2020 Georgia Democratic presidential primary explained

Election Name:2020 Georgia Democratic presidential primary
Country:Georgia (U.S. state)
Type:presidential
Ongoing:no
Previous Election:2016 Georgia Democratic presidential primary
Previous Year:2016
Next Election:2024 Georgia Democratic presidential primary
Next Year:2024
Election Date:June 9, 2020
Outgoing Members:VI
Elected Members:WV
Votes For Election:118 delegates (105 pledged, 13 unpledged)
to the Democratic National Convention
The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
Candidate1:Joe Biden
Color1:224192
Home State1:Delaware
Delegate Count1:105
Popular Vote1:922,177
Percentage1:84.9%
Candidate2:Bernie Sanders
(withdrawn)
Color2:228b22
Home State2:Vermont
Delegate Count2:0
Popular Vote2:101,668
Percentage2:9.4%
Party Name:no
Map Size:250px
Pledged national
convention
delegates
TypeType
CD15CD84
CD25CD94
CD34CD104
CD47CD115
CD57CD124
CD65CD136
CD75CD143
14At-large23
Total pledged delegates105
The 2020 Georgia Democratic presidential primary was held on June 9, 2020, alongside the West Virginia primary, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. It was originally scheduled for March 24, 2020, but was moved to June 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and previously cast early mail-in votes were disallowed and separately counted. The election coincided with primaries for Georgia's Class 2 Senate seat and Georgia's U.S. House of Representatives seats. The Georgia primary was an open primary, which awarded 118 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of whom 105 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results.

Former vice president and recently determined presumptive nominee Joe Biden won the primary and all 105 delegates with roughly 85% of the vote, while senator Bernie Sanders only received little more than 9%. Ten other withdrawn candidates, notably senator Elizabeth Warren in third place, made up the remaining 6%.[1] When totalling from the participation in the March 24 and June 9 primaries, this primary theoretically resulted in the highest Democratic presidential primary turnout ever.

Procedure

Georgia was previously scheduled to be the only state voting on March 24, 2020, in the Democratic primaries,[2] after secretary of state Brad Raffensperger had announced the date of the primary on June 19, 2019. The move marked a departure from past years, shifting away from an earlier March contest on Super Tuesday (traditionally made up of many southern states and therefore dubbed the "SEC primary"). Although its later date had the potential to diminish its influence, the Georgia primary's separation from other states on the primary calendar might also have placed it in a more influential position should the primary still have been competitive by then.[3] Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however, the primary was first on March 14 moved by Raffensperger to the general Georgia primary date for other offices on May 19,[4] and then both primaries were on April 9 again rescheduled to June 9, with Georgia voting alongside equally rescheduled West Virginia on that day.[5] More than 200,000 votes had already been cast by mail in the March 24 primary before it was cancelled. These votes were not included in the official June 9 primary result, however they were separately counted.[6] Voters who participated in the March 24 primary were able to vote again in the June 9 primary, but only for other offices.[7]

Voting was expected to take place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 7:00 p.m. In the open primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 105 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 3 and 7 were allocated to each of the state's 14 congressional districts and another 14 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 23 at-large delegates. Due to the original March date the primary as part of Stage I on the primary timetable received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on a March date.[8]

District-level delegates were elected on May 23 (caucuses to be held online, previously scheduled for March 28 or March 29) and then selected the 14 pledged PLEO delegates also online on June 20 (previously scheduled for April 18).[9] The state committee meeting was subsequently held also on June 20 and voted on the 23 at-large delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 13 unpledged PLEO delegates: 8 members of the Democratic National Committee, 4 representatives from Congress, and former president Jimmy Carter.[10]

Candidates

The following candidates qualified for the ballot in Georgia:[11]

