By Jolie McCullough, The Texas Tribune
Joe Biden is taking home the most Texas delegates earned through the state’s Democratic primary election, but he will fall just short of a majority, according to an analysis of the unofficial vote count from the Texas Democratic Party.
The former vice president was expected to be awarded 111 delegates, the party said Wednesday. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont senator who garnered the second-most votes in the state, was expected to win 102 delegates. Trailing far behind, candidates Michael Bloomberg and Elizabeth Warren would receive 10 and 5 delegates, respectively.
Texas awards a hefty 228 delegates to presidential candidates based on the results of the state’s Democratic primary election. Of those, 149 are awarded based on the results of each of the 31 state Senate districts. The other 79 are doled out based on the results of the statewide vote count. Candidates must get at least 15% of the votes in a Senate district to get district delegates and 15% of the total statewide vote to be eligible for the state delegates.
In the 14 states that held primary elections on Super Tuesday, Texas’ delegate count is second only behind California, which pledges 415 delegates in the primary election.
The party said Biden — who won 34% of Texas primary votes — was expected to get 69 delegates from the district pool and 42 from the statewide trove of delegates. Sanders, with 30% of the total vote, would likely earn 65delegates through Senate districts and bring in 37 statewide delegates. No other candidate hit the 15% count in Texas’ statewide tally — Bloomberg came in at 14.5% of the state vote. His delegates and Warren’s were awarded from the district pool.
Nationwide, a Democratic presidential candidate needs at least 1,991 pledged delegates to win the party nomination for president on the first ballot at the Democratic National Convention in July. If there is no clear winner from the pledged delegates, 771 unpledged delegates, formerly known as superdelegates, can then cast ballots for any candidate until one candidate receives more than 2,375 total delegate votes. Texas has 33 unpledged delegates — made up of 13 Democratic members of Congress and 20 Democratic National Committee members.
“Joe Biden to earn an estimated 111 of Texas’ Democratic primary delegates. Bernie Sanders will get 102.” was first published at https://www.texastribune.org/2020/03/04/texas-democratic-primary-delegates/ by The Texas Tribune. The Texas Tribune is proud to celebrate 10 years of exceptional journalism for an exceptional state.
