Go to main menu
Heavy
Share on Facebook
Share on Flipboard
Share via E-mailMore share optionsGo to search form
Search
Search Heavy
Heavy.com
News
What Happens to the Delegates After a Presidential Candidate Drops Out?
Share on Facebook
Share on Flipboard
Share via E-mailMore share options
13.7K Views
181 Shares
By Caroline Burke
Updated Mar 1, 2020 at 8:25pm
Getty
What happens to a presidential candidate’s delegates after they drop out? Many people may be wondering this question now that Pete Buttigieg is out of the presidential race.
Buttigieg dropped out of the presidential race on March 1, 2020. By early March, he had won 26 pledged delegate votes in total: 23 from the Iowa and New Hampshire caucuses, and three from the Nevada caucus. He received no pledged delegate votes in South Carolina. After Joe Biden and Bernie Sanders, he had received the most delegates of any candidate, by that point in the race.
Confusing the matter further, it’s possible that Buttigieg will earn even more delegates after he’s dropped out. This is because he (and other presidential candidates, like Tom Steyer and Cory Booker) will still be on the Super Tuesday voting ballots. According to Balletopedia, the Super Tuesday ballots are determined off of a voting deadline in early January. Because Buttigieg was still in the race by that time, he’ll be on the ballot for Super Tuesday.
So where do those 26 or more delegates belonging to Buttigieg go? It depends on the state.
Here’s what you need to know:
Delegates Can Go a Number of Directions, After a Presidential Candidate Drops Out
Understanding the Primaries: Delegates, Democracy, and America’s Nonstop Political PartyIn which John seeks to understand the strange and labyrinthine process used by the Republican and Democratic parties to select a nominee for President, focusing on the great state of Missouri, where the races were close but the delegate counts weren’t. Along the way, there’s a bit of discussion about political parties in U.S. politics, congressional redistricting and gerrymandering, superdelegates, Donald Trump, Ted Cruz, John Kasich, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. A little more historical background on the emergence of primaries and caucuses in American politics: http://blog.constitutioncenter.org/2015/07/kennedys-nomination-was-a-big-moment-for-the-primary-system/ All the delegate math you can handle: http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/election-2016/delegate-targets/ and all the primary polls/forecasts you can handle: http://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/election-2016/primary-forecast Know your superdelegates and who (if anyone) they’ve pledged to support at the Democratic convention in Philadelphia: http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/D-Unpledged.phtml Lots of information on redistricting in Missouri after the 2010 census: https://ballotpedia.org/Redistricting_in_Missouri More information on how the Missouri Republican party allocates its delegates for the 2016 Republican convention in Cleveland: http://www.thegreenpapers.com/P16/MO-R Thanks to Rosianna for illustrations (http://youtube.com/rosianna) and Stan Muller for the video title and help understanding political parties in the U.S. —- Subscribe to our newsletter! http://nerdfighteria.com/newsletter/ And join the community at http://nerdfighteria.com http://effyeahnerdfighters.com Help transcribe videos – http://nerdfighteria.info John’s twitter – http://twitter.com/johngreen John’s tumblr – http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com Hank’s twitter – http://twitter.com/hankgreen Hank’s tumblr – http://edwardspoonhands.tumblr.com2016-03-22T21:43:26.000Z
In most states, when a candidate drops out, his or her delegates go to the national convention uncommitted to any candidate (that’s why it means they’re “pledged” after a caucus; they haven’t actually voted, and will only officially vote at the Democratic National Convention). From there, they can technically vote for anyone they choose, like a superdelegate.
On the other hand, some states like Virginia and Nevada require that delegates vote for their pledged candidate in the first round of the convention no matter what, The Atlanta Journal Constitution reports.
However, if a candidate drops out of the race and then goes on to endorse another active presidential candidate, then those delegates are expected to vote for the candidate the person has endorsed. For example, if Buttigieg endorsed Joe Biden after he dropped out, his delegates would have to vote for Biden at the convention, assuming Biden was still in the race by then
https://heavy.com/news/2020/03/what-happens-delegates-candidate-drops-out/
...I figured if YOU don’t know NOBODY does, so I looked it up.
Don’t forget to preview your posts, rusty!
Okay then.
Good to know.
I suppose if or when he endorses someone,that’s it,and at this late date, he stays on the ballot ...he’ll keep the others from any of his delegates. Right.
Jeez!
In Texas Primaries there are republicans running against President Trump and yet they were no longer viable,but their names were still on the ballot regardless.