The Role of Delegates in the U.S. Presidential Nominating
Process
Author:Joanna Klonsky
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Introduction
What is a delegate?
Who are the delegates?
What is a superdelegate?
How does the Republican Party pick delegates?
How does the Democratic Party pick delegates?
What will happen to the Democratic delegates from Florida and Michigan?
What is the role of independents?
What is a brokered convention?
Introduction
In recent decades, the presidential candidates of the two major political parties in the United States
generally have emerged during state-by-state primary elections and caucuses that occur in the winter and
spring before a general election. Officially, candidates only become their party's presidential nominee after
a vote is taken by party delegates to the Republican or Democratic presidential nominating conventions
later in the summer. These delegates are supposed to take their cue from the voters who cast ballots during
their states' primaries and caucuses, though each party's rules make it possible for multiple rounds of
balloting and horse trading if no candidate is able to gain a majority on the first ballot. But since 1976, no
major party convention has opened with the identity of the nominee in question.
For a time, many analysts speculated one or the other of the 2008 party contests would do just that, due to
the closely contested Republican and Democratic primaries. The Democratic Party's nominating process
proved especially complex because its rules allow for a more proportional system of delegate voting and
for the presence of "superdelegates," comprising each state's elected representatives in Congress, who are
not obliged to commit to any particular candidate. In the case of both parties, the delegate system is aimed
at making sure party faithful choose the most representative, as well as most competitive candidate to
represent them in the general election. But even to those following theU.S.presidential campaign closely,
the role of delegates in selecting the party nominees can be confusing.
What is a delegate?
Delegates are individuals chosen to represent their states at their party conventions prior to a presidential
election. The rules for selecting delegates, which are dictated by the parties, can be dizzying—the
guidelines vary not only by party, but by state, and sometimes by congressional district. A party might
grant additional delegates as a reward if a state has a recent history of supporting that party, for example. In
other cases, delegates might simply be allocated to a state based on the percentage of votes that state is
granted in the Electoral College.
At both conventions, delegates must cast their vote in favor of one candidate. If no clear majority is
reached, they must continue voting until they do. During the primary process, "the party is choosing their
candidates, which is very different from the public choosing a candidate," says Norman Ornstein, an expert
on U.S. politics at the American Enterprise Institute think tank. The goal is to "narrow it down to the
candidates who most represent the party, and who have the greatest chance of winning," says Ornstein. At
least, he says, "That's the theory. It doesn't always work that way." The last party convention that opened
with the identity of the nominee in question was in 1976 when Republicans chose Gerald Ford over Ronald
Reagan. On the Democratic side, the last time delegates faced a contested nomination was 1960, when John
F. Kennedy faced opposition from Lyndon Johnson and Adlai Stevenson.
Meredith McGehee, policy director for the Campaign Legal Center, a Washington-based nonpartisan
organization, says the delegate system is so complex because after most elections, "the respective national
parties go back and look at their rules and their system and try to make adjustments that they believe will
give their party an advantage."
Who are the delegates?
Delegates are often party activists, local political leaders, or early supporters of a given candidate, says
Anthony Corrado, government professor at Maine's Colby College. Presidential campaigns often encourage
"a member of a county board or a local state representative or a state senator" to run for their slate of
delegates, says Corrado, "because they help to bring their own political constituencies or they're a
recognizable name." Delegates can also include members of a campaign's steering committee. In some
cases, delegates are long-time active members of their local party organization, and running as a delegate is
"one of the rewards for their service to the party over the years," says Corrado.
The final list of delegates and their campaign affiliations is public, as is a record of their votes at the
conventions. In the end, says Democratic strategist Tad Devine, "individual campaigns have a candidate
right of refusal," meaning they can reject a particular delegate for their campaign. Campaigns try to ensure
that delegates "are, in fact, true partisans who support a particular candidate," says Devine.
What is a superdelegate?
The Democratic Party has superdelegates, which include elected officials, like members of Congress, and
party officials. At the Democratic convention, superdelegates account for twenty percent of overall
delegates and are "uncommitted and are not bound in any fashion" to any one candidate, says Ornstein. In
other words, they can throw their support to whomever they want at the convention.
The Democratic nomination process was altered to include superdelegates in 1984. That year, former Vice
President Walter Mondale won the Democratic nomination with strong support from party stalwarts. Some
experts say Democratic candidate George McGovern's landslide 1972 loss to Richard Nixon influenced the
party's introduction of superdelegates. "There was a view that the Democratic party had allowed the grass
roots to become too empowered and that in too many instances, people whose job it was to get Democrats
elected were being shut out of the process," says McGehee.
How does the Republican Party pick delegates?
Overall, an estimated 2,380 delegates (CNN) will attend the Republican National Convention in Minnesota
in September. Most will have already pledged to whichever candidate won their state. To win the
nomination, a candidate must win the votes of at least 1,191 delegates at the convention. Sen. John McCain
(R-AZ) reached that benchmark in March 2008, becoming the Republican Party's presumptive nominee.
The Republican Party rules for selecting those delegates vary from state to state. In some states, a portion
of delegates is allotted to each congressional district, while in others the entire state is allowed a certain
number of delegates. Each state chooses ten "at-large" delegates and three additional "district delegates" for
each Representative that state has in the House. Each state can also earn bonus delegates if a Republican
candidate won that state in the last presidential election, or if the state elected Republicans to Congress, the
governorship, or state legislative majorities.
The Republican Party used to have a largely winner-take-all system, meaning that whichever candidate
won a given state would then receive all of that state's delegates. Now, Ornstein says, "there are many
winner-take-all states, but there are a substantial number of states, including the blockbuster one in
California, that also are proportional." McGehee says that in a state like California, "if there is a 51 to 49
vote, both candidates may end up with the same number of delegates" in a proportional system. States
using a proportional system allocate delegates to candidates proportionally to the percentage of votes that
candidate won in the primary election.
