How Presidential Candidates Come to Be: Primaries, Caucuses & National Conventions

Ashley: 0:00

So in presidential elections, caucuses do not directly elect a candidate, but rather determine the number of state delegates pledged to a vote for a given candidate at the party's National Convention. Delegates are party members who pledge to represent their states selected candidates and presidential nominee at the National Convention. They are selected based on their position within a party or by contest within a caucus or primary. Welcome back to the United she Stands Podcast, the show that brings kindness and women into politics. I'm Ashley.

Sara: 0:36

And I'm Sarah, and we're two women from Ohio who are here to become more educated about American politics and build a community so we can all get involved and make an impact together.

Ashley: 0:46

We hope will inspire and empower you along the way.

Sara: 1:03

Hi everyone. Thanks for tuning into the United she Stands Podcast today. Maybe you've noticed that there's a lot of buzz about the presidential election lately and maybe you're wondering why. I mean, the general election isn't until November. Why are we all talking about it so early? Well, there's these things called primary elections that happened before the presidential general election and the prepping and execution of them kind of take a while, and that's what we're going to be talking about today. How fun, ash.

Ashley: 1:33

Let's do it Primaries, primaries.

Sara: 1:39

Cophices, all the things, all the things. I think we need to break it to our fans here that y'all let's dry January.

Ashley: 1:45

It is dry January. Sarah and I are not drinking for this episode, or mostly for the month of January.

Sara: 1:51

Mostly. Yeah. Yeah, I'm doing dry ish January, but that does not include burrs for recording. I apologize that y'all didn't make the cut, but that's just how the cookie crumbled.

Ashley: 2:04

Sarah got three days and recording days were not one of them. Correct, correct, and I am doing, I think, a fully dry January. So we'll see, we're out here doing the real work and, by the way, we're already deciding, we're already like on the fence about dry January. When we record this, it's like January 3rd, so we're doing well.

Sara: 2:26

Everything's fine. What do we know about this topic before?

Ashley: 2:32

This is a question because I feel like I have this like idea of primaries, like I know what they are, like that's how we get to, but like what we talk about today and what we've learned to prep for this episode, that there's just so many intricacies and details and, like all things, politics it's just complex.

Sara: 2:50

Yes, for sure. So I think I like knew more about primaries and like caucuses since we started like doing the podcast. But like pre podcast I've heard the words but I like that's all I knew. And I knew a little bit going into researching for this episode. But I was really just confused about, like the differences between primaries and caucuses and like it. Just it just seemed very complex and the research confirms it is complex. So we're here to kind of demystify that for all of you listeners.

Ashley: 3:26

Yeah, and it actually is interesting. So we promise it'll be a good listen and a good episode. Do you want to jump into it? Yeah, let's get after it. Let's do it. So, interestingly enough, article two, section one of the United States Constitution discusses the procedures to be followed when electing the president of the United States, but it does not provide guidance for how to nominate a presidential candidate. So, just like many other processes in our government, this process has evolved over time. We landed on our current process in the early 1900s, which is where candidates go through a series of state primaries and caucuses where, based on the number of votes they received from the electorate, they are assigned a certain number of delegates who will vote for them at their party's national convention later in the year. Cool, cool, cool. But what are primaries and caucuses? That's what we're going to talk about today.

Sara: 4:14

So let's start with quickly going through the entire presidential election process so we know when the primaries actually take place. Overall, the process to elect a president takes about two whole years. That's craziness. So half of one presidential term. So, starting here, the spring of the year before an election. So if you're listening in January 2024, when we released this episode, this would have been spring 2023. This is when candidates announced their intentions to run the summer of that same year. So the summer before an election, through the spring of election year. So again, if you're listening to this in real time, ish, real ish time, that's summer of 2023, through the spring of 2024. Political debates and primaries and caucuses take place Then, more specifically, in election year, from January to June is when states and parties hold primaries and caucuses. So that's where we're currently focusing at for this episode and that's where we're currently at in the process today. So then, july to early September, parties hold nominating conventions to choose their candidates. September to October, candidates participate in presidential debates again early November. So November 5th of this year actually is election day. So it's the first Tuesday after the first Monday. Wait what?

