2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary
{{Short description|none}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}}
{{Infobox election
| election_name = 2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary
| country = Pennsylvania
| type = presidential
| ongoing = no
| previous_election = 2016 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary
| previous_year = 2016
| next_election = 2024 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary
| next_year = 2024
| election_date = June 2, 2020
| outgoing_members = NM
| elected_members = RI
| votes_for_election = 210 delegates (186 pledged, 24 unpledged)
to the Democratic National Convention
The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
| candidates =
| image1 = File:Joe Biden February 2020 crop.jpg
| image_size = x150px
| candidate1 = Joe Biden
| color1 = 224192
| home_state1 = Delaware
| delegate_count1 = 151
| popular_vote1 = 1,264,624
| percentage1 = 79.26%
| image2 = File:Bernie Sanders March 2020 (cropped).jpg
| candidate2 = Bernie Sanders
(withdrawn)
| color2 = 228b22
| home_state2 = Vermont
| delegate_count2 = 35
| popular_vote2 = 287,834
| percentage2 = 18.04%
| party_name = no
| map_image = Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary election results by county, 2020.svg
| map_size = 250px
| map_caption = County results
{{col-begin}}
{{col-2}}
Biden
{{legend|#4158cd|70 – 80%}}
{{legend|#3345a2|80 – 90%}}
{{col-end}}
}}
{{Elections in Pennsylvania sidebar}}
The 2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary took place on June 2, 2020, after being postponed due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, as one of eight delayed and regular primaries on the same day in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. It was originally planned to take place on April 28, 2020, as one of several northeastern states in the "Acela primary". The Pennsylvania primary was a closed primary, with the state awarding 210 delegates, of whom 186 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results.
Former vice president and presumptive nominee Joe Biden, who was born and raised in Pennsylvania, won the primary with more than 79% of the vote, earning another 151 delegates and helping him to cross the necessary majority of 1,991 delegates and officially win the Democratic nomination three days later during the vote count.{{cite web|url=https://www.npr.org/2020/06/05/869553801/biden-formally-secures-democratic-nomination-while-gaining-steam-against-trump|title=Biden Formally Clinches Democratic Nomination, While Gaining Steam Against Trump|website=NPR |date=June 5, 2020|access-date=November 27, 2022}} Senator Bernie Sanders, who had suspended his campaign two months earlier but still competed for delegates, received around 18% of the vote and 35 delegates.
Procedure
Pennsylvania had planned to join several northeastern states, which are connected by the Acela train system, as part of a regional cluster, the "Acela primary", in holding primaries on April 28.{{cite news|last1=Thompson|first1=Steve|last2=Nirappil|first2=Fenit|title=D.C. is slated to vote last in 2020 Democratic primaries. That might change.|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/dc-politics/dc-is-slated-to-vote-last-in-the-2020-democratic-primary-that-might-change/2019/02/06/3f6d142e-2a3d-11e9-b011-d8500644dc98_story.html|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=February 6, 2019|access-date=June 23, 2019}} The other states that would have voted on that day were Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, New York, and Rhode Island. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, on March 27 Governor Tom Wolf signed a bill postponing the primary to June 2 as Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Indiana did the same, while the three other states selected different dates.{{cite news |last1=Levy |first1=Marc |last2=Scolforo |first2=Mark |title=Pennsylvania lawmakers vote to delay primary election |url=https://apnews.com/b236785ad580551a5cf3b711f4fb018d |access-date=March 25, 2020 |work=AP NEWS |date=March 25, 2020}} They voted alongside these three postponed states and four regularly scheduled contests in the District of Columbia, Montana, New Mexico and South Dakota.
Voting took place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. In the closed primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15% at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 186 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 4 and 14 were allocated to each of the state's 18 congressional districts and another 20 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 41 at-large delegates.{{cite web|title=Pennsylvania Democratic Delegation 2020|url=https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/PA-D|publisher=The Green Papers|date=May 3, 2019|access-date=June 23, 2019}} Originally planned with 153 delegates, the final number included a 25% bonus of 33 additional delegates on the 100 district and 33 at-large delegates by the Democratic National Committee, 10% for the original April date, which belonged to Stage II on the primary timetable, and an additional 15% for the regional "Acela" cluster.{{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=April 17, 2022}}{{cite web|title=The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020|url=https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/D-Alloc.phtml?sort=Unpl|publisher=The Green Papers|date=November 24, 2021|access-date=April 17, 2022}}
Voters chose district-level national convention delegates during the presidential primary, with no need for an additional confirmation by party bodies. If a presidential candidate listed fewer district delegate candidates for the national convention than had to be allocated based on the results of the primary, then the additional delegates would be named at the subsequent state convention. On July 18 (postponed from July 13), the state convention voted on the 41 at-large and 20 pledged PLEO delegates for the national convention. The delegation also included 24 unpledged PLEO delegates: 12 members of the Democratic National Committee, 10 members of Congress (one senator and 9 representatives), Governor Wolf, and former DNC Chair Ed Rendell.
