2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries

The **2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses ** took place in the United States. It takes place before to the 2016 general election to elect the Democratic Party's nominee for the Presidency of the United States.  They were held between February 1 and June 14.  President and 2012 nominee, Barack Obama could not stand for re-election due to term limits under the Twenty-second Amendment.

## Candidates

Hillary Clinton, then Secretary of State, decided to run for president in April 2015. Clinton had served as a U.S. Senator (2001–09) and was the First Lady of the U.S. (1993–2001). A January 2013 _Washington Post_–ABC News poll showed that she had high popularity among the American public. This polling data made many political critics and observers to anticipate that Clinton would launch a second presidential bid in 2016, entering the race as the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination.

On May 26, 2015, Independent U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders officially announced his run as a presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, after an informal announcement in April that year, and speculation since early 2014. Sanders had served as Mayor of Burlington, Vermont (1981–1989), as Vermont's sole U.S. Representative (1991–2007), and as Vermont's junior Senator (2007–present). Bernie Sanders is currently seen as the biggest rival to Hillary Clinton, backed up by a strong grassroots campaign and social media following. His campaign picked up attention and mass support. However, in recent poll numbers, Clinton is leading Saunders nationally by 12.7 percent.

In May 2015, Maryland governor Martin O'Malley announced his campaign. He withdrew after the Iowa primaries. Rhode Island governor Lincoln Chafee announced his campaign in June 2015. After poor polling numbers, he dropped out before the primaries in October 2015. Former Virginia senator Jim Webb announced his campaign in the summer of 2015. He dropped out in October 2015 after a poor debate performance. Professor Lawrence Lessig announced his campaign in September 2015. He dropped out a month later after poor polling numbers.

## Superdelegates

Superdelegates are elected officials and members of the Democratic National Committee who will vote at the Democratic National Convention for their favorite candidate. Also known as "unpledged delegates," they may change their candidate at any time and talk about one sixth of the delegates to the convention. The table and list below show the current support.

|style="width:100px;"||style="width:100px;"|Distinguished party leaders|style="width:100px;"|Governors|style="width:100px;"|Senators|style="width:100px;"|Representatives|style="width:100px;"|DNC members|style="width:75px;"|Totals|
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|Hillary Clinton|10|16|39|166|247|**478**||||||||
|Bernie Sanders|1|0|2|8|29|**40**||||||||
|Martin O'Malley|0|0|0|0|1|**1**||||||||
||9|5|6|19|157|**196**||||||||

<small>**Note:** Democrats Abroad Superdelegates are assigned half-votes; each of them accounts for ½ rather than 1 in the table above.</small>

## Related pages

- Republican Party presidential primaries, 2016

## Other websites

- Democratic Convention Watch
- Green papers for 2016 primaries, caucuses, and conventions
- Full Transcript: Democratic Presidential Debate October 14, 2015

## Infobox (election)

- **election name**: 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- **country**: United States
- **type**: primary
- **ongoing**: no
- **previous election**: 2012 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- **previous year**: 2012
- **next election**: 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries
- **next year**: 2020
- **election date**: February 1 to June 14, 2016
- **votes for election**: 4,763 delegate votes to the 2016 Democratic National Convention, Democratic National Convention
- **needed votes**: 2,382 delegate
- **party name**: no
- **image1**: File:Hillary Clinton Arizona 2016 .jpg
- **candidate1**: **Hillary Clinton**
- **color1**: d4aa00
- **states carried1**: **34**
- **delegate count1**: **2,842**
- **popular vote1**: **16,917,853**
- **percentage1**: **55.2%**
- **image2**: File:Bernie Sanders September 2015 cropped.jpg
- **image size**: 160x160px
- **candidate2**: Bernie Sanders
- **color2**: 228b22
- **states carried2**: 23
- **delegate count2**: 1,865
- **popular vote2**: 13,210,550
- **percentage2**: 43.1%
- **map image**: Democratic Party presidential primaries results, 2016.svg
- **map size**: 350px
- **map caption**: **First place by initial pledged delegate allocation**
- **title**: Democratic nominee
- **before election**: Barack Obama
- **after election**: Hillary Clinton