2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries

Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee for president in the 2016 United States presidential election.

The elections took place within all fifty U.S. states, the District of Columbia, five U.S. territories, and Democrats Abroad and occurred between February 1 and June 14, 2016.

2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries
← 2012 February 1 to June 14, 2016 2020 →

4,763 delegate votes to the Democratic National Convention
2,382 delegate votes needed to win
  2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries
Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders
Home state New York Vermont
Delegate count 2,842 1,865
Contests won 34 23
Popular vote 16,917,853 13,210,550
Percentage 55.2% 43.1%

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries2016 California Democratic primary2016 Oregon Democratic primary2016 Washington Democratic caucuses2016 Idaho Democratic caucuses2016 Nevada Democratic caucuses2016 Utah Democratic caucuses2016 Arizona Democratic primary2016 Montana Democratic primary2016 Wyoming Democratic caucuses2016 Colorado Democratic caucuses2016 New Mexico Democratic primary2016 North Dakota Democratic caucuses2016 South Dakota Democratic primary2016 Nebraska Democratic caucuses2016 Kansas Democratic caucuses2016 Oklahoma Democratic primary2016 Texas Democratic primary2016 Minnesota Democratic caucuses2016 Iowa Democratic caucuses2016 Missouri Democratic primary2016 Arkansas Democratic primary2016 Louisiana Democratic primary2016 Wisconsin Democratic primary2016 Illinois Democratic primary2016 Michigan Democratic primary2016 Indiana Democratic primary2016 Ohio Democratic primary2016 Kentucky Democratic primary2016 Tennessee Democratic primary2016 Mississippi Democratic primary2016 Alabama Democratic primary2016 Georgia Democratic primary2016 Florida Democratic primary2016 South Carolina Democratic primary2016 North Carolina Democratic primary2016 Virginia Democratic primary2016 West Virginia Democratic primary2016 District of Columbia Democratic primary2016 Maryland Democratic primary2016 Delaware Democratic primary2016 Pennsylvania Democratic primary2016 New Jersey Democratic primary2016 New York Democratic primary2016 Connecticut Democratic primary2016 Rhode Island Democratic primary2016 Vermont Democratic primary2016 New Hampshire Democratic primary2016 Maine Democratic caucuses2016 Massachusetts Democratic primary2016 Alaska Democratic caucuses2016 Hawaii Democratic caucuses2016 Puerto Rico Democratic primary2016 United States Virgin Islands Democratic caucuses2016 Northern Mariana Islands Democratic caucuses2016 American Samoa Democratic caucuses2016 Guam Democratic caucuses2016 Democrats Abroad primary
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries
First place by initial pledged delegate allocation

Previous Democratic nominee

Barack Obama

Democratic nominee

Hillary Clinton

Six major candidates entered the race starting April 12, 2015, when former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton formally announced her second bid for the presidency. She was followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee, former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig. A draft movement was started to encourage Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to seek the presidency. Warren declined to run, as did incumbent Vice President Joe Biden. Webb, Chafee, and Lessig withdrew prior to the February 1, 2016, Iowa caucuses.

Clinton won Iowa by the closest margin in the history of the state's Democratic caucus to date. O'Malley suspended his campaign after a distant third-place finish, leaving Clinton and Sanders as the only two candidates. The race turned out to be more competitive than expected, with Sanders decisively winning New Hampshire, while Clinton subsequently won Nevada and won a landslide victory in South Carolina. Clinton then secured numerous important wins in each of the nine most populous states including California, New York, Florida, and Texas, while Sanders scored various victories in between. He then laid off a majority of staff after the New York primary and Clinton's multi-state sweep on April 26. On June 6, the Associated Press and NBC News stated that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including both pledged and unpledged delegates (superdelegates), to secure the nomination. In doing so, she became the first woman to ever be the presumptive nominee of any major political party in the United States. On June 7, Clinton secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning in the California and New Jersey primaries. President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren endorsed Clinton on June 9. Sanders confirmed on June 24 that he would vote for Clinton over Donald Trump in the general election and endorsed Clinton on July 12 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

On July 22, WikiLeaks published the Democratic National Committee email leak, in which DNC operatives seemed to deride Bernie Sanders' campaign and discuss ways to advance Clinton's nomination, leading to the resignation of DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz and other implicated officials. The leak was allegedly part of an operation by the Russian government to undermine Hillary Clinton. Although the ensuing controversy initially focused on emails that dated from relatively late in the primary, when Clinton was already close to securing the nomination, the emails cast doubt on the DNC's neutrality and, according to Sanders operatives and multiple media commentators, showed that the DNC had favored Clinton since early on. This was evidenced by alleged bias in the scheduling and conduct of the debates, as well as controversial DNC–Clinton agreements regarding financial arrangements and control over policy and hiring decisions. Other media commentators have disputed the significance of the emails, arguing that the DNC's internal preference for Clinton was not historically unusual and did not affect the primary enough to sway the outcome, as Clinton received over 3 million more popular votes and 359 more pledged delegates than Sanders. The controversies ultimately led to the formation of a DNC "unity" commission to recommend reforms in the party's primary process.

On July 26, 2016, the Democratic National Convention officially nominated Clinton for president and a day later, Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for vice president. Clinton and Kaine would go on to lose to the Republican ticket of Donald Trump and Mike Pence in the general election, though Clinton won the popular vote.