class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;float:none;padding:5px;"
! colspan="4"| Pledged national |
Type
! {{abbr|Del.|Delegates}} ! Type ! {{abbr|Del.|Delegates}} |
---|
CD1
| 8 | CD10 | 7 |
CD2
| 8 | CD11 | 5 |
CD3
| 14 | CD12 | 4 |
CD4
| 10 | CD13 | 4 |
CD5
| 9 | CD14 | 5 |
CD6
| 8 | CD15 | 4 |
CD7
| 7 | CD16 | 5 |
CD8
| 6 | CD17 | 8 |
CD9
| 4 | CD18 | 9 |
{{abbr|PLEO|Party leaders and elected officials}}
| 20 | At-large | 41 |
colspan=3| Total pledged delegates
! 186 |
Candidates
The following candidates appeared on the ballot in Pennsylvania:{{cite web |url=https://www.philadelphiavotes.com/ballot_paper/c9b60831-101b-b686-fb2a-5e95e622b937.pdf |title=Sample Ballot - General Primary and Special Election June 2, 2020 |website=philadelphiavotes.com |date=April 15, 2020}}
- Joe Biden
- Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn)
- Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)
There was also an option for write-in votes, but their general amount was not tallied.{{cite web |url=https://www.philadelphiavotes.com/ballot_paper/c9b60831-101b-b686-fb2a-5e95e622b937.pdf |title=Sample Ballot - General Primary and Special Election June 2, 2020 |website=philadelphiavotes.com |date=April 15, 2020}}
Polling
class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;" |
valign=bottom style="font-size:90%;"
! colspan="12" |Polling Aggregation |
valign=bottom style="font-size:90%;"
! Source of poll aggregation ! Date ! Dates ! Joe ! Other/ |
270 to Win[https://www.270towin.com/2020-democratic-nomination/pennsylvania-primary 270 to Win]
| Mar 18, 2020 | Feb 11–Mar 8, 2020 | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 39.5% | 28.0% | 32.5% |
RealClear Politics[https://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2020/president/pa/pennsylvania_democratic_presidential_primary-6860.html RealClear Politics]
| Feb 23, 2020 | Jan 20–Feb 20, 2020 | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 39.5% | 28.0% | 32.5% |
FiveThirtyEight[https://web.archive.org/web/20190412174033/https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-primary-d/pennsylvania/ FiveThirtyEight]
|Mar 8, 2020 |until Feb 20, 2020{{Efn|FiveThirtyEight aggregates polls with a trendline regression of polls rather than a strict average of recent polls.|name=trendline|group=}} | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 54.4% | 29.3% | 16.3% |
colspan="3" |Average
| {{party shading/Democratic}} |44.5% | 28.4% | 27.1% |
class="wikitable" style="font-size:90%;text-align:center;" |
valign=bottom style="font-size:90%;"
! Poll source ! Date(s) ! Sample ! Margin ! Joe ! Michael ! Cory ! Pete ! Kamala ! Beto ! Bernie ! Elizabeth ! Other ! Undecided |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Apr 8, 2020 | colspan="12" | Sanders suspends his campaign |
style="text-align:left;"|YouGov/Yahoo News[https://news.yahoo.com/new-yahoo-news-you-gov-poll-shows-biden-crushing-sanders-in-michigan-and-other-battleground-states-ahead-of-tuesdays-primary-180347138.html YouGov/Yahoo News]
| Mar 6–8, 2020 | –(RV){{efn|name=YouGovMIPAWI|Part of a 1,750 registered voter poll of Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin}} | ± 5.1% |{{party shading/Democratic}}|59% | – | – | – | – | – |31% | – | – | – |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Mar 1–5, 2020 | colspan="12" | Buttigieg, Klobuchar, Bloomberg and Warren withdraw from the race |
style="text-align:left;"|YouGov/University of Wisconsin-Madison[https://news.wisc.edu/battleground-state-poll-1/ YouGov/University of Wisconsin-Madison]
| Feb 11–20, 2020 | 537 (LV) | – | 20% | 19% | – | 12% | – | – | {{party shading/Democratic}}|25% | 9% | 5%{{efn|Klobuchar with 5%; "Others" not reported separately}} | 10%{{efn|contains also "others"}} |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Feb 11, 2020 | colspan="12" | New Hampshire primary; Yang withdraws from the race after close of polls |
