Democratic National Convention 2,384 votes needed to win
Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Home state New York Vermont Estimated delegate count Pledged: 1,770 Unpledged: 521 Total: 2,291 Pledged: 1,500 Unpledged: 44 Total: 1,544 Contests won 27 21 Popular vote 13,220,201 10,196,828 Percentage 55.4% 42.7%
First place (popular vote or delegate equivalent)      Hillary Clinton        Bernie Sanders
Previous Democratic nominee Barack Obama

The 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election. The elections took place within all fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and five U.S. territories and occurred between February 1 and June 14, 2016. An extra 716 unpledged delegates (712 votes) or "superdelegates", including party leaders and elected officials, who are appointed by the party independently of the primaries' electoral process. The convention also approved the Party's platform and vice-presidential nominee. The Democratic nominee challenged other presidential candidates in national elections to succeed President Barack Obama at noon on January 20, 2017, following his two terms in office.

A total of six major candidates entered the race starting April 12, 2015, when former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton formally announced her second bid for the presidency. She was followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig. There was some speculation that incumbent Vice President Joe Biden would also enter the race, but he chose not to run. A draft movement was started to encourage Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to seek the presidency, but Warren declined to run. Prior to the Iowa caucuses on February 1, 2016, Webb and Chafee both withdrew after consistently polling below 2%. Lessig withdrew after the rules of a debate were changed such that he would no longer qualify to participate.

Clinton won Iowa by the closest margin in the history of the state's Democratic caucus. O'Malley suspended his campaign after a distant third-place finish, leaving Clinton and Sanders the only two candidates. The electoral battle turned out to be more competitive than expected, with Sanders winning the New Hampshire primary while Clinton scored victories in the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary. On four different Super Tuesdays, Clinton secured numerous important wins in each of the nine most populous states including California, New York, Florida, and Texas, while Sanders scored various victories in between.

On June 6, 2016, the Associated Press and NBC News stated that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including both pledged and unpledged delegates (superdelegates), to secure the nomination. In doing so, she had become the first woman to ever be the presumptive nominee of any major political party in the United States. On June 7, Clinton officially secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning in the California and New Jersey primaries. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren formally endorsed Clinton on June 9, 2016. Sanders confirmed on June 24 that he would vote for Clinton over Donald Trump in the general election and, on July 12, 2016, formally endorsed Clinton in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

On July 26, 2016, the Democratic National Convention officially nominated Clinton for President and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for Vice President. On November 8, 2016, Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Clinton in the general election, though Clinton did win a small plurality of 2.1% of the popular vote.

Candidates

Main article: Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016

Nominee

Candidate		Most recent position	Candidacy	Total delegate votes	Contests won
Hillary Clinton		67th U.S. Secretary of State (2009–13)	(Campaign • Positions) FEC Filing	2842 / 4763 (60%)	34 AL, AR, AS, AZ, CA, CT, DC, DE, FL, GA, GU, IA, IL, KY, LA, MA, MD, MO, MP, MS, NC, NJ, NM, NV, NY, OH, PA, PR, SC, SD, TN, TX, VA, VI

Withdrew at the convention

Candidate		Most recent position	Candidacy	Total delegate votes	Contests won
Bernie Sanders		U.S. Senator from Vermont (2007–present)	(Campaign • Positions) FEC Filing	1865 / 4763 (39%)	23 AK, CO, DA, HI, ID, IN, KS, ME, MI, MN, MT, NE, NH, ND, OK, OR, RI, UT, VT, WA, WI, WV, WY

Withdrew during the primaries

Candidate	Born	Most recent position	Announced	Withdrew	Candidacy	Ref
Martin O'Malley	January 18, 1963 (age 53) Washington, D.C.	61st Governor of Maryland (2007–15)	May 31, 2015	February 1, 2016 (endorsed Hillary Clinton after she became presumptive nominee)	(Campaign • Website) FEC Filing

Withdrew before the primaries

Candidate	Born	Most recent position	Announced	Withdrew	Candidacy	Ref
70px Lincoln Chafee	March 26, 1953 (age 63) Providence, Rhode Island	74th Governor of Rhode Island (2011–15)	June 3, 2015	October 23, 2015	(Campaign • Website)
Jim Webb	February 9, 1946 (age 70) Saint Joseph, Missouri	U.S. Senator from Virginia (2007–13)	July 7, 2015	October 20, 2015	(Campaign • Website)
70px Lawrence Lessig	June 3, 1961 (age 55) Rapid City, South Dakota	Professor at Harvard Law School (2009–16)	September 9, 2015	November 2, 2015	(Campaign • Website)

Other candidates' results

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by news channels and were invited to forums and candidate debates. For reference, Clinton received 16,849,779 votes in the primaries.