Candidates

Nominee

Candidate Born Most recent position State Announced Candidacy Total pledged delegates Contests won Running mate Ref.
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Hillary Clinton
October 26, 1947
(age 68)
Chicago, Illinois
U.S. Secretary of State
(2009–2013)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
New York
April 12, 2015 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
(CampaignPositions)
FEC Filing

Secured nomination:
June 6, 2016
2205 / 4051 (54%) 34
AL, AR, AS, AZ,
CA, CT, DC, DE, FL,
GA, GU, IA, IL, KY,
LA, MA, MD, MO,
MP, MS, NC, NJ,
NM, NV, NY, OH,
PA, PR, SC, SD,
TN, TX, VA, VI
Tim Kaine

Withdrew at the convention

Candidate Born Most recent position State Announced Lost Nomination Candidacy Total pledged delegates Contests won Ref.
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Bernie Sanders
September 8, 1941
(age 74)
Brooklyn, New York
U.S. Senator from Vermont
(2007–present)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Vermont
April 30, 2015 July 26, 2016
(endorsed Hillary Clinton)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
(CampaignPositions)
FEC Filing
1846 / 4051 (46%) 23
AK, CO, DA, HI,
ID, IN, KS, ME,
MI, MN, MT, NE,
NH, ND, OK, OR,
RI, UT, VT, WA,
WI, WV, WY

Withdrew during the primaries

Candidate Born Most recent position State Announced Withdrew Candidacy Ref
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Martin O'Malley
January 18, 1963
(age 53)
Washington, D.C.
Governor of Maryland
(2007–2015)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Maryland
May 31, 2015 February 1, 2016
(endorsed Hillary Clinton)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
(CampaignWebsite Archived January 26, 2016, at the Wayback Machine)
FEC Filing

Withdrew before the primaries

Candidate Born Most recent position State Announced Withdrew Candidacy Ref
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Lincoln Chafee
March 26, 1953 (age 63)
Providence, Rhode Island
Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015) 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Rhode Island
June 3, 2015 October 23, 2015
(endorsed Hillary Clinton)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
(CampaignWebsite)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Jim Webb
February 9, 1946 (age 70)
Saint Joseph, Missouri
U.S. Senator from Virginia (2007–2013) 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Virginia
July 7, 2015 October 20, 2015
(no endorsement)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
(CampaignWebsite)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Lawrence Lessig
June 3, 1961 (age 55)
Rapid City, South Dakota
Professor at Harvard Law School (2009–2016) 2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Massachusetts
September 9, 2015 November 2, 2015
(no endorsement)
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
(CampaignWebsite)

Other candidates' results

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by news channels and were invited to forums and candidate debates. For reference, Clinton received 16,849,779 votes in the primaries.

Candidates in this section are sorted by number of votes received
Martin O'Malley Lawrence Lessig Jim Webb Lincoln Chafee
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Governor of Maryland
(2007–2015)
Harvard law professor
(2009–2016)
U.S. Senator
from Virginia
(2007–2013)
Governor of Rhode Island
(2011–2015)
Campaign Campaign Campaign Campaign
110,423 votes 4 write-in votes in New Hampshire 2 write-in votes in New Hampshire none

Other candidates participated in one or more state primaries without receiving major coverage or substantial vote counts.

Timeline

Background

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, April 2015

In the weeks following the re-election of President Obama in the 2012 election, media speculation regarding potential candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election began to circulate. The speculation centered on the prospects of Clinton, then-Secretary of State, making a second presidential bid in the 2016 election. Clinton had previously served as a U.S. Senator for New York (2001–09) and was the First Lady of the U.S. (1993–2001). A January 2013 Washington Post–ABC News poll indicated that she had high popularity among the American public.

This polling information prompted numerous political pundits and observers to anticipate that Clinton would mount a second presidential bid in 2016, entering the race as the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination. From the party's liberal left wing came calls for a more progressive candidate to challenge what was perceived by many within this segment as the party's establishment. Elizabeth Warren quickly became a highly touted figure within this movement as well as the object of a draft movement to run in the primaries, despite her repeated denials of interest in doing so.

The MoveOn.org campaign 'Run Warren Run' announced that it would disband on June 8, 2015, opting to focus its efforts toward progressive issues. The draft campaign's New Hampshire staffer, Kurt Ehrenberg, had joined Sanders' team and most of the remaining staffers were expected to follow suit. Given the historical tendency for sitting vice presidents to seek the presidency in election cycles in which the incumbent president is not a candidate, there was also considerable speculation regarding a potential presidential run by incumbent Vice President Joe Biden, who had previously campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in the election cycles of 1988 and 2008.

This speculation was further fueled by Biden's own expressions of interest in a possible run in 2016. However, on October 21, 2015, speaking from a podium in the Rose Garden with his wife and President Obama by his side, Biden announced his decision not to enter the race, as he was still dealing with the loss of his son, Beau, who died weeks earlier at the age of 47. Biden became the nominee for the Democratic Party four years later in the 2020 presidential election where he became the 46th President of the United States after defeating incumbent president Donald Trump in the general election.

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Senator Bernie Sanders during a rally, July 2015

On May 26, 2015, Sanders officially announced his run as a presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, after an informal announcement on April 30 and speculation since early 2014. Sanders had previously served as Mayor of Burlington, Vermont (1981–89), Vermont's sole U.S. Representative (1991–2007) and Vermont's junior Senator (2007–present). He emerged as the biggest rival to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, backed by a strong grassroots campaign and a social media following.

In November 2014, Jim Webb, a former U.S. Senator who had once served as the U.S. Secretary of the Navy during the Reagan administration, announced the formation of an exploratory committee in preparation for a possible run for the Democratic presidential nomination. This made Webb the first major potential candidate to take a formal action toward seeking the party's 2016 nomination.