Ashley: 5:42

No, that's true. So that's because if the first Tuesday, like if the first falls on a Tuesday, it's not an election. You have to have a Monday in the month before it can be an election day.

Sara: 5:51

Okay, I like read that. I totally typed that, but that just sounded silly.

Ashley: 5:56

No, it's true. Yeah, it's true, Okay maybe just a plug. It's never too early to register to vote.

Sara: 6:01

It's never too early to register to vote. So, yes, election day will never be November 1st is what you're saying. Then, yes, got it. That makes sense, because I've definitely never seen that in my life.

Ashley: 6:11

So yeah, and like I don't know what's wrong with November 1st, but I guess it's bad day, so I guess so.

Sara: 6:17

Yeah, yeah, ok, got it. So then in December you think you thought we were done there, we're not. In December of election year, electors cast their vote in the electoral college, and then early January of the next calendar year, 2025, in this case, congress counts the electoral votes, and then January 20th of 2025 will be inauguration day. Wow, we really started back in spring of 2023 and ended in January of 2025.

Ashley: 6:47

Yeah, and since we mentioned it, we did do an episode about elections and we touch on, we kind of go into the electoral college. So if you want to know, learn, learn more about that, know more about that. I don't know why I feel like I know this. I think it's because I saw it like when I prepped the episode I had known that maybe this was coming up. But I think it's episode 26, those things called elections. So go back and give that a listen if you want to.

Sara: 7:08

Such a weird flex, but I'm about it.

Ashley: 7:11

I'm telling you because it was in my notes from when we were going to touch on primaries and caucuses. There was like we had kind of touched on those for that episode as well.

Sara: 7:19

You don't have to justify your photographic memory. I definitely don't.

Ashley: 7:23

I have like the world's worst memory.

Sara: 7:24

So I was just shocked that I could do that. Yeah, that's fair.

Ashley: 7:26

Yeah, I was shocked that that came to me honestly.

Sara: 7:29

No, that's impressive, Episode 26,. Listen to it. I hope so. So, but what did you say? I hope it's 26. If not, just search for elections in your little searching tool. You guys know how to use technology. So again, today we are only focusing on the primaries caucuses, and then of course, we'll touch on the national conventions piece as well. So I'm about to age myself, is what people say? I'm about to make an old school joke, but do we have any Jersey Shore fans listening? Because you can totally think of primary elections in terms of the election before the election or, as Mike, the situation would say, the shirt before the shirt. So primary elections are how each political party decides which nominees will be on the ballot. Primaries are run by the state, so of course that means the world for primaries vary state by state. This is the first of many reminders in this episode. To look up how your state runs primaries, a quick, cool search will get you there.

Ashley: 8:29

So anyway, there are a handful of different types of primaries. Many states have closed primaries, which means you can only vote in the election if you are a registered member of that party. How do you register as a party member? Typically, people indicate their party of choice when they are registering to vote. Here's an example of a closed primary. Let's say you are registered as a Republican and your state is holding a Republican primary election. You can vote in it. Congrats, you can participate in democracy. But let's also say your brother is a registered Democrat in the same state. Sorry, but your brother cannot vote in that state's primary election. Then we have open primaries, which is a strategy we introduced in our democracy reform episode. Oh, there's so many plugs here. I love this. Okay, you know what episode over that is? I don't know it's episode number. That Be Ledewy 21. That's my guess.

Sara: 9:16

Oh wait, I actually that feels right. Okay, all right to me too. Yeah, that would be actually creepy, that's.

Ashley: 9:25

I like that episode a lot though, so anyway, if you want to listen to it. But so, for an example, shut up, it's 21 is it.

Sara: 9:33

Yeah, and also I can confirm, and elections is 26, you're killing it today crushing it.

Ashley: 9:41

Okay. So open primaries are when anyone can vote regardless of their declared party affiliation. So, for example, a voter registered as a Democrat can choose to vote in the Republican primary. A voter may only vote in one party's primary, though.

