2020 American Samoa presidential caucuses#Democratic caucus

The 2020 American Samoa Democratic presidential caucus took place on March 3, 2020, alongside 14 state primaries on Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries and caucuses for the 2020 presidential election, following the South Carolina primary the weekend before. The American Samoa caucus was an open caucus, with the territory awarding 11 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 6 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the caucus. Former mayor Michael Bloomberg won the caucus and netted four delegates (his only primary win), with representative Tulsi Gabbard coming in second, and winning her only two delegates.{{Cite web|url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/485832-gabbard-claims-first-delegates-of-primary-race|title=Gabbard claims her first delegates of primary race|first=Tal|last=Axelrod|date=March 3, 2020|website=The Hill}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/05/politics/tulsi-gabbard-still-running/index.html|title=Tulsi Gabbard is still running for president|first=Kate|last=Sullivan|date=March 5, 2020|website=CNN}}

When the American Samoa Democratic Party had published its draft delegate selection plan on July 3, 2019, it specified a Super Tuesday, March 3 date for the 2020 caucus; this date was finally declared via Facebook on February 1, 2020.{{cite web|last1=Putnam|first1=Josh|title=The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar|url=https://frontloading.blogspot.com/p/2020-presidential-primary-calendar.html |publisher=Frontloading HQ|access-date=September 7, 2019}}{{cite web|url=https://www.facebook.com/asdems/posts/1458494807644704 |title=Democratic Party of American Samoa|publisher=Facebook|date=2020-02-01|access-date=2020-03-02}}

In the open caucus, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent across the territory to be considered viable. The 6 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the caucus, and were all at-large pledged delegates.{{cite web|title=American Samoa Democratic Delegation 2020|url=https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/AS-D|publisher=The Green Papers|date=June 4, 2019|access-date=June 23, 2019}} The Super Tuesday caucus as part of Stage I on the primary timetable received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries and caucuses between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on the first shared date or on a March date in general.{{cite web|title=Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses|url=https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/D-Timing.phtml|publisher=The Green Papers|date=November 24, 2021|access-date=March 19, 2022}}

The delegation also included 5 unpledged PLEO delegates: 4 members of the Democratic National Committee and the governor Lemanu Peleti Mauga.

The following people were on the ballot in American Samoa.

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• Joe Biden
• Michael Bloomberg
• Tulsi Gabbard
• Bernie Sanders
• Elizabeth Warren

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Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Tom Steyer and Andrew Yang had withdrawn shortly before the caucus but remained on the ballot. Kamala Harris had withdrawn early so that she was not put on the ballot. However, none of the withdrawn candidates or the existing uncommitted option received any votes.

According to The Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg's campaign made a relatively significant investment in the caucus: Bloomberg's campaign opened a campaign headquarters in the territory and hired seven staffers in America Samoa. His campaign put up campaign signs that read Mike Bloomberg mo Amerika Samoa 2020 (English translation: "Mike Bloomberg for American Samoa 2020") and invested heavily in digital advertising on Facebook.

Samoan chief Fa’alagiga Nina Tua’au-Glaude, a 2008 Barack Obama delegate, endorsed Bloomberg a day before the contest, citing his policies on climate change in particular as a reason for his endorsement.{{Cite web |last=Coleman |first=Justine |date=2020-03-02 |title=Samoan chief endorses Bloomberg for president |url=https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/485571-samoan-chief-endorses-bloomberg-for-president-report/ |access-date=2022-08-06 |website=The Hill |language=en-US}} Bloomberg's victory over Gabbard, who was born in the territory, was regarded as an upset victory, and was credited to Gabbard's late start in campaigning on the island.{{Cite news |last=Elinson |first=Zusha |date=2020-03-06 |title=Mike Bloomberg's $620 Million Campaign Did Really Well—in American Samoa |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/mike-bloombergs-620-million-campaign-did-really-wellin-american-samoa-11583538043 |access-date=2022-08-06 |issn=0099-9660}}

The 2020 American Samoa Republican presidential caucus took place as a territorial convention on March 18, 2020, in the Republican Party primaries and caucuses for the 2020 presidential election. The 9 delegates to the 2020 Republican National Convention were unbound, unless instructed otherwise by a resolution passed by the convention. The territory's party officially endorsed incumbent President Donald Trump at its convention, and thus all 9 delegates were expected to vote for him at the national convention.{{cite web|title=American Samoa Republican Delegation 2020|url=https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/AS-R|publisher=The Green Papers|access-date=February 11, 2020}}

{{reflist}}

• [https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/AS-D The Green Papers Democratic Party delegate allocation summary]
• [https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/AS-R The Green Papers Republican Party delegate allocation summary]

{{2020 United States elections}}

{{2020 Democratic primaries}}

{{2020 Republican primaries}}

American Samoa

American Samoa

American Samoa

Presidential primaries

2020

Category:United States presidential elections in American Samoa