While Biden had repeatedly expressed his intent to run for re-election since 2021, there was speculation in the first two years of his presidency that he might not seek re-election due to his age and low approval ratings.[9][10] Former Democratic House representatives including Carolyn Maloney,[11]Joe Cunningham[12] and Tim Ryan[13] had publicly said Biden should not run. There had been speculation that Biden may face a primary challenge, especially from a member of the Democratic Party's progressive faction.[14][15]
After Democrats outperformed expectations in the 2022 midterm elections, many believed the chances that Biden would run for and win his party's nomination had increased.[16][17] On April 25, 2023, Biden announced via a video that he would be running for re-election.[18]
Kennedy withdrew from the Democratic primaries in October 2023 to run as an independent candidate.[25] Williamson suspended her campaign following the Nevada primary in February 2024,[26] before unsuspending her campaign following the Michigan primary later that month.[27] On March 6, 2024, Phillips suspended his campaign and endorsed Joe Biden.[28]
Biden lost American Samoa to venture capitalist Jason Palmer,[e] becoming the first incumbent president to lose a contest while appearing on the ballot since Jimmy Carter in 1980.[29] However, he has swept every other contest, maintains a significant lead in polls,[30] and no incumbent president has lost nomination since 1884.[31][32]
As of March 2024, more than 180 candidates have filed with the Federal Election Commission (FEC) to run for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2024.[33]
Presumptive nominee
Declared major candidates for the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries
On January 19, 2022, President Biden confirmed that Vice President Kamala Harris will again be his running mate in his 2024 re-election campaign.[50]
Some Democrats expressed skepticism about Biden choosing Harris again as his running mate, as she has also seen similar low approval ratings to Biden. In January 2023, U.S. SenatorElizabeth Warren said in a radio interview that she supported Biden's reelection bid, but stopped short of supporting Harris.[51] She later clarified her position, saying she supported the Biden–Harris ticket.[52]
Primaries and caucus calendar
Caucuses and primaries in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries
The following is a table for which candidates have received ballot access in which states. indicates that the candidate was on the ballot for the primary contest, indicates that the candidate was a recognized write-in candidate, and indicates that the candidate did not appear on the ballot in that state's contest. indicates that a candidate withdrew before the election but was still listed on the ballot. If a state does not appear in the table, the filing deadline in the state has not passed.
Ballot access in the 2024 Democratic presidential nominating contests
Biden declared his intent in January 2022 to run for re-election, keeping Kamala Harris as his running mate.[7] On September 15, he told Scott Pelley in a CBS60 Minutes interview that he had not yet committed to run.[112] In a private conversation with civil-rights activist Al Sharpton on October 3, he reportedly told Sharpton that he was seeking re-election.[113] On October 11, he told Jake Tapper in an interview on CNN that he would decide whether or not to seek re-election after the 2022 midterm elections.[114]
Throughout 2022, several prominent Democrats publicly urged Biden not to run for a second term. On June 23, shortly after winning the Democratic nomination in the South Carolina gubernatorial race, former U.S. Representative Joe Cunningham told CNN that he believed Biden would be too old by the end of his second term and should not run in 2024. CNN pointed out that Biden had endorsed Cunningham in his 2018 and 2020 campaigns.[12] In July, U.S. Representative Dean Phillips of Minnesota said he believed that Democrats should nominate someone from a younger generation in 2024, and fellow Minnesota Representative Angie Craig agreed with him the following week.[13] On August 1, then-U.S. Representative Carolyn Maloney told The New York Times that she thought Biden should not run in 2024 and that she believed he would not run. She later apologized and said that he should run again, though she reiterated her belief that he would not.[11] In September, U.S. Representative and Ohio U.S. Senate nomineeTim Ryan similarly called for a "generational move" away from Biden during an interview with a local TV station; Forbes Magazine noted that Biden, who had endorsed Ryan, headlined a rally with him just hours after the interview aired.[13]
