2020 Montana Democratic presidential primary

2020 Montana Democratic presidential primary
← MD NM →
25 delegates (19 pledged, 6 unpledged); to the Democratic National Convention; The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
	Election results by county Joe Biden

The 2020 Montana Democratic presidential primary took place on June 2, 2020, as one of eight delayed and regular primaries on the same day in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Montana primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 25 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of whom 19 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results.

Pledged national convention delegates
Type	Del.
Western district	7
Eastern district	6
PLEO	2
At-large	4
Total pledged delegates	19

Former vice president and presumptive nominee Joe Biden won the primary with more than 74% of the vote and won all delegates except one, crossing the necessary majority of 1,991 delegates to officially win the Democratic nomination three days later during the vote count,^[1] while senator Bernie Sanders narrowly missed the threshold for statewide delegates with 14.7%, winning one delegate, and senator Elizabeth Warren received the remaining 8%.

Procedure

Montana was one of seven states and the District of Columbia to vote on June 2, 2020, in the Democratic primaries, along with Indiana, Maryland, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and South Dakota.^[2] Four of those states had moved their elections to June due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.

Voting took place throughout the state from 7 a.m. until 8 p.m. In the open primary, instead of using Montana's at-large congressional district, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15% in an eastern and a western district of the state (roughly coterminous with the boundaries of the state's two former congressional districts after the 1980 redistricting) to be considered viable. The 19 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the primary results. Of these, 6 and 7 were allocated to the eastern and western districts and another 2 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 4 at-large delegates.^[3] Originally planned with 16 delegates, the final number included a 20% bonus of 3 additional delegates on the 11 district and 3 at-large delegates by the Democratic National Committee due to the June date, which belonged to Stage III on the primary timetable.^[4]^[5]

On June 4, county caucuses met to designate state convention delegates, and at the state convention on June 6, all pledged national convention delegates were elected. The delegation also included 6 unpledged PLEO delegates: 4 members of the Democratic National Committee, one senator, and the governor Steve Bullock.^[3]

Candidates

The following candidates appeared on the ballot:

Joe Biden
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn)

There was also a "no preference" option.

Polling

Polls with a sample size of <100 are marked in red to indicate a lack of reliability.

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size^[a]	Margin of error	Joe Biden	Steve Bullock	Pete Buttigieg	Kamala Harris	Beto O'Rourke	Bernie Sanders	Elizabeth Warren	Andrew Yang	Other	Undecided
	Apr 8, 2020	Sanders suspends his campaign
	Nov 1, 2019–March 5, 2020	O'Rourke, Bullock, Harris, Yang, Buttigieg and Warren withdraw from the race
Montana State University Billings^[6]	Oct 7–16, 2019	40 (LV)	–	15%	5%	2%	2%	5%	2%	40%	No voters	2%^[b]	25%

Results

2020 Montana Democratic presidential primary^[7]
Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates^[8]
Joe Biden	111,706	74.48	18
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)	22,033	14.69	1
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn)	11,984	7.99
No Preference	4,250	2.83
Total	149,973	100%	19

Notes

^ Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear
^ Klobuchar with 2%

References

^ "Biden Formally Clinches Democratic Nomination, While Gaining Steam Against Trump". NPR. June 5, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2022.
^ Putnam, Josh. "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
^ ^a ^b "Montana Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
^ "Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
^ "The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2022.
^ Montana State University Billings Archived 2019-10-25 at the Wayback Machine
^ "2020 Statewide Primary Election Canvass" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved October 14, 2020.
^ "Delegate Tracker". interactives.ap.org. Associated Press. Retrieved June 3, 2020.

External links

The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
Montana Democratic Party draft delegate selection plan Archived April 6, 2020, at the Wayback Machine

[key-6] Key:
A – all adults
RV – registered voters
LV – likely voters
V – unclear

[8] Klobuchar with 2%

[1] "Biden Formally Clinches Democratic Nomination, While Gaining Steam Against Trump". NPR. June 5, 2020. Retrieved November 27, 2022.

[FHQ-primarydates-2] Putnam, Josh. "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.

[GP-3] "Montana Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. June 17, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.

[4] "Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2022.

[5] "The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved April 17, 2022.

[7] Montana State University Billings Archived 2019-10-25 at the Wayback Machine

[MT-SOS-results-9] "2020 Statewide Primary Election Canvass" (PDF). Montana Secretary of State. Retrieved October 14, 2020.

[MT-AP-delegates-10] "Delegate Tracker". interactives.ap.org. Associated Press. Retrieved June 3, 2020.

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