In June 2015, Lincoln Chafee, former Governor and Senator of Rhode Island, announced his campaign. Chafee had been a Republican while serving in the senate, and an Independent while serving as Governor. He formed an exploratory committee on April 3. Chafee endorsed Barack Obama in 2008 and served as co-chair of his re-election campaign in 2012.

Martin O'Malley, former Governor of Maryland as well as a former Mayor of Baltimore, made formal steps toward a campaign for the party's nomination in January 2015 with the hiring and retaining of personnel who had served the previous year as political operatives in Iowa – the first presidential nominating state in the primary elections cycle – as staff for his political action committee (PAC). O'Malley had started the "O’ Say Can You See" PAC in 2012 which had, prior to 2015, functioned primarily as fundraising vehicles for various Democratic candidates, as well as for two 2014 ballot measures in Maryland. With the 2015 staffing moves, the PAC ostensibly became a vehicle for O'Malley – who had for several months openly contemplated a presidential bid – to lay the groundwork for a potential campaign for the party's presidential nomination.

In August 2015, Lawrence Lessig unexpectedly announced his intention to enter the race, promising to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million by Labor Day. After accomplishing this, Lessig formally announced his campaign. He described his candidacy as a referendum on electoral reform legislation, prioritizing a single issue: the Citizen Equality Act of 2017, a proposal that couples campaign finance reform with other laws aimed at curbing gerrymandering and ensuring voting access.

Overview

Nominee
Ended campaigns
Iowa Caucuses
Super Tuesday
D.C. Primary
Convention 2016
Jim Webb presidential campaign, 2016Lincoln Chafee presidential campaign, 2016Lawrence Lessig presidential campaign, 2016Martin O'Malley presidential campaign, 2016Bernie Sanders presidential campaign, 2016Hillary Clinton presidential campaign, 20162016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries

February 2016: early primaries

Despite being heavily favored in polls issued weeks earlier, Clinton was only able to defeat Sanders in the first-in-the-nation Iowa Caucus by the closest margin in the history of the contest: 49.8% to 49.6%. Clinton collected 700.47 state delegate equivalents to Sanders' 696.92, a difference of one-quarter of a percentage point. This led to speculation that she won due to six coin-toss tiebreakers all resulting in her favor. However, the only challenge to the caucus' results was in a single precinct, which gave Clinton a fifth delegate.

Date State/territory Clinton Sanders
February 1 Iowa 49.8% 49.6%
February 9 New Hampshire 38.0% 60.4%
February 20 Nevada 52.6% 47.3%
February 27 South Carolina 73.5% 26.0%

The victory, which was projected to award her 23 pledged national convention delegates, two more than Sanders, made Clinton the first woman to win the Caucus and marked a clear difference from 2008, where she finished in third place behind Obama and John Edwards. Martin O'Malley suspended his campaign after a disappointing third-place finish with only 0.5% of the state delegate equivalents awarded, leaving Clinton and Sanders the only two major candidates in the race. A week later, Sanders won the New Hampshire primary, receiving 60.4% of the popular vote to Clinton's 38%, putting him ahead of Clinton in the overall pledged delegate count by four, and making him the first Jewish candidate of a major party to win a primary. Hillary Clinton's loss in New Hampshire was a regression from 2008, when she defeated Obama, Edwards, and a handful of other candidates including Joe Biden, with 39% of the popular vote.

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Bernie Sanders speaks in Littleton, New Hampshire

Sanders' narrow loss in Iowa and victory in New Hampshire generated speculation about a possible loss for Clinton in Nevada, the next state to hold its caucuses on February 20. For her part, Clinton, who had won the state eight years prior in the 2008 Nevada Democratic caucuses, hoped that a victory would allay concerns about a possible repetition of 2008 when she ultimately lost to Obama despite entering the primary season as the favorite for the nomination. Ultimately, Clinton emerged victorious with 52.6% of the county delegates, a margin of victory similar to her performance in 2008. Sanders, who attained 47.3% of the vote, was projected to receive five fewer pledged delegates than Clinton. The result was not promising for the following weekend's primary in South Carolina, more demographically favorable to Clinton than the prior contests. On February 27, Clinton won the South Carolina primary with 73.5% of the vote, receiving a larger percentage of the African American vote than Barack Obama had eight years earlier – 90% to Obama's 80%.

March 1, 2016: Super Tuesday

Super Tuesday
State/territory Clinton Sanders
Alabama 77.8% 19.2%
American Samoa 68.4% 25.7%
Arkansas 66.3% 29.7%
Colorado 40.4% 59.0%
Georgia 71.3% 28.2%
Massachusetts 49.7% 48.3%
Minnesota 38.3% 61.7%
Oklahoma 41.5% 51.9%
Tennessee 66.1% 32.4%
Texas 65.2% 33.2%
Vermont 13.6% 86.1%
Virginia 64.3% 35.2%
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Hillary Clinton during a rally, in March 2016

The 2016 primary schedule was significantly different from that of 2008. During that election cycle, many states moved their primaries or caucuses to earlier in the calendar to have greater influence over the race. In 2008, February 5 was the earliest date allowed by the Democratic National Committee, leading 23 states and territories to move their elections to that date, the biggest Super Tuesday to ever take place. For 2016, the calendar was more disparate than it was in 2008, with several groups of states voting on different dates, the most important being March 1, March 15, April 26 and June 7. The day with the most contests was March 1, 2016, in which primaries or caucuses were held in 11 states, including six in the Southern United States, and American Samoa. A total of 865 pledged delegates were at stake.

