2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary

The 2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary took place in Ohio, United States, through April 28, 2020, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The state awards 153 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 136 are pledged delegates allocated based on the results of the primary.

2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary

April 28, 2020
153 Democratic National Convention delegates (136 pledged, 17 unpledged) The number of pledged delegates won is determined by the popular vote
Candidate Joe Biden Bernie Sanders Home state Delaware Vermont Delegate count 115 21 Popular vote 647,284 149,683 Percentage 72.37% 16.74%
Election results by county   Joe Biden

In-person voting, originally scheduled for March 17, 2020, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The legislature and governor made the decision to run an all-mail primary, with no in-person voting, allowing votes to be received through April 28.[1] Joe Biden, the only Democrat still in the race, won the primary, as expected.

Postponement and delay

The primary was originally scheduled for March 17, 2020. On March 16, Republican Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine recommended moving the primary election to June amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States.[2] The governor does not have the power to unilaterally make this decision, but went to court to support a lawsuit requesting the delay.[3] However, a judge rejected the lawsuit.[4] Later in the day, the Health Director ordered the polls closed as a health emergency.[5] Early on March 17, the Ohio Supreme Court denied the challenge to the state and allowed the primary's delay to proceed.[6]

The governor had proposed to the state legislature that June 2 would be the replacement day,[7] but the final decision by the legislature and governor was to run an all-mail primary, with voting through April 28.[1][8]

Procedure

The primary, originally scheduled for March 17, 2020, has been postponed. The Ohio General Assembly, and not the governor, has the authority to schedule a new election day.[9]

In the semi-open primary, candidates must meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 136 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 136 pledged delegates, between three and nine are allocated to each of the state's 16 congressional districts and another 18 are allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 29 at-large pledged delegates. Bonus delegates will be allocated as Ohio originally shared a primary date with numerous other states holding contests the week after Super Tuesday; these numbers do not yet account for these delegates.[10]

During the post-primary caucuses on Thursday, April 16, 2020, congressional district delegates were to be elected; should candidates receive more delegates based on the results of the primary than delegate candidates presented at the time, then additional delegates will be nominated during the caucuses. The state executive committee will subsequently meet on Saturday, May 9, 2020, to vote on the 29 pledged at-large and 18 PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The 136 pledged delegates Ohio sends to the national convention will be joined by 17 unpledged PLEO delegates (11 members of the Democratic National Committee; five members of Congress, including one Senator and four U.S. Representatives, notably Tim Ryan; and former DNC chair David Wilhelm).[10]

Polling

Polling Aggregation
Source of poll aggregation	Date updated	Dates polled	Joe Biden	Bernie Sanders	Other/ Undecided[lower-alpha 1]
270 to Win	Mar 16, 2020	Mar 10–13, 2020	57.5%	35.0%	7.5%
RealClear Politics	Mar 16, 2020	Mar 10–13, 2020	57.5%	35.0%	7.5%
FiveThirtyEight	Mar 16, 2020	until Mar 13, 2020 [lower-alpha 2]	58.7%	32.3%	9.0%
Average			57.9%	34.1%	8.0%

Tabulation of individual polls of the 2020 Ohio Democratic primary
Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size[lower-alpha 3]	Margin of error	Joe Biden	Michael Bloomberg	Cory Booker	Pete Buttigieg	Kamala Harris	Bernie Sanders	Elizabeth Warren	Andrew Yang	Other	Undecided
	Apr 8, 2020	Sanders suspends his campaign: Politico Story
Swayable	Mar 16, 2020	2,027 (LV)	± 3.0%	66%	–	–	–	–	24%	–	–	10%[lower-alpha 4]	–
Marist/NBC News	Mar 10–13, 2020	486 (LV)	± 5.6%	58%	–	–	–	–	35%	–	–	4%[lower-alpha 5]	4%
		830 (RV)	± 4.1%	56%	–	–	–	–	36%	–	–	4%[lower-alpha 6]	4%
Emerson College/Nexstar	Mar 11–12, 2020	464 (LV)	± 4.5%	57%	–	–	–	–	35%	–	–	1%[lower-alpha 7]	7%
ROI Rocket	Mar 6–12, 2020	880 (LV)	± 3.3%	61%	–	–	–	–	33%	–	–	–[lower-alpha 8]	–[lower-alpha 8]
	Mar 5, 2020	Warren withdraws from the race
	Mar 4, 2020	Bloomberg withdraws from the race: NYT Story
	Mar 2, 2020	Klobuchar withdraws from the race: NYT Story
	Mar 1, 2020	Buttigieg withdraws from the race: NYT Story
	Feb 29, 2020	South Carolina primary; Steyer withdraws from the race after close of polls
	Feb 11, 2020	New Hampshire primary; Yang and Bennet withdraw from the race after close of polls
	Feb 3, 2020	Iowa Caucuses
Baldwin Wallace University/Oakland University/Ohio Northern University	Jan 8–20, 2020	428 (RV)	–	32.1%	10.1%	–	6.1%	–	20.8%	10.7%	2.1%	5.7%[lower-alpha 9]	9.8%
	Jan 13, 2020	Booker withdraws from the race
	Jan 10, 2020	Williamson withdraws from the race
	Jan 2, 2020	Castro withdraws from the race
	Dec 3, 2019	Harris withdraws from the race
	Nov 24, 2019	Bloomberg announces his candidacy
	Nov 1, 2019	O'Rourke withdraws from the race
	Oct 24, 2019	Ryan withdraws from the race
Climate Nexus	Oct 1–7, 2019	443 (LV)	–	32%	–	3%	5%	6%	13%	21%	3%	17%[lower-alpha 10]	–[note 1]
Emerson	Sep 29 – Oct 2, 2019	353 (LV)	± 5.2%	29%	–	0%	5%	7%	27%	21%	3%	5%[lower-alpha 11]	2%
Quinnipiac	Jul 17–22, 2019	556	± 5.1%	31%	–	1%	6%	14%	14%	13%	1%	6%[lower-alpha 12]	11%
Zogby Analytics	May 23–29, 2019	222	± 6.6%	29%	–	3%	6%	5%	19%	12%	3%	6%[lower-alpha 13]	–

