It’s easy to live life in the moment without thinking about the historical implications of the time we are in. It can be strange to realize that right now we are living through history, and that one day, kids will be taking history quizzes about the 2020 elections. While difficult, it’s so important to stay on top of current events—not just to help future kids with homework—but to stay up to date around the world around us, especially because the 2020 primaries can have such an impact on our futures. So you don’t have to slog through articles and articles about primaries and caucuses and who’s who, I summarized the 5 things to know about the primaries.
- Who is Running (As of Now)
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It can be hard to keep track of who’s in the running for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee. If you feel like there’s a new person running every day and another person dropping out, you’re not alone. So far, according to the New York Times, 20 Democrats have dropped out of the primary race, with 8 more still in the running, as of right now. Chances are that more will drop too as the primary season continues and the more contentious states’ delegates are awarded. As of right now though, former Vice President, Joe Biden, former Mayor of New York, Michael Bloomberg, former Mayor of South Bend, Indiana, Pete Buttigieg, U.S Representative from Hawaii, Tulsi Gabbard, U.S. Senator from Minnesota, Amy Klobuchar, U.S. Senator from Vermont, Bernie Sanders, billionaire businessman, Tom Steyer, and finally, U.S Senator from Massachuesetts, Elizabeth Warren are in the running. Some more notable candidates who ended their run recently were Andrew Yang, Kamala Harris and Cory Booker.
- Primary vs. Caucas
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You’ve probably heard recently in the news all about the Nevada and Iowa caucuses and the upcoming South Carolina primary. You’re also probably wondering what the difference is between a caucus and a primary. According to VOANews, a primary is similar to any election you may vote in or seen on TV. People go to a polling station, cast a ballot secretly or mail in a ballot and it gets counted. In a Democratic caucus, however, people gather at various locations and cluster into groups of at least 15% of the voters at that site to determine how many delegates will be awarded per candidate—which leads us to our next point.
- What’s a Delegate?
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Nothing can really ever be simple, especially with elections. According to the Council on Foreign Relations, delegates can be “party activists, local political leaders, or early supporters of a given candidate” that are rewarded for Democrats on a proportionally basis. These delegates then represent the state at the national convention which is largely ceremonial. The simplest way to think of this is this: to be the Democratic nominee, the candidate needs 1,991 delegates and states award different numbers of delegates based in part by population.
- Delegate Breakdown
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Okay, now let’s take a look at how the candidates are doing. Now, these delegate counts are only looking at Iowa, New Hampshire and Nevada. Currently, Bernie Sanders is in the lead, according to USATODAY, with 31 delegates. Pete Buttigieg has 22, Elizabeth Warren has 8, Amy Klobuchar has 7 and Joe Biden has 6. We’ll have to see what happens next as the race continues in South Carolina on the 29th. Click here to stay up to date on delegate counts and where the race goes next.
- What’s Super Tuesday?
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You probably have already heard reference to Super Tuesday, as well. Now for all my folks voting in the Ohio primary, this doesn’t really apply. We vote on March 17th or St. Patrick’s Day, so the theme this year will be, “Kiss me, I voted”. Super Tuesday, however, falls on March 3rd, and a lot of delegates are up for grabs that day. According to NBC, fourteen states plus American Samoa and Democrats who live outside the United States will be voting for the 2020 Democratic nominee with 34% of the pledged delegates being awarded on March 3rd. With states on all sides of the spectrum of diversity and politics voting, this day could really clarify who the frontrunner is. So definitely stay tuned!