Sara: 9:53

There's also partially closed primaries. This is where voters must be registered members of the party holding the primary. However, parties may choose each election whether to allow unaffiliated voters to participate. So since there are partially closed primaries, does that mean there are also partially open primaries?

Ashley: 10:14

Yes, yes, there is.

Sara: 10:17

Partially open primaries are where voters can cross party lines, but they must publicly declare their ballot choice, or their ballot selection may be regarded as a form of registration with the corresponding party. Are you keeping up here? We still have three more types of primaries to go, don't worry. The next is an open to unaffiliated voters primary. This is where unaffiliated voters may choose which party primary they want to vote in, but voters affiliated with other parties may not cross over. By the way, affiliated and unfiliated really just means not registered under a certain party or registered under a certain party. There are also top two primary elections, which are also known as nonpartisan blanket primaries, and this is when the top two vote-getters advanced to the general election regardless of their party. And lastly Thank goodness right there are top four primaries where the top four vote-getters advanced to the general election regardless of party. So no matter what type of primary election is held, the outcome of state primaries Influence how delegates vote during the national convention, and we'll talk more about delegates in the national conventions here soon. Now here's your second reminder of the episode to look into how your state runs its primaries. So folks in Ohio will help you out here. Our state has open primaries. So, as a refresher, this means voters do not have to register with a party to participate in its primary. Voters select the ballot of the party whose primary they wish to vote in at the polling location.

Ashley: 11:52

Whoo, but fun fact about Ohio if you vote in a party's primary election, you're automatically registered as affiliated to that party.

Sara: 12:01

Oh, actually, I think that technically means that we're open. What is it? Partially open primaries? Because, yep, we're partially open primaries.

Ashley: 12:11

Because but but wait, is that true? Because if you're a Democrat, you can walk in and still vote in the Republican. So partially open primaries.

Sara: 12:18

Let's look at our definition here voters across party lines, but they must publicly declare the ballot. Choice or their ballot selection may be regarded as a form of registration with the course.

Ashley: 12:28

Oh yeah.

Sara: 12:31

Look at that, well, brainwork teamwork.

Ashley: 12:34

Yeah, we learned that actually during the democracy reform episode we had a listener reach out and say hey, just so you guys know, because I think we were on the episode and saying like how can I? It was an episode where you gave me grief for how do I change my party status and we had a listener reach out and say hey, if you just go vote in a primary like, it'll change for you wait, that's so funny, I didn't remember that.

Sara: 12:54

So we actually did know this and I was just like oh, brain blast no it's no, it's fine.

Ashley: 12:59

It's like a nugget that like doesn't, it's like not, I don't know.

Sara: 13:04

Yeah, no, great callback. Shout out to whoever that was.

Ashley: 13:07

All right so, moving on, we have primaries and then there are caucuses. Several states hold caucuses in the months leading up to a presidential election. Caucuses are meetings run by political parties that are held at the county, district or precinct level. They can also be open, closed or semi open or closed, just like primaries. During a caucus, participants gather in a meeting style format to discuss the issues at hand and debate among their own political parties which candidates best address their needs. Once aligning themselves with a candidate, delegates will be tallied up. Candidates with the least amount of votes are eliminated, giving delegates a chance to realign themselves with one of the remaining viable candidates, which is actually kind of how our choice voting works, but we won't talk about that today. So in presidential elections, caucuses do not directly elect a candidate, but rather determine the number of state delegates pledge to a vote for a given candidate at the party's national convention. Delegates are party members who pledge to represent their states selected candidates and presidential nominee at the national convention. They are selected based on their position within a party or by contest within a caucus or primary.

Sara: 14:11

So state caucuses are traditionally held from January to June of each election year, like we covered, and during this time candidates travel around the country to caucus meetings in order to secure enough delegates to qualify for their party's national convention. The candidate with the most delegates voting in their favor wins that party's nomination. Typically, an official announcement of the candidate's running mate follows and they begin campaigning to win the support of the general population. States and political parties use different methods for deciding how many delegates they will award to each candidate. So here's your third reminder. You can find this information about your state's presidential primaries or caucuses by a quick Google search or even by contacting your state election office or the political part of your choice. Either way, delegates go on to represent their state at national party conventions.