Clinton secured victories in all of the southern contests except Oklahoma. Her biggest victory of the day came in Alabama, where she won 77.8% of the vote against Sanders' 19.2%. Her most significant delegate prize came from Texas, where she received 65.2% of the vote with strong support from non-white as well as white voters. Collectively, the southern states gave Clinton a net gain of 165 pledged delegates. Apart from the South, Clinton also narrowly defeated Sanders in Massachusetts, as well as winning in the territory of American Samoa.

Sanders scored comfortable wins in the Minnesota and Colorado caucuses and the Oklahoma primary. He won an 86.1%–13.6% landslide in his home state of Vermont – one of only two times either of the two main candidates missed the 15% threshold in a state or territory, with the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Clinton received over 87% of the vote, being the other one. Although the results overall were unfavorable for Sanders, his four wins and narrow loss allowed him to remain in the race in anticipation of more favorable territory in New England, the Great Plains, Mountain States and the Pacific Northwest. At the end of the day, Clinton collected 518 pledged delegates to Sanders' 347, taking her lead to 609–412, a difference of 197 pledged delegates.

Mid-March contests

Mid-March contests
State/territory Clinton Sanders
Florida 64.4% 33.3%
Illinois 50.5% 48.7%
Kansas 32.3% 67.7%
Louisiana 71.1% 23.2%
Maine 35.5% 64.3%
Michigan 48.3% 49.8%
Mississippi 82.6% 16.5%
Missouri 49.6% 49.4%
Nebraska 42.9% 57.1%
North Carolina 54.6% 40.8%
N. Mariana Islands 54.0% 34.4%
Ohio 56.5% 42.7%
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Hillary Clinton speaks in Phoenix, Arizona, in March 2016
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Bill Clinton campaigning for his wife in March 2016

Sanders found more hospitable ground on the weekend of March 5, 2016, winning caucuses in Kansas, Maine and Nebraska by significant margins. Clinton answered with an even larger win in Louisiana's primary, limiting Sanders' net gain for the weekend to only four delegates. Clinton would also win the Northern Mariana Islands caucus, held the following weekend on March 12. Two states had held nominating contests on March 8 – Michigan and Mississippi – with Clinton heavily favored to win both.

Mississippi went for Clinton, as expected, by a landslide margin. The Mississippi primary was the highest vote share Clinton won in any state. However, Sanders stunned by scoring a narrow win in Michigan. Analysts floated a number of theories to explain the failure of the Michigan polling, with most centering on pollsters' erroneous assumptions about the composition of the electorate stemming from the 2008 primary in Michigan not having been contested due to an impasse between the state party and DNC.

Although Clinton expanded her delegate lead, some journalists suggested Sanders' upset might presage her defeat in other delegate-rich Midwestern states, such as Missouri, Ohio and Illinois, who voted a week later on March 15, along with North Carolina and Florida, where Clinton was more clearly favored. Clinton was able to sweep all five primaries, extending her pledged delegate lead by around 100 delegates, although Sanders was able to hold Clinton to narrow margins in her birth-state of Illinois and especially Missouri, where Clinton won by a mere 0.2 points.

Missouri state law allowed for a possible recount had any of the candidates requested it; however, Sanders forwent the opportunity on the basis that it would not significantly affect the delegate allocation. By the end of the evening, Clinton had expanded her pledged delegate lead to more than 320, several times larger than her greatest deficit in the 2008 primary.[citation needed]

Late March and early April

Late March / Early April contests
State/territory Clinton Sanders
Alaska 18.4% 81.6%
Arizona 56.5% 41.1%
Democrats Abroad 30.9% 68.9%
Hawaii 28.4% 71.5%
Idaho 21.2% 78.0%
Utah 20.3% 79.3%
Washington 27.1% 72.7%
Wisconsin 43.1% 56.6%
Wyoming 44.3% 55.7%

Following the March 15 primaries, the race moved to a series of contests more favorable for Sanders. On March 21, the results of the Democrats Abroad primary (held March 1–8) were announced. Sanders was victorious and picked up nine delegates to Clinton's four, closing his delegate deficit by five. Arizona, Idaho and Utah held primaries on March 22, dubbed "Western Tuesday" by media. Despite continued efforts by Sanders to close the gap in Arizona after his surprise win in Michigan, Clinton won the primary with 56.3% of the vote. However, Clinton lost both Idaho and Utah by roughly 60 points, allowing Sanders to close his delegate deficit by 25.

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Sanders speaks in Seattle, Washington, March 2016

The next states to vote were Alaska, Hawaii and Washington on March 26, 2016. All three states were considered as favorable for Sanders, and most political analysts expected him to win them all, given the demographics and Sanders' strong performance in previous caucuses. Sanders finished the day with a net gain of roughly 66 delegates over Clinton. His largest win was in Alaska, where he defeated Clinton with 82% of the vote, although the majority of his delegate gain came from the considerably more populous state of Washington, which he won by a 46% margin, outperforming then-Senator Obama's 2008 results, when he defeated Clinton 68%–31%.

The Clinton and Sanders campaigns reached an agreement on April 4 for a ninth debate to take place on April 14 (five days before the New York primary) in Brooklyn, New York, which would air on CNN and NY1. On April 5, Sanders won the Wisconsin primary by 13 and 1/2 percentage points, closing his delegate deficit by 10 more. The Wyoming caucuses were held on April 9, which Sanders won with 55.7% of the state convention delegates choosing him; however, Clinton had a stronger showing than expected, given her demographic disadvantage and that she did not campaign personally in the state. Each candidate was estimated to have earned 7 of Wyoming's 14 pledged delegates.