Candidates in this section are sorted by amount of votes received
Martin O'Malley	Lawrence Lessig	Jim Webb	Lincoln Chafee
	120x120px		120x120px
61st Governor of Maryland (2007–2015)	Harvard Law Professor (2009–2016)	U.S. Senator from Virginia (2007–2013)	74th Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
110,423 votes	4 write-in votes in New Hampshire	2 write-in votes in New Hampshire	0 votes

Other candidates participated in one or more state primaries without receiving major coverage or substantial vote counts.

Timeline

Background

Secretary Hillary Clinton in April 2015

In the weeks following the re-election of President Obama in the 2012 election, media speculation regarding potential candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election began to circulate. The speculation centered on the prospects of Clinton, then-Secretary of State, making a second presidential bid in the 2016 election. Clinton had previously served as a U.S. Senator for New York (2001–09) and was the First Lady of the U.S. (1993–2001). A January 2013 Washington Post–ABC News poll indicated that she had high popularity among the American public. This polling information prompted numerous political pundits and observers to anticipate that Clinton would mount a second presidential bid in 2016, entering the race as the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination. Within the party's liberal left wing came calls for a more progressive candidate to challenge what was perceived by many within this segment as the party's establishment. Warren quickly became a highly touted figure within this movement as well as the object of a draft movement to run in the primaries, despite her repeated denials of interest in doing so. The MoveOn.org campaign 'Run Warren Run' announced that it would disband on June 8, 2015, opting to focus its efforts toward progressive issues. The draft campaign's New Hampshire staffer, Kurt Ehrenberg, had joined Sanders' team and most of the remaining staffers were expected to follow suit. Given the historical tendency for sitting Vice Presidents to seek the presidency in election cycles in which the incumbent President is not a candidate, there was also considerable speculation regarding a potential presidential run by incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, who had previously campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in the election cycles of 1988 and 2008. This speculation was further fueled by Biden's own expressions of interest in a possible run in 2016. However, on October 21, 2015, speaking from a podium in the Rose Garden with his wife and President Obama by his side, Biden announced his decision not to enter the race, as he was still dealing with the loss of his son, Beau, who died weeks earlier at the age of 47.

Senator Bernie Sanders during a rally, in July 2015

On May 26, 2015, Sanders officially announced his run as a presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, after an informal announcement on April 30 and speculation since early 2014. Sanders has previously served as Mayor of Burlington, Vermont (1981–89), Vermont's sole U.S. Representative (1991–2007) and Vermont's junior Senator (2007–present). Bernie Sanders emerged as the biggest rival to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, backed by a strong grassroots campaign and a social media following. In November 2014, Jim Webb, a former U.S. Senator who had once served as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, announced the formation of an exploratory committee in preparation for a possible run for the Democratic presidential nomination. This made Webb the first major potential candidate to take a formal action toward seeking the party's 2016 nomination. Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland as well as a former Mayor of Baltimore, made formal steps toward a campaign for the party's nomination in January 2015 with the hiring and retaining of personnel who had served the previous year as political operatives in Iowa – the first presidential nominating state in the primary elections cycle – as staff for his political action committee (PAC). O'Malley had started the "O’ Say Can You See" PAC in 2012 which had, prior to 2015, functioned primarily as fundraising vehicles for various Democratic candidates, as well as for two 2014 ballot measures in Maryland. With the 2015 staffing moves, the PAC ostensibly became a vehicle for O'Malley – who had for several months openly contemplated a presidential bid – to lay the groundwork for a potential campaign for the party's presidential nomination. In August 2015, Lawrence Lessig unexpectedly announced his intention to enter the race, promising to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million by Labor Day. After accomplishing this, Lessig formally announced his campaign. He described his candidacy as a referendum on electoral reform legislation, prioritizing a single issue: The Citizen Equality Act, a proposal that couples campaign finance reform with other laws aimed at curbing gerrymandering and ensuring voting access.