How does the Democratic Party pick delegates?
Eighty percent of the 4,119 delegates will arrive at the Democratic National Convention having already
been pledged to a specific candidate during the primaries and caucuses. The number of delegates needed to
win the Democratic nomination is 2,118 (USA Today). The Democratic Party system was designed to be
proportional, which could have led to Sens. Barack Obama (D-IL) and Hillary Clinton (D-NY) ending up
with "roughly similar numbers," says Peter Beinart, CFR's senior fellow for U.S. foreign policy. "Even the
way it's done proportionally tends to lead to parity, in the sense that the threshold you need to get delegates
is fairly low." Any Democratic candidate receiving at least 15 percent of the vote in a given primary or
caucus is entitled to a proportional number of delegates from that state.
In states like Illinois, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York, the Democratic delegate selection process is
integrated with the primary voting process. "People actually go and run on a slate as a delegate, and if their
candidate wins the election, they can themselves win the election as a delegate based on their own votes
that they received in the primaries," says Democratic strategist Devine. The local political organization
generally decides which potential delegates appear on the slate, though whether that decision is made by
the county, congressional district, or state level varies from state to state, and by the stage in the electoral
process.
Some states, such as New Hampshire, have pre-primary caucuses before the election attended by people
who support a particular candidate. Caucus attendees select a slate of delegates who are then pledged to
their respective candidates. "Let's say there was a congressional district that had six delegates, and the
Obama side won three delegates and theClintonside won three delegates," says Devine. "The slating at the
preprimary caucus would determine an order of delegates from first to sixth. The people who were slated
first, second, and third for each candidate would become the delegates."
Other states have a similar caucus system, but instead of holding the caucus to select the delegates before
the primary, they hold it afterward. In these cases, caucus-goers already know how many delegates each
candidate will be awarded and can select delegates to attend the convention.
In states with caucus systems, like Iowa, caucus-goers elect delegates from separate precinct caucuses to
their county conventions. Then, delegates to the county conventions elect delegates to the state convention
caucuses. Eventually, these caucuses elect delegates to the Democratic National Convention, "and they will
divide along the lines of candidate preference," says Devine. "When we finally get to the end stage of the
process, those remaining delegates will then elect national convention delegates."
What will happen to the Democratic delegates from Florida and Michigan?
Florida and Michigan chose to move the dates of their primary elections to earlier in the campaign season
against the will of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The DNC only allowed certain states to
hold primaries or caucuses before what is known as Super Tuesday on February 5. Only the traditional
early states, like Iowa and New Hampshire, and some states with special permission from the DNC, like
South Carolina and Nevada, were supposed to hold their primaries or caucuses before Super Tuesday. To
punish Florida and Michigan for disobeying party rules, the DNC said their delegates will not be seated at
the Democratic National Convention.
Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-NY) won both Florida and Michigan, although none of the Democratic candidates
campaigned in those states. Clinton fought to allow delegates from those states to participate in the
convention. In her victory speech after winning the Florida race, Clinton promised to do everything in her
power (CBS) to "make sure that not only are Florida's Democratic delegates seated, but Florida is in the
winning column for the Democrats in 2008."
In May 2008, the Democratic Party's Rules and Bylaws Committee (RBC) voted to seat all 128 members of
the Michigan delegation, but each delegate will only receive a half a vote. The RBC also decided to divide
the Michigan delegates 69-59 in favor of Clinton. Likewise, all 211 of Florida's delegation will be seated at
the DNC, but with only one half of a vote for each delegate. The committee decided to seat the Florida
delegates according to the January primary results, with 105 pledged delegates for Clinton and 67 for
Obama, but with only half a vote for each.
What is the role of independents?
Because independent voters are unaffiliated with any party, they do not as a group receive delegates or hold
their own national nominating convention or meeting. However, more than half of the states that held
primaries Super Tuesday allowed participation from voters unaffiliated with any party. Some states allow
voters to switch their party affiliation the day before an election, so that independents can choose to register
as a Republican or Democrat if they support a specific candidate, says CFR's Beinart. Elsewhere, voters can
pick whichever candidate they prefer, regardless of party affiliation. Still, a total of 18 states nationwide do
not allow independents to vote in primaries at all.
Independents can play an important role in states like New Hampshire, where a large number of voters are
registered as independents, and in South Carolina, where 39 percent of the independent vote (CBS/AP)
went to Sen. John McCain (R-AZ). Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX) and Obama have also enjoyed a base of support
from independent voters during this campaign.
Third parties, like the Green Party, can pick delegates for their own conventions. But because third-party
candidates rarely earn a large percentage of the primary vote, the candidates their delegates select tend to
garner little national attention compared to the Democratic and Republican candidates.
What is a brokered convention?
For many years, party primaries and caucuses have produced the successful nominees and conventions
served to formally anoint the presidential candidates on the first ballot. But in the event of a competitive
primary process, delegates at a convention could have more difficulty in reaching a clear majority of
support for any one candidate. A brokering process then takes place, with multiple ballots a possibility.
Though a brokered convention has not occurred in either party since 1952 when Adlai Stevenson won the
Democratic nomination, some thought it was a strong possibility for either party in 2008 because of the
closeness of both races. The superdelegates were "put in place partly to avoid exactly a brokered
convention," Beinart says. Superdelegates can "put someone over the top" with votes in order to prevent
deadlock. It appears that neither party will have a brokered convention, as Obama and McCain were both
able to attain the minimum number of delegates needed to clinch their respective party's nomination.
Zdroj: http://www.cfr.org/publication/15414/