Late April and May

Late April and May
State/territory Clinton Sanders
New York 58.0% 42.0%
Connecticut 51.7% 46.5%
Delaware 59.8% 39.2%
Maryland 63.0% 33.3%
Pennsylvania 55.6% 43.6%
Rhode Island 43.3% 55.0%
Indiana 47.5% 52.5%
Guam 59.5% 40.5%
West Virginia 35.8% 51.4%
Kentucky 46.8% 46.3%
Oregon 42.5% 55.9%
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Sanders speaks in Brooklyn, New York, April 2016

On April 19, Clinton won New York by 16 points. While Sanders performed well in Upstate New York and with younger voters, Clinton performed well among all other age groups and non-whites, and she won a majority in all boroughs of New York City.

Five Northeastern states held primaries a week later on April 26. The day was dubbed the "Super Tuesday III" or the "Acela Primary" after Amtrak's Acela Express train service that connects these states. Clinton won in Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Sanders won the Rhode Island primary.

On May 3, Sanders pulled off a surprise victory in the Indiana primary, winning by a five-point margin despite trailing in all the state's polls. Clinton won the Guam caucus on May 7 and, on May 10, she won the non-binding Nebraska primary while Sanders won in West Virginia.

Clinton narrowly won Kentucky on May 17 by half a percentage point and gained one delegate, after heavily campaigning in the state. On the same day, Sanders won his second closed primary in Oregon, gaining nine delegates, a net gain of eight on the day. Clinton won the non-binding Washington primary on May 24.

June contests

June contests
State/territory Clinton Sanders
Virgin Islands 87.1% 12.9%
Puerto Rico 59.4% 37.5%
California 53.1% 46.0%
Montana 44.6% 51.0%
New Jersey 63.3% 36.7%
New Mexico 51.5% 48.5%
North Dakota 25.6% 64.2%
South Dakota 51.0% 49.0%
District of Columbia 78.7% 21.1%
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Clinton speaks in Washington, D.C., June 2016

June contained the final contests of the Democratic primaries, and both Sanders and Clinton invested heavily into winning the California primary. Clinton led the polls in California but some predicted a narrow race. On June 4 and 5, Clinton won two decisive victories in the Virgin Islands caucus and Puerto Rico primary. On June 6, both the Associated Press and NBC News reported that Clinton had sufficient support from pledged and unpledged delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Clinton's campaign seemed reluctant to accept the mantle of "presumptive nominee" before all the voting was concluded, while Sanders' campaign stated it would continue to run and accused the media of a "rush to judgement." Six states held their primaries on June 7. Clinton won in California, New Jersey, New Mexico and South Dakota. Sanders won Montana and North Dakota, the latter being the only caucus contest held on that day. Clinton finally declared victory on the evening of June 7, as the results ensured that she had won a majority of the pledged delegates and the popular vote.

Sanders stated he would continue to run for the Democratic Party's nomination in the final primary in the District of Columbia on June 14, which Clinton won. Both campaigns met at a downtown Washington D.C. hotel after the primary. The Sanders campaign said that they would release a video statement on June 16 to clarify the future of Sanders' campaign; the video announced that Sanders looked forward to help Clinton defeat Trump. On July 12, 2016, Sanders endorsed Clinton in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

July 2016: National Convention and email leaks

Email leaks

On July 22, 2016, WikiLeaks released online tens of thousands of messages leaked from the e-mail accounts of seven key DNC staff. Some e-mails showed two DNC staffers discussing the possibility that Sanders' possible atheism might harm him in a general election with religious voters. Others showed a few staffers had expressed personal preferences that Clinton should become the nominee, suggesting that the party's leadership had worked to undermine Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign. Then-DNC chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz called the accusations lies.

The furor raised over this matter escalated to Wasserman Schultz's resignation ahead of the convention, and that of Marshals, Dacey, and Communications Director Luis Miranda afterwards. Following Wasserman Schultz's resignation, then-DNC Vice Chair Donna Brazile took over as interim DNC chairwoman for the convention and remained so until February 2017. In November 2017, Brazile said in her book and related interviews that the Clinton campaign and the DNC had colluded 'unethically' by giving the Clinton campaign control over the DNC's personnel and press releases before the primary in return for funding to eliminate the DNC's remaining debt from 2012 campaign, in addition to using the DNC and state committees to funnel campaign-limitation-exceeding donations to her campaign. Internal memos later surfaced, claiming that these measures were not meant to affect the nominating process despite their timing. At the end of June 2016, it was claimed that "more money [from the Hillary Victory Fund] will be moved to the state parties in the coming months." Brazile later clarified that she claimed the process was 'unethical', but 'not a criminal act'.

DNC officials including chairman Tom Perez pointed out that the same joint-fundraising agreement had been offered to Sanders and applied only to the general election; however, the Clinton campaign also had a second agreement that granted it additional, unusual oversight over hiring and policy, even though the text of the agreement insisted on the DNC's impartiality and focus on the general election. Brazile later denied that the primary was rigged, because "no votes were overturned," but described herself as "very upset" about a DNC–Clinton fundraising agreement. The Washington Post characterized Brazile's eventual argument as: "Clinton exerted too much power but did win the nomination fairly."

