![]() ![]() The party ditched the process for the 2016 election. Nicknamed the “Texas two-step,” voters cast ballots in a primary to allocate 75 percent of available delegates based on state Senate districts, and could also go to caucus to assign the remaining 25 percent of statewide delegates. Until recently, Texas was the only state in the nation where Democrats hosted both a primary and caucuses during a presidential election. “They are bound only by their own conscience and their own reputation,” Rottinghaus said. In 2008, some superdelegates initially endorsed Clinton but jumped ship and headed to Barack Obama’s side before the convention. Superdelegates can always change their mind. Rottinghaus said superdelegates have not made a big impact in recent presidential elections. “But the percentage of superdelegates out of the total is pretty low, so although they do have outside influence and they’re not elected, it is simply a fail-safe tool for the party to make sure that they don’t nominate someone who can’t handle the job.” “The reason the party designed the system that way is because they wanted to have some built-in filter” on who gets the nomination, Rottinghaus said. They often pledge support for candidates earlier in the process.Īfter superdelegates were factored in, Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders finished with virtually the same number of delegates in New Hampshire even though Sanders beat Clinton by 22 percentage points. Superdelegates are notable members of the Democratic Party and Texas Democrats in Congress, and can give their votes to any candidate at the Democratic National Convention in July. Anything less and the candidates have to share. If a GOP candidate wins more than half of the votes in Texas, he will get all 47 of those delegates. Statewide vote totals determine which candidate or candidates get an additional 47 delegates. If they do well in a congressional district, they stand to gain up to three delegates per district. Republican candidates can collect delegates in two ways. “One thing for voters to think about is that even if your candidate is not winning statewide, they might win in the area where you live - so there is still a strong reason to vote,” Rottinghaus said. The formula used in Texas to divide up the delegates is complex, but University of Houston political science professor Brandon Rottinghaus said it makes the process more democratic - especially in a state where delegates are assigned proportionally. There are more Republican delegates from the Dallas area alone than Republican delegates in all of New Hampshire. Another 29 Democratic delegates are unassigned “superdelegates” who are free to declare allegiance to a candidate at the national convention in July. Texas has 155 Republican delegates and 222 Democratic delegates up for grabs on election night. Other states, such as Texas, dole out delegates proportionally, which makes things a bit more confusing. ![]() In those states, the candidate receiving the most votes win all the delegates from that state. Sources for graphics: Republican and Democratic Parties of Texas. There are 29 additional superdelegates that are allocated at the national convention. There are another 77 delegates that are allocated based on statewide vote totals. Texas' 31 Senate districts have a certain number of delegates that total 145 delegates. There are 222 Democratic delegates available on March 1. There are 47 at-large delegates allocated based on statewide totals.ġ08 + 47 = 155 delegates Democrats: 251 total Republicans: 155 totalĮach of the 36 congressional districts gets 3 delegates to total 108 delegates. Nationally, there are 2,472 Republican delegates and 4,763 Democratic delegates, and the winning candidates have to secure half of their party’s delegates - plus one. Winning the Democratic and Republican nominations is a matter of collecting the most delegates. The state's primaries - set for March 1, with early voting now under way - offer more delegates than all the states to come before combined.īut translating millions of votes into hundreds of delegates at party nominating conventions this summer is complicated. Texas is by far the biggest prize yet in the presidential nominating sweepstakes. ![]()
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