style="text-align:left;"|Franklin & Marshall College[https://www.fandm.edu/uploads/files/562535870732261549-f-m-poll-release-january-2020.pdf Franklin & Marshall College]
| Jan 20–26, 2020 | 292 (RV) | ± 9.0% |{{party shading/Democratic}}|22% | 7% | – | 6% | – | – | 15% | 14% | 18%{{efn|Yang and Klobuchar with 5%; "Other" with 2%; "None" with 6%}} | 19% |
style="text-align:left;"|Baldwin Wallace University/Oakland University/Ohio Northern University[https://www.bw.edu/Assets/community-research-institute/2020-great-lakes-poll-full-FINAL.pdf Baldwin Wallace University/Oakland University/Ohio Northern University] | Jan 8–20, 2020 | 502 (RV) | – | {{party shading/Democratic}}|31.3% | 9.1% | – | 6.5% | – | – | 20.5% | 11.5% | 8.8%{{efn|Klobuchar and Yang with 2.5%; Bennet with 1.2%; Steyer with 1%; Gabbard with 0.9%; Delaney with 0.4%; Patrick with 0.3%}} | 11% |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Dec 3, 2019–Jan 13, 2020 | colspan=12 | Harris and Booker withdraw from the race |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Nov 24, 2019 | colspan="12" | Bloomberg announces his candidacy |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Nov 1, 2019 | colspan=12 | O'Rourke withdraws from the race |
style="text-align:left;"|Franklin & Marshall College[https://www.fandm.edu/uploads/files/93374337988676509-f-m-poll-release-october-2019.pdf Franklin & Marshall College]
| Oct 21–27, 2019 | 226 (RV) | ± 8.9% |{{party shading/Democratic}}|30% | – |1% |8% |1% |<1% |12% |18% |15%{{efn|Bennet, Gabbard and Klobuchar with 2%; Yang with 1%; Bullock with <1%; none with 8%; other with 0%}} |16% |
style="text-align:left;"|Siena Research/New York Times[https://www.nytimes.com/2019/11/08/us/politics/democrats-poll-moderates-battleground.html Siena Research/New York Times]
| Oct 13–26, 2019 | 304 | – | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 28% | – | 0% | 4% | 1% | 0% | 14% | 16% | 3%{{efn|Yang with 2%; Klobuchar with 1%; others with 0%}} | 30% |
style="text-align:left;"|Kaiser Family Foundation[http://files.kff.org/attachment/TOPLINE-Blue-Wall-Voices-Project Kaiser Family Foundation]
| Sep 23–Oct 15, 2019 | 246 (LV) | – |{{party shading/Democratic}}|27% | – |1% |3% |4% |No voters |14% |18% |5%{{efn|Yang with 2%; Klobuchar and Steyer with 1%; Bennet, Bullock, Delaney, Gabbard, Messam, O'Rourke, Ryan, Sestak and Williamson with no voters; refused with 1%}} |{{party shading/Undecided}}|29% |
style="text-align:left;"|Susquehanna Polling and Research Inc.[https://tribwpmt.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/toplines-fox43-spr-pa-statewide.pdf Susquehanna Polling and Research Inc.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191031174020/https://tribwpmt.files.wordpress.com/2019/10/toplines-fox43-spr-pa-statewide.pdf |date=2019-10-31 }}
| Sep 30–Oct 6, 2019 | 307 (RV) | ± 5.6% | {{party shading/Democratic}}|17% | – | 0% | 8% | 1% | 0% | 6% | 9% | 7%{{efn|Bennet with 2%; Klobuchar with 1%; Bullock, Castro, Delaney, Gabbard, Messam, Ryan, Sestak, Steyer, Williamson and Yang with 0%; someone else/none with 3%; refused to answer with 1%}} | {{party shading/Undecided}}|52% |
style="text-align:left;"|Franklin & Marshall College[https://www.fandm.edu/uploads/files/366978281722999151-f-m-poll-release-august-2019.pdf Franklin & Marshall College]
| Jul 29–Aug 4, 2019 | 295 | ± 8.7% | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 28% | – | 2% | 6% | 8% | 1% | 12% | 21% | 3%{{efn|Bullock, Gabbard, and "Other" with 1%}} | 19% |
style="text-align:left;"|Zogby Analytics[https://web.archive.org/web/20190623145316/https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/20190615_National.xlsx Zogby Analytics]
| May 23–29, 2019 | 246 | ± 6.3% | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 46% | – | 2% | 9% | 3% | 2% | 15% | 8% | 2%{{efn|Castro, Gillibrand, and Yang with 1%; Delaney, Gabbard, Hickenlooper, Inslee, and Klobuchar with 0%}} | – |
