Claim: Bernie Sanders is in the Senate.

The 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the Democratic National Convention held July 25 -- 28 and determine the nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election . The elections took place within all fifty U.S. states , the District of Columbia , and five U.S. territories and occurred between February 1 and June 14 , 2016 . An extra 716 unpledged delegates -LRB- 712 votes -RRB- or `` superdelegates '' , including party leaders and elected officials , were appointed by the party leadership independently of the primaries ' electoral process . The convention also approved the party 's platform and vice-presidential nominee . The Democratic nominee challenged other presidential candidates in national elections to succeed President Barack Obama at noon on January 20 , 2017 , following his two terms in office .   A total of six major candidates entered the race starting April 12 , 2015 , when former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton formally announced her second bid for the presidency . She was followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders , former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley , former Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee , former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig . There was some speculation that incumbent Vice President Joe Biden would also enter the race , but he chose not to run . A draft movement was started to encourage Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to seek the presidency , but Warren declined to run . Prior to the Iowa caucuses on February 1 , 2016 , Webb and Chafee both withdrew after consistently polling below 2 % . Lessig withdrew after the rules of a debate were changed so that he would no longer qualify to participate .   Clinton won Iowa by the closest margin in the history of the state 's Democratic caucus . O'Malley suspended his campaign after a distant third-place finish , leaving Clinton and Sanders the only two candidates . The electoral battle turned out to be more competitive than expected , with Sanders winning the New Hampshire primary while Clinton scored victories in the Nevada caucuses and South Carolina primary . On four different Super Tuesdays , Clinton secured numerous important wins in each of the nine most populous states including California , New York , Florida , and Texas , while Sanders scored various victories in between .   On June 6 , 2016 , the Associated Press and NBC News stated that Clinton had become the presumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates , including both pledged and unpledged delegates -LRB- superdelegates -RRB- , to secure the nomination . In doing so , she had become the first woman to ever be the presumptive nominee of any major political party in the United States . On June 7 , Clinton officially secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning in the California and New Jersey primaries . President Barack Obama , Vice President Joe Biden and Senator Elizabeth Warren formally endorsed Clinton on June 9 , 2016 . Sanders confirmed on June 24 that he would vote for Clinton over Donald Trump in the general election and , on July 12 , 2016 , formally endorsed Clinton in Portsmouth , New Hampshire .   On July 22 , the Democratic National Committee email leak was published by Wikileaks , casting doubt on the DNC 's neutrality and seemingly portraying an organization invested in promoting the Clinton candidacy and sabotaging that of Bernie Sanders . In further e-mails from Clinton campaign chairman John Podesta , leaked online in early October , Clinton campaign officials are shown planning ahead the primary schedule to set some important disputes , such as New York and New Jersey , earlier than in 2008 so as to benefit Clinton . The small number of debates , as well as starting them `` as late as possible '' , were also agreed upon between the DNC and the Clinton campaign as a boost to her . The debate schedule had already been criticized as far back as 2015 , for example by pre-candidate Martin O'Malley , as biased in Clinton 's favor . Democratic operative Donna Brazile , who succeeded Debbie Wasserman Schultz as DNC chair after the first batch of leaks , is shown in the e-mails leaking primary debate questions to Clinton before the debates were held .   On July 26 , 2016 , the Democratic National Convention officially nominated Clinton for President and Virginia Senator Tim Kaine for Vice President . On November 8 , 2016 , Republican nominee Donald Trump defeated Clinton in the general election .