Overview

	Nominee
	Ended campaigns
	Iowa Caucuses
	Super Tuesday
	D.C. Primary
	Convention 2016

February 2016: Early primaries

Date	State/territory	Clinton	Sanders
February 1	Iowa	49.8%	49.6%
February 9	New Hampshire	38.0%	60.4%
February 20	Nevada	52.6%	47.3%
February 27	South Carolina	73.5%	26.0%

Despite a late challenge, Clinton was able to defeat Sanders in the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucus by the closest margin in the history of the contest: 49.8% to 49.6% (Clinton collected 700.47 state delegate equivalents to Sanders' 696.92, a difference of one quarter of a percentage point). The victory, which was projected to award her 23 pledged national convention delegates (two more than Sanders), made Clinton the first woman to win the Caucus and marked a clear difference from 2008, where she finished in third place behind Obama and John Edwards. Martin O'Malley suspended his campaign after a disappointing third-place finish with only 0.5% of the state delegate equivalents awarded, leaving Clinton and Sanders the only two major candidates in the race. A week later, Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, receiving 60.4% of the popular vote to Clinton's 38%, putting him ahead of Clinton in the overall pledged delegate count by four, and making him the first Jewish candidate of a major party to win a primary. Clinton's loss in New Hampshire was a regression from 2008, when she defeated Obama, Edwards, and a handful of other candidates including Joe Biden with 39% of the popular vote.

Bernie Sanders speaks in Littleton, New Hampshire

Sanders' narrow loss in Iowa and convincing victory in New Hampshire generated speculation about a possible loss for Clinton in Nevada, the next state to hold its caucuses on February 20. For her part, Clinton, who had won the state eight years prior in the 2008 Nevada Democratic caucuses, hoped that a victory would allay concerns about a possible repetition of 2008, when she ultimately lost to Obama despite entering the primary season as the favorite for the nomination. Ultimately, Clinton emerged victorious with 52.6% of the county delegates, a margin of victory similar to her performance in 2008. Sanders, who attained 47.3% of the vote, was projected to receive five fewer pledged delegates than Clinton and the result was not promising for the following weekend's primary in South Carolina, more demographically favorable to Clinton than the prior contests. On February 27, Clinton won the South Carolina primary with 73.5% of the vote, receiving a larger percentage of the African American vote than Barack Obama had eight years earlier – 90% to Obama's 80%.

March 1, 2016: Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday

State/territory	Clinton	Sanders
Alabama	77.8%	19.2%
American Samoa	68.4%	25.7%
Arkansas	66.3%	29.7%
Colorado	40.4%	59.0%
Georgia	71.3%	28.2%
Massachusetts	50.1%	48.7%
Minnesota	38.3%	61.7%
Oklahoma	41.5%	51.9%
Tennessee	66.1%	32.4%
Texas	65.2%	33.2%
Vermont	13.6%	86.1%
Virginia	64.3%	35.2%

Hillary Clinton during a rally, in March 2016

The 2016 primary schedule was significantly different than in the last contested Democratic Primary. During that election cycle, many states moved their primaries or caucuses early in the calendar to have greater influence over the race. In 2008, February 5 was the earliest date allowed by the Democratic National Committee, 23 states and territories moved their elections to that date, the biggest Super Tuesday to ever take place. For 2016, the calendar was more disparate than it was in 2008, with several groups of states voting on different dates, the most important being March 1, March 15, April 26 and June 7. The day with the most contests was March 1, 2016, in which primaries or caucuses were held in 11 states, including six in the Southern United States. American Samoa was also scheduled to hold their caucus on that day. A total of 865 pledged delegates were at stake. Clinton secured victories in all of the southern contests except Oklahoma. Her biggest victory of the day came in Alabama, where she won 77.8% of the vote against Sanders' 19.2%, although her most significant delegate prize came from Texas, where she received 65.2% of the vote with strong support from non-white voters as well as white voters. Collectively, the southern states gave Clinton a net gain of 165 pledged delegates. Apart from the South, Clinton was also able to narrowly defeat Sanders in Massachusetts. Clinton also won the caucus in the territory of American Samoa. Sanders scored comfortable wins in the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and Oklahoma primary and won an 86.1%–13.6% landslide in his home state of Vermont - the only time either of the two main candidates missed the 15% threshold in a state. Although the results overall were unfavorable for Sanders, his four wins and narrow loss allowed him to remain in the race in anticipation of more favorable territory in New England, the Great Plains, Mountain States and the Pacific Northwest. At the end of the day, Clinton collected 518 pledged delegates to Sanders' 347, taking her lead to roughly 200 pledged delegates.