Russian involvement

After the general election, the U.S. intelligence community and the Special Counsel investigation assessed that the leaks were part of a larger interference campaign by the Russian government to cause political instability in the United States and to damage the Hillary Clinton campaign by bolstering the candidacies of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Jill Stein. The Russian government is alleged to have promoted Sanders beginning in 2015 as a way to weaken or defeat Clinton, who Russian President Vladimir Putin opposed. The influence campaign by the Internet Research Agency targeted Sanders voters through social media and encouraged them to vote for a third-party candidate or abstain from voting. Sanders denounced these efforts and urged his supporters to support Clinton in the general election.

When news of the DNC leak first surfaced in June 2016, the Russian government denied allegations of hacking. WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange also stated that the Russian government was not source of the leak. In July 2018, the special counsel indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking and leaking the emails.

National Convention

The 2016 Democratic National Convention was held from July 25–28 at the Wells Fargo Center in Philadelphia, with some events at the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The delegates selected the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential nominees and wrote the party platform. A simple majority of 2,383 delegates was needed to win the presidential nomination. While most of the delegates were bound on the first ballot according to the results of the primaries, a progressively larger number of pledged delegates would have become unbound if the nomination required more than one ballot.

Clinton was nominated on the first ballot by acclamation, although all states were allowed to announce how they would have voted under a typical roll call vote. On July 12, 2016, the Vermont delegates had supported Clinton in Sanders' request. Asking for party unity, he dropped out on July 26, 2016, and announced he would return to the Senate as an independent.

Graphical summary of polling

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 

Campaign finance

This is an overview of the money used in the campaign as it is reported to Federal Election Commission (FEC) and released on April 27, 2016. Outside groups are independent expenditure only committees—also called PACs and SuperPACs. Several such groups normally support each candidate, but the numbers in the table are a total of all of them. This means that a group of committees can be shown as technically insolvent, shown in red, even though it is not the case of all of them. The Campaign Committee's debt is shown in red if the campaign is technically insolvent. The source of all the numbers is OpenSecrets. Some spending totals are not available, due to withdrawals before the FEC deadline.

Campaign committee (as of April 30) Outside groups(as of May 16) Total spent Campaign
suspended
Money raised Money spent Cash on hand Debt Money raised Money spent Cash on hand
Hillary Clinton $204,258,301 $174,101,369 $30,156,932 $612,248 $84,815,067 $38,332,454 $46,482,614 $212,433,823 Convention
Bernie Sanders $227,678,274 $219,695,969 $8,015,274 $898,879 $869,412 $1,069,765 $-200,353 $220,765,734 July 26
Martin O'Malley $6,073,767 $5,965,205 $108,562 $19,423 $1,105,138 $1,298,967 $-193,829 $7,264,172 February 1
Lawrence Lessig $1,196,753 N/A N/A N/A $0 $0 $0 N/A November 2
Jim Webb $764,992 $558,151 $206,842 $0 $27,092 $31,930 $-4,838 $590,081 October 20
Lincoln Chafee $418,136 N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A October 23

Process

The Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses are indirect elections in which voters elect delegates to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. These delegates directly elect the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. In some states, the party may disregard voters' selection of delegates, or selected delegates may vote for any candidate at the state or national convention (non-binding primary or caucus). In other states, state laws and party rules require the party to select delegates according to votes, and delegates must vote for a particular candidate (binding primary or caucus).

There were 4,051 pledged delegates and 714 superdelegates in the 2016 cycle. Under the party's delegate selection rules, the number of pledged delegates allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. is determined using a formula based on three main factors:

  1. The proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections (2004, 2008, and 2012)
  2. The number of electoral votes each state has in the United States Electoral College.
  3. The stage of the primary season when they held their contest. States and territories that held their contests later are given bonus seats.

A candidate must win 2,383 delegates at the national convention, in order to win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination. For the U.S. territories of Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands and for Democrats Abroad, fixed numbers of pledged delegates are allocated. All states and territories then must have used a proportional representation system, where their pledged delegates were awarded proportionally to the election results.

A candidate must receive at least 15% of the popular vote to win pledged delegates in a state. The current 714 unpledged superdelegates, or "soft" delegates, included members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state and territorial governors, members of the Democratic National Committee, and other party leaders. Because of possible deaths, resignations, or the results of intervening or special elections, the final number of these superdelegates may be reduced before the convention.

The Democratic National Committee imposed rules for states that wished to hold early contests in 2016. No state was permitted to hold a primary or caucus in January. Only Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada were entitled to February contests. Any state that violated these rules were penalized half its pledged delegates and all its superdelegates to the 2016 convention.

Schedule and results

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries  2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries  2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 

The following are the results of candidates that won at least one state. These candidates were on the ballots for every state, territory and federal district contest. The results of caucuses did not always have attached preference polls and attendance was extremely limited. The unpledged delegate count did not always reflect the latest declared preferences.