Democrats in Idaho, who held caucuses in 2012 and 2016 but switched to a firehouse primary by mail for the 2020 election, will switch back to in-person caucuses due to the abolition of the presidential primary by the Idaho Legislature in 2023.[116] Similarly, the abolition of the state-run presidential primary in Missouri in 2022 caused Democrats in Missouri to switch to a closed, ranked-choice firehouse presidential primary for 2024.[117]
President Biden sent a letter on December 1, 2022, to the Democratic National Committee (DNC), requesting that diversity should be emphasized in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries. On February 4, 2023, the DNC formally approved the new 2024 primary calendar, moving South Carolina to hold its race first on February 3, followed by Nevada and New Hampshire on February 6. One member of the Rules and Bylaws Committee who supported this new plan, Lee Saunders, further said it will give a better representation of the composition of the country.[118] Members of the Iowa Democratic Party and the New Hampshire Democratic Party opposed the move, since they would no longer be the first two states to hold their races.[119] The move was also criticized by some progressives, who argued that the move was intended to benefit more moderate candidates.[120][121] On October 6, the DNC and the Iowa Democratic Party reached a compromise in which the in-person caucuses could still be held in January, but delegate-determining mail-in voting would be held through Super Tuesday, March 5.[122] The DNC and the New Hampshire Democratic Party did not reach a compromise. In October 2023, the manager for the Biden campaign, Julie Chávez Rodriguez, confirmed in a letter to the chair of the New Hampshire Democratic PartyRaymond Buckley that Biden would not appear on the primary ballot in order to comply with the DNC's calendar.[123] Pro-Biden New Hampshire Democrats, including Kathy Sullivan (the former chairwoman of the state Democratic party) and former Representatives Paul Hodes and Carol Shea-Porter, launched a formal write-in campaign on October 30.[124]
Ballot access denials
The primaries in Florida and Delaware were cancelled, with Biden receiving all pledged delegates, while in North Carolina, Tennessee, Mississippi, and Indiana, no candidates other than Biden will appear on the ballot, partially due to decisions by the state Democratic parties in those states.[125][126] The Philips and Williamson campaigns criticized the decisions as undemocratic.[127][128] The primary challengers had not received the necessary number of signatures in Tennessee[129][130] and North Carolina,[131] while the Florida Democratic Party stated that the challengers did not reach out to them until November 29, 2023, one day before the Florida Secretary of State's November 30 deadline to submit candidates, and the state party had already made its submission ahead of the deadline before November 29.[132][133] An attorney who supported Phillips[t] questioned why the state party did not contact the challengers when it made its submission ahead of the deadline.[135]
On December 6, 2023, TYT Network hosted a forum featuring primary candidates Williamson, Phillips and Uygur. Biden was invited but declined to attend. The candidates responded to the GOP debate being held in Tuscaloosa, which was scheduled to end at the same time. The discussion was moderated by John Iadarola, the main host of The Damage Report on the same network.[136]
On January 8, 2024, Williamson and Phillips participated in a debate hosted by New England College in Manchester, New Hampshire.[137] To qualify, candidates needed to be registered on the New Hampshire primary ballot and poll at more than five percent.[138] The debate was broadcast on satellite radio by Sirius XM[139] and was moderated by Josh McElveen, who was the former political director of WMUR.[140]
On January 12, 2024, NewsNation hosted a second forum featuring Williamson, Phillips and Uygur. Biden was invited but did not attend. The discussion was moderated by Dan Abrams.[141]
Peter Daou, political activist, musician, and author.[160](previously her campaign manager, then resigned and campaigned for Cornel West before resigning there; Independent)[161]
This is an overview of the money used by each campaign as it is reported to the Federal Election Commission (FEC). Totals raised include individual contributions, loans from the candidate, and transfers from other campaign committees. Individual contributions are itemized (catalogued) by the FEC when the total value of contributions by an individual comes to more than $200. The last column, Cash On Hand, shows the remaining cash each campaign had available for its future spending as of December 31, 2023. Campaign finance reports for the first quarter of 2024 will become available on April 15, 2024.[210]
This table does not include contributions made to Super PACs or party committees supporting the candidate. Each value is rounded up to the nearest dollar.