Mid-March contests

Mid-March contests

State/territory	Clinton	Sanders
Florida	64.4%	33.3%
Illinois	50.5%	48.7%
Kansas	32.3%	67.7%
Louisiana	71.1%	23.2%
Maine	35.5%	64.3%
Michigan	48.3%	49.8%
Mississippi	82.6%	16.5%
Missouri	49.6%	49.4%
Nebraska	42.9%	57.1%
North Carolina	54.6%	40.8%
N. Mariana Islands	54.0%	34.4%
Ohio	56.5%	42.7%

Hillary Clinton speaks in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 2016

File:Bill Clinton by Gage Skidmore.jpg

Bill Clinton campaigning for his wife in March 2016

Sanders found more hospitable ground on the weekend of March 5, 2016, winning caucuses in Kansas, Maine and Nebraska by significant margins. Clinton answered with an even larger win in Louisiana's primary, limiting Sanders' net gain for the weekend to only four delegates. Clinton would also win the Northern Mariana Islands caucus, held the following weekend on March 12. Two states had held nominating contests on March 8 – Michigan and Mississippi – with Clinton heavily favored to win both. Mississippi went for Clinton, as expected, by a landslide margin. The Mississippi primary was the highest vote share Clinton won in any state. However, Sanders stunned by scoring a narrow win in Michigan. Analysts floated a number of theories to explain the failure of the Michigan polling, with most centering on pollsters' erroneous assumptions about the composition of the electorate stemming from the 2008 primary in Michigan not having been contested due to an impasse between the state party and DNC. Although Clinton expanded her delegate lead, some journalists suggested Sanders' upset might presage her defeat in other delegate-rich Midwestern states, such as Missouri, Ohio and Illinois, who voted a week later on March 15, along with North Carolina and Florida, where Clinton was more clearly favored. Clinton was able to sweep all five primaries, extending her pledged delegate lead by around 100 delegates, although Sanders was able to hold Clinton to narrow margins in her birth-state of Illinois and especially Missouri, where Clinton won by a mere 0.2 points. Missouri state law allowed for a possible recount had any of the candidates requested it; however, Sanders forwent the opportunity on the basis that it would not significantly affect the delegate allocation. By the end of the evening, Clinton had expanded her pledged delegate lead to more than 320, several times larger than her greatest deficit in the 2008 primary.

Late March and early April

Late March / Early April contests

State/territory	Clinton	Sanders
Alaska	18.4%	81.6%
Arizona	56.5%	41.1%
Democrats Abroad	30.9%	68.9%
Hawaii	28.4%	71.5%
Idaho	21.2%	78.0%
Utah	20.3%	79.3%
Washington	27.1%	72.7%
Wisconsin	43.1%	56.6%
Wyoming	44.3%	55.7%

Following the March 15 primaries, the race moved to a series of contests more favorable for Sanders. On March 21, the results of the Democrats Abroad primary (held March 1–8) were announced. Sanders was victorious and picked up nine delegates to Clinton's four, closing his delegate deficit by five. Arizona, Idaho and Utah held primaries on March 22, dubbed "Western Tuesday" by media. Despite continued efforts by Sanders to close the gap in Arizona after his surprise win in Michigan, Clinton won the primary with 56.3% of the vote. However, Clinton lost both Idaho and Utah by roughly 60 points, allowing Sanders to close his delegate deficit by 25.

Sanders speaks in Seattle, Washington, March 2016

The next states to vote were Alaska, Hawaii and Washington on March 26, 2016. All three states were considered as favorable for Sanders, and most political analysts expected him to win them all, given the demographics and Sanders' strong performance in previous caucuses. Sanders finished the day with a net gain of roughly 66 delegates over Clinton. His largest win was in Alaska, where he defeated Clinton with 64% of the vote, although the majority of his delegate gain came from the considerably more populous state of Washington, which he won by a 46% margin, outperforming then-Senator Obama's 2008 results, when he defeated Clinton 68%–31%. The Clinton and Sanders campaigns reached an agreement on April 4 for a ninth debate to take place on April 14 (five days before the New York primary) in Brooklyn, New York, which would air on CNN and NY1. On April 5, Sanders won the Wisconsin primary by 14 points, closing his delegate deficit by 10 more. The Wyoming caucuses were held on April 9, which Sanders won with 55.7% of the state convention delegates choosing him; however, Clinton had a stronger showing than expected, given her demographic disadvantage and that she did not campaign personally in the state. Each candidate was estimated to have earned 7 of Wyoming's 14 pledged delegates.

Late April and May

Late April and May

State/territory	Clinton	Sanders
New York	58.0%	42.0%
Connecticut	51.7%	46.5%
Delaware	59.8%	39.2%
Maryland	63.0%	33.3%
Pennsylvania	55.6%	43.6%
Rhode Island	43.3%	55.0%
Indiana	47.5%	52.5%
Guam	59.5%	40.5%
West Virginia	35.8%	51.4%
Kentucky	46.8%	46.3%
Oregon	42.5%	55.9%

File:Bernie Sanders at Transmitter Park 02.jpg

Sanders speaks in Brooklyn, New York, April 2016

On April 19, Clinton won New York by 16 points. While Sanders performed well in Upstate New York and with younger voters, Clinton performed well among all other age groups and non-whites, and she won a majority in all boroughs of New York City.

