Ever wonder how we, as a Democratic Party, decide which candidates will run under our banner in the fall?
For many offices, such as Congress, state legislature, and county and township offices, our nominees are chosen in the summer primary election (August 6 this year). Candidates for statewide education boards and Michigan Supreme Court are nominated at a state Democratic convention (this year’s convention will be August 24 in Lansing – mark your calendar!).
But how do we decide our nominee for President?
The Democratic presidential nominating process includes the following steps:
STEP ONE: Presidential primary election. More than 770,000 Michigan voters voted a Democratic ballot in the presidential primary election. President Joe Biden got 81.1% of the vote statewide, including 82% in the 2nd Congressional District and 80.6% in the 3rd Congressional District.
STEP TWO: Delegates are awarded to presidential candidates. Delegate spots are awarded proportionally to candidates who receive more than 15% of the vote in the presidential primary statewide as well as within each congressional district. Because only Joe Biden got over 15% of the vote, he won all statewide delegate spots as well as all delegates for the 2nd and 3rd districts.
STEP THREE: The actual delegates (and alternates) are selected. Michigan will have 140 National Convention delegates this year. These include four from the Second Congressional District; six from the Third Congressional District; 25 at-large delegates; and 15 delegate spots reserved for Party leaders and elected officials. District-level delegates will be elected at Congressional District Conventions on May 11; all other delegates and alternates will be elected by the Michigan Democratic State Central Committee on June 8. To run for DNC Delegate and/or Alternate, you must fill out the Delegate Declaration of Candidacy form and be an MDP member by April 11 (for district-level Delegate candidates) or May 6 (for PLEO and At-Large candidates). Protip: Fill out and send in your Delegate Declaration of Candidacy ASAP – don’t let deadlines sneak up on you!
STEP FOUR: Democratic National Convention. The Convention will take place on August 19-22 in Chicago. Delegates to the Convention will vote to nominate our candidates for President and Vice President and adopt the Democratic Party’s national platform.
Want to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention? If so, you must do two things by April 12:
- Join the Michigan Democratic Party, if you haven’t already
- Submit a Delegate Declaration of Candidacy form
District-level delegates will be selected at district conventions on Saturday, May 11.