Candidate who withdrew prior to December 31
Candidate who withdrew following December 31
Overview of campaign financing for candidates in the 2024 Democratic Party presidential primaries
^2,337 of 4,672 delegates needed to win any subsequent ballots at a contested convention lasting more than a single round of balloting. As of March 2024, the number of extra unpledged delegates (superdelegates), who after the first ballot at a contested convention participate in any subsequently needed nominating ballots (together with the 3,934 pledged delegates), is expected to be 738, but the exact number of superdelegates is still subject to change due to possible deaths, resignations, accessions, or elections as a pledged delegate.[1]
^This total excludes three delegates allocated by the AP to Biden in Washington state which remain uncalled by Edison Research/National Election Pool (ABC News, CBS News, CNN, and NBC News). While all 92 pledged delegates from Washington state were called for Biden on election night, it is likely that this allocation of delegates will be partially retracted as uncommitted delegates is on track to pass 15% of the vote in at least one of two King County-based congressional districts given election night precinct-level data.[3][4]
^Percentage of votes accounts for write-ins included by The Green Papers as well as an additional 20,888 write-in votes not included in their tracking, which have been reported by the offices of the Secretary of State in Minnesota and Vermont, as well as those collated by Edison Research in California, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Washington.
^ abThe primary was cancelled, and Biden was awarded all pledged delegates. However, they have not been officially bound yet.
^Campaign suspended February 7, 2024; Campaign unsuspended February 28, 2024.
^New Hampshire's delegates will not be awarded through this unofficial primary.[54] The early date violates the DNC-approved calendar, which confirmed South Carolina as the first primary state.[55]
^Iowa's delegates were awarded through mail-in voting.[56]
^Originally scheduled for March 19. The state party only nominated Joe Biden as a candidate, canceling the primary.
^Originally scheduled for April 2. Only Joe Biden made the primary ballot, canceling the primary.
^The attorney, Michael Steinberg, represented himself independently in the interest of getting Phillips on the ballot; he was not appointed by Phillips.[134]
^Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined.
^Biden's principal campaign committee, Biden for President, was also used for his earlier 2020 presidential campaign. Some of these figures, therefore, include money left over from that previous candidacy.
^These figures include data following Kennedy's withdrawal from the Democratic primary.
^"President": R. Boddie, Terrisa Bukovinac, Eban Cambridge, Gabriel Cornejo, Mark Stewart Greenstein, Tom Koos, Paul V. LaCava, Star Locke, Frankie Lozada, Stephen P. Lyons, Raymond Michael Moroz, Derek Nadeau, Mando Perez-Serrato, Donald Picard, Paperboy Love Prince, Richard Rist, Vermin Supreme, John Vail Received votes as a write-in not counted as "scatter": Nikki Haley (running as a Republican), Donald Trump (running as a Republican), Vivek Ramaswamy (ran as a Republican), Ron DeSantis (ran as a Republican), Chris Christie (ran as a Republican), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (running as an Independent), CeaseFire (not a candidate), Bernie Sanders (not a candidate)
^Gabriel Cornejo, Superpayaseria Crystalroc, Brent Foutz, John Haywood, Stephen Alan Leon, Frankie Lozada, Stephen Lyons, Armando Perez-Serrato, Donald Picard, Mark R. Prascak
^Frank Lozada, Stephen Lyons, Armando Perez-Serrato
^"President": R. Boddie, Eban Cambridge, Gabriel Cornejo, Stephen P. Lyons, Armando "Mando" Perez-Serrato Recognized write-in candidates: Willie Felix Carter, President Cristina Nicole Grappo, Richard Gutierrez, James Mark Merts, Reed Michaelsen, Wayne Anthony Pope Sr.
^Gabriel Cornejo, Frankie Lozada, Stephen P. Lyons, Armando "Mando" Perez-Serrato
Write-in vote totals (and Biden's vote total in Mississippi) are excluded from the above election data reporting for the following states, and are added to the total number of votes for candidates for the purposes of candidate vote share calculations:
^"Delegate Selection Plan for the 2024 Democratic National Convention"(PDF). Delaware Dems. Retrieved February 7, 2024. Pursuant to Delaware State Law, if the Delaware Democratic Party submits the name of only one Presidential Candidate, and no other candidates file for the ballot, the state run presidential primary shall be cancelled.
^Lloyd, Sophie (August 23, 2023). "Jamie Lee Curtis' Mask Photo Sparks Uproar". Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 28, 2023. Retrieved October 27, 2023. She recently announced her support for Democratic primary candidate Marianne Williamson on Instagram and has been championing the writers' and actors' strikes in Hollywood, led by the WGA and SAG-AFTRA.
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