Date State/territory Calculated delegates Type Popular vote or equivalent Estimated delegates
Clinton
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Sanders
2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries 
Clinton Sanders Available
P U T P U T P U T P U T
Feb 1 Iowa 44 7 51 Semi-open caucus 700 SDE (49.8%) 697 SDE (49.6%) 23 6 29 21 0 21 0 1 1
Feb 9 New Hampshire 24 8 32 Semi-closed primary 95,355 (37.7%) 152,193 (60.1%) 9 6 15 15 1 16 0 1 1
Feb 20 Nevada 35 8 43 Closed caucus 6,316 CD (52.6%) 5,678 CD (47.3%) 20 7 27 15 1 16 0 0 0
Feb 27 South Carolina 53 6 59 Open primary 272,379 (73.4%) 96,498 (26.0%) 39 5 44 14 0 14 0 1 1
Mar 1 Alabama 53 7 60 Open primary 309,926 (77.8%) 76,401 (19.2%) 44 6 50 9 0 9 0 1 1
American Samoa 6 5 11 Closed caucus 162 (68.4%) 61 (25.7%) 4 4 8 2 1 3 0 0 0
Arkansas 32 5 37 Open primary 146,057 (66.1%) 66,236 (30.0%) 22 5 27 10 0 10 0 0 0
Colorado 66 12 78 Closed caucus 49,789 (40.3%) 72,846 (59.0%) 25 9 34 41 0 41 0 3 3
Georgia 102 15 117 Open primary 543,008 (71.3%) 214,332 (28.2%) 73 11 84 29 0 29 0 4 4
Massachusetts 91 24 115 Semi-closed primary 606,822 (49.7%) 589,803 (48.3%) 46 21 67 45 1 46 0 2 2
Minnesota 77 16 93 Open caucus 73,510 (38.4%) 118,135 (61.6%) 31 12 43 46 2 48 0 2 2
Oklahoma 38 4 42 Semi-closed primary 139,443 (41.5%) 174,228 (51.9%) 17 1 18 21 1 22 0 2 2
Tennessee 67 8 75 Open primary 245,930 (66.1%) 120,800 (32.5%) 44 8 52 23 0 23 0 0 0
Texas 222 29 251 Open primary 936,004 (65.2%) 476,547 (33.2%) 147 21 168 75 0 75 0 8 8
Vermont 16 10 26 Open primary 18,338 (13.6%) 115,900 (85.7%) 0 5 5 16 5 21 0 0 0
Virginia 95 13 108 Open primary 504,741 (64.3%) 276,370 (35.2%) 62 12 74 33 0 33 0 1 1
Mar 5 Kansas 33 4 37 Closed caucus 12,593 (32.3%) 26,450 (67.7%) 10 4 14 23 0 23 0 0 0
Louisiana 51 8 59 Closed primary 221,733 (71.1%) 72,276 (23.2%) 37 6 43 14 0 14 0 2 2
Nebraska 25 5 30 Closed caucus 14,340 (42.9%) 19,120 (57.1%) 10 3 13 15 1 16 0 1 1
Mar 6 Maine 25 5 30 Closed caucus 1,232 SCD (35.5%) 2,231 SCD (64.3%) 8 4 12 17 1 18 0 0 0
Mar 1–8 Democrats Abroad 13 4 17 Closed primary 10,689 (30.9%) 23,779 (68.9%) 4 9 ½ 0 1 1
Mar 8 Michigan 130 17 147 Open primary 581,775 (48.3%) 598,943 (49.7%) 63 13 76 67 0 67 0 4 4
Mississippi 36 5 41 Open primary 187,334 (82.5%) 37,748 (16.6%) 31 3 34 5 2 7 0 0 0
Mar 12 Northern Marianas 6 5 11 Closed caucus 102 (54.0%) 65 (34.4%) 4 5 9 2 0 2 0 0 0
Mar 15 Florida 214 32 246 Closed primary 1,101,414 (64.4%) 568,839 (33.3%) 141 24 165 73 2 75 0 6 6
Illinois 156 27 183 Open primary 1,039,555 (50.6%) 999,494 (48.6%) 79 24 103 77 1 78 0 1 1
Missouri 71 13 84 Open primary 312,285 (49.6%) 310,711 (49.4%) 36 11 47 35 0 35 0 2 2
North Carolina 107 14 121 Semi-closed primary 622,915 (54.5%) 467,018 (40.9%) 60 9 69 47 2 49 0 3 3
Ohio 143 17 160 Semi-open primary 696,681 (56.1%) 535,395 (43.1%) 81 16 97 62 1 63 0 0 0
Mar 22 Arizona 75 10 85 Closed primary 262,459 (56.3%) 192,962 (41.4%) 42 6 48 33 1 34 0 3 3
Idaho 23 4 27 Open caucus 5,065 (21.2%) 18,640 (78.0%) 5 1 6 18 2 20 0 1 1
Utah 33 4 37 Semi-open caucus 15,666 (20.3%) 61,333 (79.3%) 6 2 8 27 2 29 0 0 0
Mar 26 Alaska 16 4 20 Closed caucus 2,146 (20.2%) 8,447 (79.6%) 3 1 4 13 1 14 0 2 2
Hawaii 25 9 34 Semi-closed caucus 10,125 (30.0%) 23,530 (69.8%) 8 5 13 17 2 19 0 2 2
Washington 101 17 118 Open caucus 7,140 LDD (27.1%) 19,159 LDD (72.7%) 27 11 38 74 0 74 0 6 6
Apr 5 Wisconsin 86 10 96 Open primary 433,739 (43.1%) 570,192 (56.6%) 38 9 47 48 1 49 0 0 0
Apr 9 Wyoming 14 4 18 Closed caucus 124 SCD (44.3%) 156 SCD (55.7%) 7 4 11 7 0 7 0 0 0
Apr 19 New York 247 44 291 Closed primary 1,133,980 (57.5%) 820,256 (41.6%) 139 41 180 108 0 108 0 3 3
Apr 26 Connecticut 55 16 71 Closed primary 170,045 (51.8%) 152,379 (46.4%) 28 15 43 27 0 27 0 1 1
Delaware 21 11 32 Closed primary 55,954 (59.8%) 36,662 (39.2%) 12 11 23 9 0 9 0 0 0
Maryland 95 24 119 Closed primary 573,242 (62.5%) 309,990 (33.8%) 60 17 77 35 1 36 0 6 6
Pennsylvania 189 19 208 Closed primary 935,107 (55.6%) 731,881 (43.5%) 106 19 125 83 0 83 0 1 1
Rhode Island 24 9 33 Semi-closed primary 52,749 (43.1%) 66,993 (54.7%) 11 9 20 13 0 13 0 0 0
May 3 Indiana 83 9 92 Open primary 303,705 (47.5%) 335,074 (52.5%) 39 7 46 44 0 44 0 2 2
May 7 Guam 7 5 12 Closed caucus 777 (59.5%) 528 (40.5%) 4 5 9 3 0 3 0 0 0
May 10 Nebraska Closed primary 42,692 (53.1%) 37,744 (46.9%) Non-binding primary with no delegates allocated.
West Virginia 29 8 37 Semi-closed primary 86,914 (35.8%) 124,700 (51.4%) 11 6 17 18 2 20 0 0 0
May 17 Kentucky 55 5 60 Closed primary 212,534 (46.8%) 210,623 (46.3%) 28 2 30 27 0 27 0 3 3
Oregon 61 13 74 Closed primary 269,846 (42.1%) 360,829 (56.2%) 25 7 32 36 3 39 0 3 3
May 24 Washington Open primary 420,461 (52.4%) 382,293 (47.6%) Non-binding primary with no delegates allocated.
Jun 4 Virgin Islands 7 5 12 Closed caucus 1,326 (87.12%) 196 (12.88%) 7 5 12 0 0 0 0 0 0
Jun 5 Puerto Rico 60 7 67 Open primary 52,658 (59.7%) 33,368 (37.9%) 37 6 43 23 0 23 0 1 1
Jun 7 California 475 76 551 Semi-closed primary 2,745,302 (53.1%) 2,381,722 (46.0%) 254 66 320 221 0 221 0 10 10
Montana 21 6 27 Open primary 55,805 (44.2%) 65,156 (51.6%) 10 5 15 11 1 12 0 0 0
New Jersey 126 16 142 Semi-closed primary 566,247 (63.3%) 328,058 (36.7%) 79 12 91 47 2 49 0 2 2
New Mexico 34 9 43 Closed primary 111,334 (51.5%) 104,741 (48.5%) 18 9 27 16 0 16 0 0 0
North Dakota 18 5 23 Open caucus 106 SCD (25.6%) 258 SCD (64.2%) 5 1 6 13 1 14 0 3 3
South Dakota 20 5 25 Semi-closed primary 27,047 (51.0%) 25,959 (49.0%) 10 2 12 10 0 10 0 3 3
Jun 14 District of Columbia 20 25 45 Closed primary 76,704 (78.0%) 20,361 (20.7%) 16 23 39 4 2 6 0 0 0
Total 4,051 712 4,763 16,847,084
(55.20%)
13,168,222
(43.14%)
2,205 570½ 2,775½ 1,846 43½ 1,889½ 0 97 97
Date State/territory P U T Type Clinton Sanders P U T P U T P U T
Calculated delegates Popular vote or equivalent Clinton delegates Sanders delegates Available delegates