Results

2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary[11]

Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates[12]
Joe Biden	647,284	72.37	115
Bernie Sanders (suspended)	149,683	16.74	21
Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn)	30,985	3.46	0
Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn)	28,704	3.21	0
Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn)	15,113	1.69	0
Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn)	11,899	1.33	0
Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn)	4,560	0.51	0
Tom Steyer (withdrawn)	2,801	0.31	0
Michael Bennet (withdrawn)	2,030	0.23	0
Deval Patrick (withdrawn)	822	0.09	0
Andrew Yang (withdrawn) (write-in)	502	0.06	0
Total	894,383	100%	136

See also

• Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics

Notes

Additional candidates

1. Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined
2. FiveThirtyEight aggregates polls with a trendline regression of polls rather than a strict average of recent polls.
3. Key:
   A – all adults
   RV – registered voters
   LV – likely voters
   V – unclear
4. Gabbard with 6%; "Other" with 4%
5. Gabbard with 2%; "Other" with 2%
6. Gabbard with 2%; "Other" with 2%
7. Gabbard with 1%
8. Not yet released
9. Steyer with 2.2%; Klobuchar with 1.5%; Bennet with 0.8%; Gabbard with 0.5%; Delaney with 0.4%; Patrick with 0.3%
10. Ryan with 2%; Castro, Delaney, O'Rourke, Steyer and Williamson with 1%; Bennet, Bullock, Gabbard, Klobuchar, Messam and Sestak with 0%; Other/Unsure with 10%
11. O'Rourke with 2%; Delaney, Gabbard, and Bullock with 1%; Ryan, Bennett, Klobuchar, Sestak, Steyer, Castro, and Messam with 0%
12. Castro, Gabbard, Klobuchar, O'Rourke, Ryan, and Steyer with 1%; Bennet, de Blasio, Bullock, Delaney, Gillibrand, Gravel, Hickenlooper, Inslee, Messam, Moulton, and Sestak with 0%
13. O'Rourke with 2%; Delaney, Gabbard, Gillibrand, Hickenlooper, and Klobuchar with 1%; Castro and Inslee with 0%

1. The poll did not provide separate information for this entry, so it is grouped under 'other'.

References

1. Andrew J. Tobias, "Ohio lawmakers sets all-mail primary election through April 28; legal challenge still possible", Cleveland Plain Dealer/cleveland.com, Mar 25, 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
2. Merica, Dan (March 16, 2020). "Ohio governor recommends delaying Tuesday's primary until June amid coronavirus pandemic". CNN. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
3. Li Zhou, "The chaotic delay of the Ohio primary, explained," Vox, Mar 17, 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
4. "Judge rejects lawsuit to delay Ohio's primary election". WBNS-TV. March 16, 2020. Retrieved March 16, 2020.
5. "Ohio health chief to order polls closed ahead of primary amid coronavirus". fox8.com. 2020-03-16. Retrieved 2020-03-17.
6. Rouan, Rick; Futty, John (March 17, 2020). "Coronavirus: Ohio Supreme Court allows delay to primary election". The Columbus Dispatch. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
7. McKenzie Caldwell (March 17, 2020). "Ohio primary election will now be held June 2". The Times-Gazette. Retrieved March 17, 2020.
8. "Ohio Primary: State legislature OKs mail-in ballots, eliminates in-person voting", WHIO, March 25, 2020.
9. Brandon Brown, "Ohio Democratic chairs issue letter on Ohio primary election," WFMJ News March 23, 2020; updated March 24th 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020.
10. "Ohio Democratic Delegation 2020". The Green Papers. May 3, 2019. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
11. "2020 ELECTIONS RESULTS". Ohio Secretary of State. Retrieved June 16, 2020.
12. "Delegate Tracker". interactives.ap.org. Associated Press. Retrieved April 30, 2020.

External links

• The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
• Ohio Democratic Party delegate selection plan
• FiveThirtyEight Ohio primary poll tracker