Ashley: 15:01

So, as primaries were universally adopted as a method for selecting delegates, they became a more consequential part of the election process. Early primaries have taken on added importance of setting precedents and influencing the elections that follow in other states. Today, state legislatures capitalize on the importance of primaries for influence by scheduling their state's primaries and caucuses as early as possible, forcing presidential candidates to cater to their states. So, for example, the Iowa caucus was held this year on January 15th, which, when this episode drops, that would have been yesterday, and that timing isn't abnormal for the event. Since 1983, iowa has been the first state to hold its caucus during election years, making Iowa the quote unquote first in the nation. Traditionally, states hold their caucuses or primaries between late February and mid-May, approximately one to a couple of months before the national nominating convention. However, the Iowa caucuses are held between January and early February. In doing so, iowa has historically been seen as an indicator of a candidate's strength. Candidates have strategically then prioritized Iowa to fuel their campaign and gain momentum before the first presidential primaries, which have historically been in New Hampshire, but we'll talk about that a little bit later.

Sara: 16:11

So hence why you've always heard Iowa caucus, iowa caucus, blah, blah, blah. That's why. So we've talked about both primaries and caucuses. So let's touch on the main differences to alleviate any confusion, because we know this is all difficult to keep straight. Primary procedures can vary from state to state, city to city, and even among parties. Primaries differ and who can participate. Whereas caucuses are typically only for registered voters of a specific party, similar to a regular election, in a primary, citizens vote for their preferred candidate at a designated polling location. Who is eligible to vote in a primary depends on the different types of primaries that the state uses. Like we went through the billions of different types closed, open, semi-closed, semi-open, nonpartisan, top two, top four, yada, yada yada. State caucuses have been around longer than primaries and used to be the favored method of determining presidential nominees. However, in recent years, primaries have become more prevalent, as people have begun to favor the similarity of primaries to an actual election and the increased opportunities for nonpartisan voters and not to add even more confusion, but some states actually hold a mixture of primaries and caucuses.

Ashley: 17:25

So great mind blown, all right. So, for example, prior to 2016, texas used a hybrid system known as the quote unquote Texas two step, where voters participated in a closed presidential primary election to cast their ballot. The results of those primaries were then used to allocate delegates for caucuses. Today, four states in three territories hold presidential caucuses Iowa, nevada, north Dakota, wyoming, american Samoa, guam and the Virgin Islands. This year, in 2024, nevada will hold its first Democratic presidential primary, making it the most recent state to transition from holding caucuses to holding primaries in presidential elections.

Sara: 18:03

Okay, that was a lot of talk about primaries and caucuses, but we've also mentioned the National Party conventions a few times. When are they? This year, the Republican National Convention is July 15th through the 18th in Milwaukee, wisconsin, and the Democratic National Convention is in Chicago on August 19th through the 22nd. But what happens at these national conventions? When the time comes for these conventions in the presidential election process, there are actually few surprises. As we know now, individuals participate in primaries or caucuses to elect delegates who support their presidential candidate of choice. At National Party conventions, the presidential contender with the most state delegate votes wins the party nomination. The news media ensures that state delegate vote counts are well known before national conventions begin, so this really just means that the apparent nominees for president are known. As a result, modern national conventions don't really select candidates. Instead, they launch nominees and election themes that carry through the race to the White House. National conventions, yeah.

