What’s the Deal with Delegates?
TL;DR: Delegates play a crucial role in US presidential elections. These individuals represent their state or community at their party’s presidential nominating convention, where they determine their party’s nominees and priority issues.
Role of Delegates
Nominate Presidential Candidates: The primary role of delegates is to attend their party's national convention and cast their votes to nominate the party's candidate for the presidency. The candidate who receives a majority of delegate votes at the convention becomes the party's official nominee.
Adopt the Party Platform: Besides nominating the presidential candidate, delegates at the national convention also discuss and vote on the party's platform. This platform outlines the party's policies, priorities, and principles for the upcoming election cycle.
How Delegates are Chosen
Delegates are selected through a series of primary elections and caucuses held in each state and territory. The process varies by state and by party, with some using primaries (elections) and others using caucuses (meetings) to determine how their delegates are allocated to the presidential candidates. Delegates tend to be party insiders, activists, or early supporters of a particular presidential candidate. While voters across the country cast ballots for their preferred candidate during the primary season, it’s the delegates at the national conventions who ultimately select the presidential nominees for each major party.
Types of Delegates
There are two types of delegates:
Pledged Delegates: These delegates are elected or chosen at the state level with the understanding that they will support a specific candidate at the national convention, based on the results of the state's primary election or caucus. The number of pledged delegates won by each candidate in a state is usually proportional to the vote they received.
Unpledged Delegates or Superdelegates: Unlike pledged delegates, superdelegates are not bound to the results of primaries or caucuses. This category includes party leaders and elected officials, and they are free to support any candidate at the national convention. The Democratic Party has superdelegates, while the Republican Party has a very small number of unpledged delegates, primarily consisting of party officials.
Importance of Delegates: Bridging Voter Preference and Official Nominations
Winning the popular vote in a primary or caucus gives a candidate bragging rights and media attention. However, it’s the candidate who accumulates a majority of delegates at the convention who advances to the general election.
Similar to the general election where a candidate needs a majority of votes in the Electoral College to win the White House, in the primaries, candidates need a majority of delegate votes to secure the party’s presidential nomination. Therefore, delegates play a crucial role in the US. the presidential election process, acting as a bridge between voter preferences at the state level and the official nomination of candidates.