Five Northeastern states held primaries a week later on April 26. The day was dubbed the "Super Tuesday III" or the "Acela Primary" after Amtrak's Acela Express train service that connects these states. Clinton won in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut while Sanders won the Rhode Island primary.

On May 3, Sanders pulled off a surprise victory in the Indiana primary, winning over Clinton by a five-point margin despite trailing in all the state's polls. Clinton then won the Guam caucus on May 7 and, on May 10, she won the non-binding Nebraska primary while Sanders won in West Virginia.

Clinton narrowly won Kentucky on May 17 by half a percentage point and gained one delegate, after heavily campaigning in the state. On the same day, Sanders won his second closed primary in Oregon where he gained nine delegates, a net gain of eight on the day. Clinton then went on to win the non-binding Washington primary on May 24.

June contests

June contests

State/territory	Clinton	Sanders
Virgin Islands	84.2%	12.2%
Puerto Rico	59.4%	37.5%
California	53.1%	46.0%
Montana	44.6%	51.0%
New Jersey	63.3%	36.7%
New Mexico	51.5%	48.5%
North Dakota	25.6%	64.2%
South Dakota	51.0%	49.0%
District of Columbia	78.7%	21.1%

File:Hillary Clinton at Planned Parenthood Action Fund-9.jpg

Clinton speaks in Washington, D.C., June 2016

June contained the final contests of the Democratic primaries, and both Sanders and Clinton invested heavily into winning the California primary. Clinton led the polls in California but some predicted a narrow race. On June 4 and 5, Clinton won two decisive victories in the Virgin Islands caucus and Puerto Rico primary. On June 6, both the Associated Press and NBC News reported that Clinton had sufficient support from pledged and unpledged delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee. Clinton's campaign seemed reluctant to accept the mantle of "presumptive nominee" before all the voting was concluded, while Sanders' campaign stated it would continue to run and accused the media of a "rush to judgement." Six states held their primaries on June 7. Clinton won in California, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. Sanders won Montana and North Dakota, the latter being the only caucus contest held on that day. Clinton finally declared victory on the evening of June 7, as the results ensured that she had won a majority of the pledged delegates and the popular vote. Sanders stated he would continue to run for the Democratic Party's nomination in the final primary in the District of Columbia on June 14, which Clinton won. Both campaigns met at a downtown Washington D.C. hotel after the primary. The Sanders campaign said that they would release a video statement on June 16 to clarify the future of Sanders' campaign; the video announced that Sanders looked forward to help Clinton defeat Trump. On July 12, 2016, Sanders endorsed Clinton in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

July 2016: National Convention

Main article: 2016 Democratic National Convention

The 2016 Democratic National Convention was held from July 25–28 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, with some events at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The delegates selected the Democratic presidential and vice presidential nominees and wrote the party platform. A simple majority of 2,383 delegates was needed to win the presidential nomination. While most of the delegates were bound on the first ballot according to the results of the primaries, a progressively larger number of pledged delegates would have become unbound if the nomination required more than one ballot. Clinton was nominated on the first ballot by acclamation, although all states were allowed to announce how they would have voted under a typical roll call vote. On July 12, 2016, the Vermont delegates had supported Clinton in Sanders' request; asking for party unity, he dropped out on July 26, 2016 and announced he'd return to the Senate as an Independent.

Campaign finance

This is an overview of the money used in the campaign as it is reported to Federal Election Commission (FEC) and released on April 27, 2016. Outside groups are independent expenditure only committees—also called PACs and SuperPACs. Several such groups normally support each candidate, but the numbers in the table are a total of all of them. This means that a group of committees can be shown as technically insolvent (shown in red) even though it is not the case of all of them. The Campaign Committee's debt are shown in red if the campaign is technically insolvent. The source of all the numbers is Center for Responsive Politics. Some spending totals are not available, due to withdrawals before the FEC deadline.

	Campaign committee (as of April 30)				Outside groups (as of May 16)			Total spent	Campaign suspended
	Money raised	Money spent	Cash on hand	Debt	Money raised	Money spent	Cash on hand
Hillary Clinton	$204,258,301	$174,101,369	$30,156,932	$612,248	$84,815,067	$38,332,454	$46,482,614	$212,433,823	Convention
Bernie Sanders	$227,678,274	$219,695,969	$8,015,274	$898,879	$869,412	$1,069,765	$-200,353	$220,765,734	July 26
Martin O'Malley	$6,073,767	$5,965,205	$108,562	$19,423	$1,105,138	$1,298,967	$-193,829	$7,264,172	February 1
Lawrence Lessig	$1,196,753	N/A	N/A	N/A	$0	$0	$0	N/A	November 2
Jim Webb	$764,992	$558,151	$206,842	$0	$27,092	$31,930	$-4,838	$590,081	October 20
Lincoln Chafee	$418,136	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	October 23