Ashley: 19:09

Yeah, all right, let's circle back a bit to a few things we've mentioned and we can talk about latest primary news that's happened in the last two years. Sarah walked us through the high-level calendar we're going to dive a little bit deeper on that and we did touch on how important it was to be one of those first couple of states to go. The big news in the last couple of years is that there's been a big change with the primary calendars, which really started causing a lot of noise back in December of 2022. The change was initially put forward then by President Biden. New Hampshire, as we talked about, has been the first primary going back since I think I read 1920 is the date so many, many decades. But many in the Democratic Party argued that it is no longer really representative of the voters, which maybe never was, but now we're talking about it. So Biden agreed that this was the case and he pushed for the first primary to be moved to South Carolina. The Democratic National Committee approved this plan in December of 2023, but, as we just told you, new Hampshire has held this forever. Guess what? If you've been paying attention, new Hampshire is still coming in hot next week. If you listen to this one. This drops the 23rd with their primary, so let's talk about that Basically. What's that saying? Sometimes things don't go as planned. Well, we have some Democratic National Committee and New Hampshire drama to walk you through. So the DNC confirms this change, like I said, at the end of 2023 and scheduled the South Carolina primary to lead the party's nomination process on February 3rd. New Hampshire and Nevada were supposed to follow on February 6th. Well, new Hampshire basically sort of throws a little bit of a fit and technically, they do have it written into their state laws that they have to be the first primary in the nation.

Sara: 20:53

I listened to a Civics 101 episode on this. Yeah, I thought it was silly you just crazy kind of. Yeah, it's just like crazy how much the states can do on their own and then this is just like such a perfect example of it clashing with, like, the federal government and yeah.

Ashley: 21:13

Well, but it's not even the federal government because it's just a national party. But it is really interesting.

Sara: 21:18

But Biden.

Ashley: 21:19

Yeah, but he can't. I guess he didn't do anything. He did it more as, like the leader of the Democratic Party, he made not as like the president. Right, it's like really the parties do this, so it is. It's so strange, it's such a crazy dynamic.

Sara: 21:34

Yeah, wow, okay. So the state law gives the New Hampshire Secretary of State exclusive authority to set the date for the 2024 primary. For 40 years it has been held the Tuesday following the Iowa caucuses, which are scheduled for January 15th, which yesterday. This year the date has been set for January 23rd. New Hampshire state law also says the primary must be held at least seven days before any similar contest. South Carolina's Democratic Party is now set for March 3rd. So New Hampshire did it. They came out on top, but guess what? The DNC is still fighting back in a bid to make South Carolina the first Democratic contest. The Democratic National Committee has said candidates should not put their name on the New Hampshire ballot and they won't hold a caucus in Iowa. So Joe Biden is not on the ballot in New Hampshire. So what does this all mean?

Ashley: 22:29

I don't know, ash, I hope you're telling me. I'm going to try to tell you. So there has been a push recently with Democrats some of the Democrats in the state for folks to write in Joe Biden, which is allowed, not against like any state laws or anything. He can still win delegates via write-in, but 21 other Democrats are on the ballot in New Hampshire, so it's going to be interesting, yeah, and let's just kind of throw this out here. I mean, we did episodes on episodes on political parties, but just to remind you, a political party is really all about unity. So New Hampshire going against the DNC is really like causing a big stir and everyone is expecting that New Hampshire Democrats will likely see some form of punishment for going against the DNC in future years. Drama, drama, drama, drama, yikes. Okay, so just real quick to end this, because we just got really into the weeds on dates with, like Iowa, new Hampshire, south Carolina, other key dates. To know that is kind of like common and pretty well known is that there are many primaries that take place in March and Super Tuesday is kind of like a known date. In this year it falls March 5th, which there are 16 states voting that day. The other states will continue to follow with primaries running through June and for listeners in our home state of Ohio, our presidential primary here will be March 19th and it is partially open, so you can't see open vote. You can go to whichever one you want vote.

Sara: 23:56

Yes, but then from there on out, at least until you vote again or change it, your party affiliation yeah, we'll be that party.

Ashley: 24:04

Yes, yes, yes.

Sara: 24:05

Wow, look at us, look at us using the information we learned.

Ashley: 24:10

Yep, and there it is. Primaries Cox's how presents Presidential candidates come to be all the things there it is.