style="text-align:left;"|Quinnipiac University[https://poll.qu.edu/images/polling/pa/pa05152019_potp20.pdf Quinnipiac University]
| May 9–14, 2019 | 431 | ± 6.2% | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 39% | – | 5% | 6% | 8% | 2% | 13% | 8% | 3%{{efn|Klobuchar with 1%; Bennet, Castro, Delaney, Gabbard, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper, Inslee, Messam, Moulton, Ryan, Swalwell, Williamson, and Yang with <1%; others with 2%}} | 12% |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Apr 25, 2019 | colspan="13" | Biden announces his candidacy |
style="background:lightyellow;"
| style="border-right-style:hidden;"| | style="border-right-style:hidden;"| Apr 14, 2019 | colspan="13" | Buttigieg announces his candidacy |
style="text-align:left;"|Muhlenberg College{{Cite web |url=https://www.muhlenberg.edu/media/contentassets/pdf/about/polling/surveys/pennsylvania/PADEM_Report_2019.pdf |title=Muhlenberg College |access-date=June 23, 2019 |archive-date=April 29, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190429230225/https://www.muhlenberg.edu/media/contentassets/pdf/about/polling/surveys/pennsylvania/PADEM_Report_2019.pdf |url-status=dead }}
| Apr 3–10, 2019 | 405 | ± 5.5% | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 28% | – | 3% | 4% | 8% | 3% | 16% | 8% | 9%{{efn|Klobuchar with 3%; others with 6%}} | 20% |
style="text-align:left;"|Emerson College[http://emersonpolling.com/2019/03/28/pennsylvania-2020-biden-leads-democratic-field-biden-and-sanders-lead-trump-by-10-points-in-general-election/ Emerson College] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190420173916/http://emersonpolling.com/2019/03/28/pennsylvania-2020-biden-leads-democratic-field-biden-and-sanders-lead-trump-by-10-points-in-general-election/ |date=2019-04-20 }}
| Mar 26–28, 2019 | 359 | ± 5.1% | {{party shading/Democratic}}| 39% | – | 4% | 6% | 5% | 5% | 20% | 11% | 10%{{efn|Gabbard with 3%; Gillibrand with 2%; Castro and Yang with 1%; Hickenlooper, Inslee, and Klobuchar with 0%; others with 4%}} | – |
Results
class="wikitable sortable" style="text-align:right;"
|+ style="background-color:#f2f2f2;margin-bottom:-1px;border:1px solid #aaa;padding:0.2em 0.4em;" |2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary{{cite web|url=https://www.electionreturns.pa.gov/Home/SummaryResults?ElectionID=83&ElectionType=P&IsActive=0|title=2020 Presidential Primary Official Returns|publisher=Pennsylvania Department of State|access-date=14 October 2020}} ! Candidate ! Votes ! % ! Delegates{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/2020-primary-elections/pennsylvania-results|title=2020 Primary Elections: Pennsylvania results|publisher=NBC|date=17 July 2020|access-date=11 August 2020}} |
{{party shading/Democratic}}
| style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Biden, Joe" | Joe Biden | 1,264,624 | 79.26 | 151 |
style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Sanders, Bernie" | Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)
| 287,834 | 18.04 | 35 |
style="text-align:left;" data-sort-value="Gabbard, Tulsi" | Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn)
| 43,050 | 2.70 | {{N/A |
|-
! Total
! 1,595,508
! 100%
! 186
|}
See also
Notes
Additional candidates
{{Notelist}}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.thegreenpapers.com/P20/PA-D The Green Papers delegate allocation summary]
- [https://act.padems.com/page/-/2020%20Delegate%20Selection%20Plan%20-%20DRAFT%20v1.6.pdf Pennsylvania Democratic Party delegate selection plan] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200913082400/https://act.padems.com/page/-/2020%20Delegate%20Selection%20Plan%20-%20DRAFT%20v1.6.pdf |date=2020-09-13 }}
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20190422223304/https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/2020-primaries/democratic/pennsylvania/ FiveThirtyEight Pennsylvania primary poll tracker]
{{2020 Democratic primaries}}