Process

See also: United States presidential primary § Process

The Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses are indirect elections in which voters elect delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention; these delegates in turn directly elect the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. In some states, the party may disregard voters' selection of delegates or selected delegates may vote for any candidate at the state or national convention (non-binding primary or caucus). In other states, state laws and party rules require the party to select delegates according to votes, and delegates must vote for a particular candidate (binding primary or caucus). There are 4,051 pledged delegates and 714 superdelegates in the 2016 cycle. Under the party's delegate selection rules, the number of pledged delegates allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. is determined using a formula based on three main factors:

1. The proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections (2004, 2008, and 2012)
2. The number of electoral votes each state has in the United States Electoral College.
3. The stage of the primary season when they held their contest. States and territories that held their contests later are given bonus seats.

A candidate must win 2,383 delegates at the national convention, in order to win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. For the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and for Democrats Abroad, fixed numbers of pledged delegates are allocated. All states and territories then must have used a proportional representation system, where their pledged delegates were awarded proportionally to the election results. A candidate must receive at least 15% of the popular vote to win pledged delegates in a state. The current 714 unpledged superdelegates (or "soft" delegates) will include members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state and territorial governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, and other party leaders. Because of possible deaths, resignations, or the results of intervening or special elections, the final number of these superdelegates may be reduced before the convention. The Democratic National Committee also imposed rules for states that wished to hold early contests in 2016. No state was be permitted to hold a primary or caucus in January and only Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina and Nevada were entitled to February contests. Any state that violated these rules were penalized half its pledged delegates and all its superdelegates to the 2016 convention.

Schedule and results

Main article: Results of the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016

400px 400px 300px

The following are the results of candidates that won at least one state. These candidates were on the ballots for every state, territory and federal district contest. The results of caucuses did not always have attached preference polls and attendance was extremely limited. The unpledged delegate count did not always reflect the latest declared preferences.

