2024 United States Democratic Party presidential primaries (Bennybop)

From January 3 to June 5, 2024, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2024 United States presidential election. President Joe Biden won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2024 after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2024 Democratic National Convention on July 29, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The general expectation was that, with President Joe Biden having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin reportedly considered challenging Biden in the primaries but decided not to run after then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talked him out of it.
Several of the lesser-known candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses, and got about 2% of the vote for Uncommitted. With nine minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19, 2023, in which seven candidates participated. Author and former Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion.
Three candidates – other than Biden – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. Marianne Williamson attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl XLIV, but was met with resistance from various TV stations in some locations. The Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Marianne was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot.
A number of partisans of conspiracy theory that Joe Biden suffering from Alzheimer's/Dementia, challenging the legitimacy of Biden's presidency due to "mental impairment", attempted to have the President's name removed from the Georgia primary ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President and his staff. In February 2024, the activists' legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Biden remained listed on the primary ballot.
On May 8, 2024, Joe Manchin won 38% of the primary vote in West Virginia against incumbent Joe Biden in write-in votes, a higher percentage of the vote in one state than any other primary opponent of Biden had hitherto achieved in 2024. Shortly thereafter, Marianne Williamson won 42% of the primary vote in Maryland after widespread speculation that Williamson could possibly pull off an upset of the state.
Challengers to President Biden only qualified for the ballot in eight states – New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alaska – while a ninth (Ohio) was going to have Marianne Williamson on the ballot, but removed her name before the ballots were printed. Williamson also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the caucus ballot after the state's Democratic Party determined that she didn't meet the requirements.
Marianne Williamson suspended her bid for the nomination on April 28, 2024. She still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in New York after suspending her campaign.
Four states canceled their respective Democratic primaries altogether, citing Biden being the only candidate to qualify on their respective ballot: Connecticut, Delaware, California, and Virginia.
Biden's total percentage of the national popular primary vote was the highest of any incumbent since the 1996 election when Bill Clinton was challenged by Lyndon LaRouche.
Category:Bennybop