Running

Withdrawn

Polling

Poll sourceDate(s)
administered
Sample
size
Margin
Joe
Biden
Michael
Bloomberg
Pete
Buttigieg
Kamala
Harris
Bernie
Sanders
Elizabeth
Warren
Andrew
Yang
OtherUndecided
Apr 8, 2020Sanders suspends his campaign
The Progress Campaign (D)Mar 12–21, 2020913 (RV)± 4.6%63%34%2.3%
University of Georgia[13] Mar 4–14, 2020807± 3.4%66%22%1%11%
Mar 5, 2020Warren withdraws from the race
Mar 4, 2020Bloomberg withdraws from the race
Mar 1, 2020Buttigieg withdraws from the race
Landmark Communications[14] Feb 12, 2020500± 4.3%32%14%5%14%4%6%26%
Feb 11, 2020Yang withdraws from the race
Dec 3, 2019Harris withdraws from the race
SurveyUSA[15] Nov 15–18, 2019536± 5.2%36%6%7%6%17%14%5%9%
Climate Nexus[16] Nov 4–10, 2019457± 3.6%31%4%4%14%14%2%11%19%
Landmark Communications[17] Sep 18–21, 2019500± 4.1%41%5%6%8%17%2%6%15%
Change Research[18] Sep 7–11, 2019755± 3.6%33%7%7%17%22%3%10%
SurveyMonkey[19] Jul 2–16, 2019402± 6.4%31%5%15%12%13%4%11%9%

Results

2020 Georgia Democratic presidential primary[20] ! Candidate! Votes! %! Delegates[21]
Joe Biden922,17784.86105
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)101,6689.36rowspan=11
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn)21,9062.02
Andrew Yang (withdrawn)9,1170.84
Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn)7,6570.70
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn)6,3460.58
Michael Bennet (withdrawn)5,1540.47
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn)4,3170.40
Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn)4,1170.38
Tom Steyer (withdrawn)1,7520.16
John Delaney (withdrawn)1,4760.14
Deval Patrick (withdrawn)1,0420.10
Total1,086,729100%105

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. News: Georgia State Primary Election Results 2020. New York Times. June 9, 2020 . June 9, 2020.
  2. Web site: Putnam. Josh. The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar. Frontloading HQ. June 23, 2019.
  3. News: Bluestein. Greg. Georgia officials set presidential primary date for March 24. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. June 19, 2019. June 23, 2019.
  4. News: Bluestein. Greg. Georgia delays presidential primary due to coronavirus pandemic. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. March 14, 2020. March 14, 2020.
  5. News: Mark Niesse. Georgia primary delayed again to June 9 during coronavirus emergency. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. April 9, 2020. April 9, 2020.
  6. Web site: March 24, 2020 Presidential Preference Primary. Georgia Secretary of State. 26 June 2020. 4 July 2020.
  7. Web site: COVID-19 Georgia Voter Guide: Vote by mail basics, FYIs, and FAQs.. Advancing Justice-Atlanta. 4 July 2020. 5 July 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200705004311/https://advancingjustice-atlanta.org/resource/download/466. dead.
  8. Web site: Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses. The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. January 1, 2023.
  9. Web site: Coronavirus prompts new convention delegate selection plan for Georgia Democrats. Service. Dave Williams Bureau Chief Capitol Beat News. MDJOnline.com. April 28, 2020 . en. 2020-04-28.
  10. Web site: Georgia Democratic Delegation 2020. The Green Papers. May 20, 2019. June 23, 2019.
  11. Web site: Qualifying Candidate Information . elections.sos.ga.gov . January 1, 2023 . 1 . January 14, 2020.
  12. https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-d/georgia/ FiveThirtyEight
  13. https://drive.google.com/file/d/1KgArfbrw9PVgr71ef97ByvwRclpEnyds/view University of Georgia
  14. https://www.wsbtv.com/news/local/exclusive-channel-2-poll-finds-biden-with-large-lead-georgia-presidential-primary/523MBVBEZFC6DHI5RK5LS6GLAY/ Landmark
  15. http://www.surveyusa.com/client/PollReport.aspx?g=128c319e-4d47-4e41-827c-c67900e8414b SurveyUSA
  16. https://climatenexus.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Georgia-Poll-Toplines.pdf Climate Nexus
  17. http://landmarkcommunications.net/wsb-tv-landmark-poll-democratic-presidential-preference-primary-sept-21st/ Landmark
  18. https://www.changeresearch.com/georgia-poll-sept-7-11-2019 Change Research
  19. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/6206541-NBC-News-SurveyMonkey-Georgia-Poll-7-19.html SurveyMonkey
  20. Web site: Election Night Reporting . results.enr.clarityelections.com . Georgia Secretary of State . June 10, 2020.
  21. Web site: Delegate Tracker . interactives.ap.org . Associated Press . June 9, 2020.