Date	State/territory	Calculated delegates			Type	Popular vote or equivalent		Estimated delegates
						Clinton	Sanders	Clinton			Sanders			Available
		P	U	T				P	U	T	P	U	T	P	U	T
Feb 1	Iowa	44	8	52	Semi-open caucus	701 SDE (49.9%)	697 SDE (49.6%)	23	7	30	21	0	21	0	1	1
Feb 9	New Hampshire	24	8	32	Semi-closed primary	95,324 (38.2%)	152,181 (61.0%)	9	6	15	15	0	15	0	2	2
Feb 20	Nevada	35	8	43	Closed caucus	6,316 CD (52.6%)	5,678 CD (47.3%)	20	5	25	15	1	16	0	2	2
Feb 27	South Carolina	53	6	59	Open primary	272,379 (73.4%)	96,498 (26.0%)	39	5	44	14	0	14	0	1	1
Mar 1	Alabama	53	7	60	Open primary	309,071 (77.9%)	76,059 (19.2%)	44	5	49	9	0	9	0	2	2
	American Samoa	6	5	11	Closed caucus	162 (68.4%)	61 (25.7%)	4	4	8	2	1	3	0	0	0
	Arkansas	32	5	37	Open primary	146,057 (66.1%)	66,236 (30.0%)	22	5	27	10	0	10	0	0	0
	Colorado	66	12	78	Closed caucus	49,789 (40.3%)	72,846 (59.0%)	25	9	34	41	0	41	0	3	3
	Georgia	102	15	117	Open primary	543,008 (71.3%)	214,332 (28.2%)	73	11	84	29	0	29	0	4	4
	Massachusetts	91	24	115	Semi-closed primary	603,784 (50.1%)	586,716 (48.7%)	46	19	65	45	1	46	0	4	4
	Minnesota	77	16	93	Open caucus	73,510 (38.4%)	118,135 (61.6%)	31	11	42	46	3	49	0	2	2
	Oklahoma	38	4	42	Semi-closed primary	139,338 (41.5%)	174,054 (51.9%)	17	1	18	21	1	22	0	2	2
	Tennessee	67	8	75	Open primary	245,304 (66.1%)	120,333 (32.4%)	44	5	49	23	0	23	0	3	3
	Texas	222	29	251	Open primary	935,080 (65.2%)	475,561 (33.2%)	147	20	167	75	0	75	0	9	9
	Vermont	16	10	26	Open primary	18,335 (13.6%)	115,863 (86.1%)	0	3	3	16	6	22	0	1	1
	Virginia	95	14	109	Open primary	503,358 (64.3%)	275,507 (35.2%)	62	13	75	33	0	33	0	1	1
Mar 5	Kansas	33	4	37	Closed caucus	12,593 (32.3%)	26,450 (67.7%)	10	1	11	23	0	23	0	3	3
	Louisiana	51	8	59	Closed primary	221,615 (71.1%)	72,240 (23.2%)	37	7	44	14	0	14	0	1	1
	Nebraska	25	5	30	Closed caucus	14,340 (42.9%)	19,120 (57.1%)	10	3	13	15	0	15	0	2	2
Mar 6	Maine	25	5	30	Closed caucus	1,232 SCD (35.5%)	2,231 SCD (64.3%)	8	3	11	17	1	18	0	1	1
Mar 1–8	Democrats Abroad	13	4	17	Closed primary	10,689 (30.9%)	23,779 (68.9%)	4	2	6	9	1	10	0	1	1
Mar 8	Michigan	130	17	147	Open primary	581,775 (48.3%)	598,943 (49.7%)	63	12	75	67	0	67	0	5	5
	Mississippi	36	5	41	Open primary	182,447 (82.6%)	36,348 (16.5%)	31	3	34	5	2	7	0	0	0
Mar 12	Northern Marianas	6	5	11	Closed caucus	102 (54.0%)	65 (34.4%)	4	5	9	2	0	2	0	0	0
Mar 15	Florida	214	32	246	Closed primary	1,101,414 (64.4%)	568,839 (33.3%)	141	23	164	73	2	75	0	7	7
	Illinois	156	26	182	Open primary	1,039,555 (50.6%)	999,494 (48.6%)	79	23	102	77	1	78	0	1	1
	Missouri	71	13	84	Open primary	312,285 (49.6%)	310,711 (49.4%)	36	13	49	35	0	35	0	0	0
	North Carolina	107	14	121	Semi-closed primary	622,919 (54.5%)	467,143 (40.9%)	60	9	69	47	1	48	0	4	4
	Ohio	143	17	160	Semi-open primary	696,681 (56.1%)	535,395 (43.1%)	81	14	95	62	1	63	0	2	2
Mar 22	Arizona	75	10	85	Closed primary	262,459 (56.3%)	192,962 (41.4%)	42	5	47	33	2	35	0	3	3
	Idaho	23	4	27	Open caucus	5,065 (21.2%)	18,640 (78.0%)	5	1	6	18	2	20	0	1	1
	Utah	33	4	37	Semi-open caucus	15,666 (20.3%)	61,333 (79.3%)	6	2	8	27	2	29	0	0	0
Mar 26	Alaska	16	4	20	Closed caucus	2,146 (20.2%)	8,447 (79.6%)	3	1	4	13	1	14	0	2	2
	Hawaii	25	10	35	Semi-closed caucus	10,125 (30.0%)	23,530 (69.8%)	8	4	12	17	4	21	0	2	2
	Washington	101	17	118	Open caucus	7,140 LDD (27.1%)	19,159 LDD (72.7%)	27	10	37	74	0	74	0	7	7
Apr 5	Wisconsin	86	10	96	Open primary	432,767 (43.1%)	567,936 (56.6%)	38	6	44	48	1	49	0	3	3
Apr 9	Wyoming	14	4	18	Closed caucus	124 SCD (44.3%)	156 SCD (55.7%)	7	4	11	7	0	7	0	0	0
Apr 19	New York	247	44	291	Closed primary	1,133,980 (57.5%)	820,056 (41.6%)	139	40	179	108	0	108	0	4	4
Apr 26	Connecticut	55	16	71	Closed primary	170,080 (51.8%)	152,415 (46.4%)	28	15	43	27	0	27	0	1	1
	Delaware	21	10	31	Closed primary	55,950 (59.8%)	36,659 (39.2%)	12	9	21	9	0	9	0	1	1
	Maryland	95	24	119	Closed primary	533,661 (63.0%)	281,705 (33.3%)	60	16	76	35	1	36	0	7	7
	Pennsylvania	189	21	210	Closed primary	935,107 (55.6%)	731,881 (43.5%)	106	21	127	83	0	83	0	0	0
	Rhode Island	24	9	33	Semi-closed primary	52,749 (43.3%)	66,993 (54.7%)	11	9	20	13	0	13	0	0	0
May 3	Indiana	83	9	92	Open primary	303,387 (47.5%)	335,261 (52.5%)	39	7	46	44	0	44	0	2	2
May 7	Guam	7	5	12	Closed caucus	777 (59.5%)	528 (40.5%)	4	5	9	3	0	3	0	0	0
May 10	Nebraska	N/A			Closed primary	42,665 (53.1%)	37,705 (46.9%)	Non-binding primary with no delegates allocated.
	West Virginia	29	8	37	Semi-closed primary	78,029 (35.6%)	112,777 (51.4%)	11	6	17	18	2	20	0	0	0
May 17	Kentucky	55	5	60	Closed primary	212,555 (46.8%)	210,631 (46.3%)	28	2	30	27	0	27	0	3	3
	Oregon	61	13	74	Closed primary	264,565 (42.4%)	348,684 (55.9%)	26	7	33	35	3	38	0	3	3
May 24	Washington	N/A			Open primary	411,741 (52.4%)	374,044 (47.6%)	Non-binding primary with no delegates allocated.
Jun 4	Virgin Islands	7	5	12	Closed caucus	–	–	–	2	2	–	0	0	7	3	10
Jun 5	Puerto Rico	60	7	67	Open primary	–	–	–	4	4	–	0	0	60	3	63
Jun 7	California	475	73	548	Semi-closed primary	–	–	–	56	56	–	0	0	475	17	492
	Montana	21	6	27	Open primary	–	–	–	0	0	–	0	0	21	6	27
	New Jersey	126	16	142	Semi-closed primary	–	–	–	12	12	–	2	2	126	2	128
	New Mexico	34	9	43	Closed primary	–	–	–	7	7	–	0	0	34	2	36
	North Dakota	18	5	23	Open caucus	–	–	–	1	1	–	1	1	18	3	21
	South Dakota	20	5	25	Semi-closed primary	–	–	–	1	1	–	0	0	20	4	24
Jun 14	District of Columbia	20	26	46	Closed primary	–	–	–	20	20	–	2	2	20	4	24
—	State unknown (vacant positions)	–	2	2	—	–	–	–	0	0	–	0	0	–	2	2
Total		4,051	715	4,766		13,192,713	10,158,889	1,770	520	2,290	1,500	45	1,545	781	149	930
Date	State/territory	P	U	T	Type	Clinton	Sanders	P	U	T	P	U	T	P	U	T
		Calculated delegates				Popular vote or equivalent		Clinton delegates			Sanders delegates			Available delegates