Sara: 24:18

There all is laid out in one handy episode for you. So let's quickly summarize everything, shall we? In an election year, aka this year, 2024 States hold primaries and caucuses from January through the summer. Presidential primaries are the election before the general election, where you actually vote for the president of the United States. Primary elections are how each political party decides which nominees will be on the ballot for the general election, and Then caucuses are meetings run by political parties, or participants gather to discuss the issues and debate among their own Political parties which candidates best address their needs. And caucuses don't directly elect a candidate. They determine the number. Of state delegates pledge to vote for a given candidate at a party's national convention and, thanks to media outlets, we typically have a good idea on who is going to be the presidential candidates from each political party Before going into the conventions. So these events are now more used to propel the remainder of the nominees. Presidential race.

Ashley: 25:19

And it's starting.

Sara: 25:22

We're in the thick of it, I will happen yesterday I already happened, so we'll have to see.

Ashley: 25:27

I mean, when we Predictions.

Sara: 25:29

It's.

Ashley: 25:29

January 3rd. Should we, should we make predictions? I don't want to.

Sara: 25:32

I'm scared, yeah no.

Ashley: 25:37

Everybody. Yeah, it's terrifying. All right, everyone. Thank you so much for listening this week. If you want to dig into this topic a little bit more, you can find all of our sources in the show notes, and there are quite a few. And here's your final reminder of the episode to look up how your state handles their primaries or caucuses aka, sarah wrote, pre-general election processes, which is a fine way to put it. Yeah, you can get involved. Your vote does matter. Even before November, it matters in these primaries. So get out there, vote, and if you learned anything in this episode or you enjoyed it, please share it with a friend who you think would also learn something or enjoy it. We appreciate you guys and we'll see you next week.

Sara: 26:12

That was beautiful, ash, I have nothing else to add. Thanks everyone. Thanks for joining us for today's episode. We really appreciate the support.

Ashley: 26:29

We would also really appreciate it if you hit the follow button and share this episode with anyone you think would enjoy it.

Sara: 26:34

And we'd like to thank Kevin Tanner, who edited this episode. If you're interested in learning more about him and his services, his website and Instagram are in the show notes with that.

Ashley: 26:43

We'll see you next week.

Sara: 26:56

Hi everyone. Thanks for tuning into the United she's sorry, sir.

Ashley: 27:01

I was turning something on to make sure it didn't ding in. It dinged when I turned it off, but while you were speaking, which maybe would have been fine, but I didn't know if it like played back to your mic or something Weird because of the zoom.

Sara: 27:23

You can totally think of primary elections in terms of oh, oh, like was gonna word it differently because I knew what my words were gonna say, but then my words were worded differently on the paper. You know what I mean.

Ashley: 27:43

So you just said the word word a lot. Okay so for example, a voter registered. Sorry, yeah, literally almost rule dumb.

Sara: 28:05

And I really just have to say it before we say delegates too much one. I always want to say delegates, but I would ever I hear or say the word delegate. I think of the Bruno Mars song. Don't get on his delegates. You know, you, you would know this song.

Ashley: 28:24

I'm sure I know, would know it if I hear, but I don't know, like it's a billionaire, oh yeah, okay, I just like I wouldn't know that line alone.

Sara: 28:30

But he's like I'm playing in basketball, with the president dunking on his delegates.

Ashley: 28:36

What a great reference. You know, I guess.

Sara: 28:39

That's what inspired me to get involved in politics. Thanks bro, thanks Bruno, except nobody talks about Bruno, but we can talk about that Bruno.

Ashley: 28:50

Wow, I'm really.

Sara: 28:55

States and political parties use different methods for deciding how many delegates. God damn it. Can we just, kevin, is there a way for you to change my C's into G's, and we can just go on with this?

Ashley: 29:10

Or something yeah.

Sara: 29:14

And a bid to make South Carolina. Yeah, sorry, got a lot of stuff going on. What was wrong with us tonight? I know, are you guys like literally sober?

Ashley: 29:25

I think we're worse when we're sober, honestly, yeah, okay, wait. We are like If we've had too much to drink, it's bad, and if we haven't had enough, it's bad. There's like a. It's just like when you play there's a sweet spot. There's a sweet spot where we like Excel.

Sara: 29:40

That is so funny. I agree with this 100%. Oh my gosh. Okay, well, february will be better. I promise I Didn't clear anything, okay, I.