Superdelegate endorsements

Superdelegates are elected officials and members of the Democratic National Committee who vote at the Democratic National Convention for their preferred candidate. Also known as unpledged delegates, they comprise 15% of the convention (712 votes out of 4,763) and they may change their preference at any time. The table below reflects current public endorsements of candidates by superdelegates, as detailed and sourced in the full list above. Because commonly referenced estimates of superdelegate support, including those by CNN and the AP, do not identify individual delegates as supporting a given candidate, their published tallies may differ from the totals computed here.

Distinguished party leaders Governors Senators Representatives DNC members Totals
Hillary Clinton 17 20 45 177 313½ 572½
Bernie Sanders 1 0 2 7 32½ 42½
Martin O'Malley 0 0 0 0 1 1
No endorsement 2 1 0 7 86 96
Totals 20 21 47 191 433 712

Note: Democrats Abroad Superdelegates are assigned half-votes; each of them accounts for ½ rather than 1 in the table above.

Close states

Source:

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:

  1. Missouri, 0.25%
  2. Iowa, 0.25%
  3. Kentucky, 0.42%

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

  1. Massachusetts, 1.40%
  2. Michigan, 1.42%
  3. Illinois, 1.95%
  4. South Dakota, 2.06%
  5. New Mexico, 3.06%
  6. Indiana, 4.92%

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

  1. Nevada, 5.28%
  2. Connecticut, 5.38%
  3. California, 7.03%
  4. Montana, 7.40%

States where the margin of victory was under 20%:

  1. Oklahoma, 10.36%
  2. Rhode Island, 11.63%
  3. Pennsylvania, 12.08%
  4. Ohio, 12.99%
  5. Wisconsin, 13.54%
  6. Wyoming, 13.64%
  7. North Carolina, 13.64%
  8. Oregon, 14.18%
  9. Nebraska, 14.28%
  10. Arizona, 14.90%
  11. West Virginia, 15.57%
  12. New York, 16.06%
  13. Colorado, 18.68%

Maps

See also

Related

Democratic Party articles

Presidential primaries

National conventions

Notes

References

Tags:

2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Candidates2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Timeline2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Graphical summary of polling2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Campaign finance2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Process2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Schedule and results2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Superdelegate endorsements2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Close states2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries Maps2016 Democratic Party Presidential Primaries

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