Superdelegate endorsements

Main article: List of Democratic Party superdelegates, 2016

Superdelegates are elected officials and members of the Democratic National Committee who will vote at the Democratic National Convention for their preferred candidate. Also known as unpledged delegates, they comprise 15% of the convention (712 votes out of 4,763) and they may change their preference at any time. The table below reflects current public endorsements of candidates by superdelegates, as detailed and sourced in the full list above. Because commonly referenced estimates of superdelegate support, including those by CNN and the AP, do not identify individual delegates as supporting a given candidate, their published tallies may differ from the totals computed here.

	Distinguished party leaders	Governors	Senators	Representatives	DNC members	Totals
Hillary Clinton	13	19	40	172	278	522
Bernie Sanders	1	0	2	9	32	44
Martin O'Malley	0	0	0	0	1	1
No endorsement	6	2	5	12	123	148
Totals	20	21	47	193	434	715

Note: Democrats Abroad Superdelegates are assigned half-votes; each of them accounts for ½ rather than 1 in the table above.

Maps

• U.S. States by Vote Distribution, 2016 (Democratic Party).svg

  Breakdown of the results in vote distribution, by state

• 

  Results in pledged delegates, by county

• Democratic Party presidential primaries results, 2016 by margin of victory.svg

  Results in popular vote margin, by state

• 

  Results in popular vote margin, by county

• Delegation Vote, 2016 (Democratic Party, only pledged delegates).svg

  Breakdown of the results in pledged delegates, by state

• Delegation Vote ,2016 (Democratic Party, total delegates).svg

  Breakdown of the results in total delegate count, by state

• 

  Results in pledged delegates, by state

See also

Related

Democratic Party articles

• Results of the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Nationwide opinion polling for the Democratic Party 2016 presidential primaries
• Statewide opinion polling for the Democratic Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Democratic Party presidential candidates, 2016
• Democratic Party presidential debates, 2016
• Democratic Party presidential primaries

Presidential primaries

• Green Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Libertarian Party presidential primaries, 2016
• Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

National conventions

• 2016 Constitution Party National Convention
• 2016 Democratic National Convention
• 2016 Green National Convention
• 2016 Libertarian National Convention
• 2016 Republican National Convention

External links

• Democratic Convention Watch
• Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
• Full Transcript: Democratic Presidential Debate October 14, 2015
• One page summary on Daily Kos of candidate differences only (many links to sources)