Democrats' 2020 Primary/Caucus Calendar Nears Completion
By 270toWin Staff
August 3, 2019
Guam Democrats have chosen May 2, 2020 for their territorial caucuses. With this selection, each state and territory now has a Democratic primary or caucus date on the 2020 election calendar, although a few of the dates remain tentative. Delegate information on the map below is also preliminary. Locations holding their primaries on April 1 or later will receive bonus pledged delegates.
Update: On August 2, in one of his last acts before leaving office, the governor of Puerto Rico signed a law moving the 2020 primary to March 29. The content below has been changed to reflect this.
February: As has become tradition, Iowa will kick the nominating calendar off with its caucuses on the 3rd. The first primary will be in New Hampshire the following Tuesday (the 11th). The other early states of Nevada and South Carolina will close out the month. These four states only account for about 4% of pledged delegates, but have an outsized influence on which candidates are viable.
Super Tuesday: March 3rd is by far the largest day on the 2020 calendar, with 16 contests scheduled. Two states, California and Texas will account for nearly half of the 1,358 pledged delegates that day. To gain more influence in the process, California has moved its primary up from June, where it had been held the last two presidential cycles.
Note that a majority of votes in California will be cast by mail, with the voting period beginning February 3, the same date as the Iowa caucuses. The state is notoriously slow at counting votes; we likely won't know the exact delegate allocation for several weeks. The bottom line is that the number of candidates in the race is likely to be quite different from when the state starts voting until we have the final results.
Remainder of March: Even without Super Tuesday, March would be the busiest month on the Democratic calendar. An additional 12 contests are scheduled between March 10 and the 24th. The busiest day will be the 17th, with delegate-rich Florida, Illinois and Ohio holding primaries. (Note that a recent change in Ohio law moved the primary from the 10th to the 17th for 2020).
April: The busiest day of the month looks to be the 28th, when New York (date is still tentative), Pennsylvania and four other east coast states hold primaries. These states may see their pledged delegate numbers increased by slightly more than 20%* from what is on the map above. They'll receive a delegate bonus for holding their contest in April as well as an additional one for participating in what the Party calls a "regional cluster".
May and June: The calendar winds down, with the final event likely to be the Virgin Islands caucuses on June 6. Locations holding their contests after April 30 will receive a larger calendar-based pledged delegate bonus.
* The calendar bonus for April is 10%, while the cluster bonus is an additional 15%. The bonus applies to 'base delegates', which are approximately 85% of total pledged delegates.
