The 2020 Colorado Democratic presidential primary took place on March 3, 2020, as one of 15 contests scheduled on Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, following the South Carolina primary the weekend before. The Colorado primary, the first in the state since 2000, was a

semi-closed primary Primary elections, or direct primary are a voting process by which voters can indicate their preference for their party's candidate, or a candidate in general, in an upcoming general election, local election, or by-election. Depending on the c ...

and awarded 79 delegates towards the

2020 Democratic National Convention The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of ...

, of which 67 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Senator

Bernie Sanders Bernard Sanders (born September8, 1941) is an American politician who has served as the junior United States senator from Vermont since 2007. He was the U.S. representative for the state's at-large congressional district from 1991 to 2007 ...

won the primary with 37% of the vote and ultimately received 29 delegates, ahead of former vice president Joe Biden, who won roughly 25% and received 21 delegates. Although former mayor

Michael Bloomberg Michael Rubens Bloomberg (born February 14, 1942) is an American businessman, politician, philanthropist, and author. He is the majority owner, co-founder and CEO of Bloomberg L.P. He was Mayor of New York City from 2002 to 2013, and was a ca ...

and senator Elizabeth Warren both surpassed the 15% threshold, following their withdrawal from the race in the next two days, the Colorado Democratic Party decided to directly calculate the delegate count without statewide delegates for Bloomberg and Warren, differing from the usual process in most states, where statewide delegates are calculated regularly and later reallocated to remaining candidates. Otherwise Bloomberg and Warren would have won 14 and 12 delegates instead of 9 and 8 delegates, while Sanders and Biden would have had only 24 and 17 delegates. Sanders also benefited from that procedure after withdrawing in April: while his and Biden's campaign had agreed on Sanders keeping the statewide delegates he had won, the additional 5 statewide delegates he gained through Bloomberg's and Warren's withdrawal would all have been allocated to Biden as the presumptive nominee in accordance with the typical procedure and would have put Biden in front of Sanders with 26 to 24 delegates. Some media estimates, which did not notice the special approach of Colorado Democrats, reported these numbers as the final result.

Procedure

Colorado was one of 14 states and one territory holding primaries on March 3, 2020, also known as " Super Tuesday", following the decision of governor Jared Polis to schedule the primary on that date on April 30, 2019. Instead of party-run caucuses Colorado used a state-run primary in 2020 after voters had passed Proposition 107 in 2016, restoring presidential primaries in the state, which had been held from 1992 to 2000 but were abolished in 2000 due to financial reasons, and matching a national trend for primaries. Voting took place throughout the state until 7:00 p.m. In the semi-closed primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 67 pledged delegates to the

were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 4 and 9 were allocated to each of the state's 7 congressional districts and another 9 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 14 at-large delegates. The Super Tuesday primary as part of Stage I on the primary timetable received no bonus delegates, in order to disperse the primaries between more different date clusters and keep too many states from hoarding on the first shared date or on a March date in general. Precinct caucuses were held on March 7, 2020, to elect delegates to county conventions, followed by county conventions until April 1, 2020, to designate delegates for the district conventions and the state convention. The district conventions had to convene until April 17, 2020, to choose the district delegates for the national convention. On April 18, 2020, the state convention voted on the 14 at-large and 9 pledged PLEO delegates for the

Democratic National Convention The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 1852 ...

. The delegation also included 12 unpledged PLEO delegates: 5 members of the

Democratic National Committee The Democratic National Committee (DNC) is the governing body of the United States Democratic Party. The committee coordinates strategy to support Democratic Party candidates throughout the country for local, state, and national office, as well a ...

, 5 members of Congress (including senator and former candidate

Michael Bennet Michael Farrand Bennet (born November 28, 1964) is an American attorney, businessman, and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Colorado, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, he was appointed t ...

and 4 representatives), the governor Jared Polis, and former DNC chair Roy Romer.

Candidates

The following candidates were listed by the Colorado Secretary of State's office as certified on the ballot. Candidates that had filed a formal withdrawal with the office remained on the ballot but were not counted and did not appear in the results. Running * Joe Biden *

* Roque "Rocky" De La Fuente III * Tulsi Gabbard *Rita Krichevsky *

* Elizabeth Warren * Robby Wells Withdrawn * Cory Booker *

Deval Patrick Deval Laurdine Patrick (born July 31, 1956) is an American politician, civil rights lawyer, author, and businessman who served as the 71st governor of Massachusetts from 2007 to 2015. He was first elected in 2006, succeeding Mitt Romney, who ...

* Tom Steyer * Marianne Williamson * Andrew Yang Formal withdrawal (ineligible) *

Pete Buttigieg Peter Paul Montgomery Buttigieg ( ; ; Sometimes pronounced or , but not by Buttigieg himself. born January 19, 1982) is an American politician and former military officer who is currently serving as the United States secretary of transp ...

* John Delaney *

Amy Klobuchar Amy Jean Klobuchar ( ; born May 25, 1960) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Minnesota, a seat she has held since 2007. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), Minne ...

Polling

Results

The results were certified on March 30. The race was called for

who won a plurality of votes and delegates.

Results by county

Notes

References

External links

The Green Papers delegate allocation summaryColorado Democratic Party delegate selection plan
{{2020 Democratic primaries Colorado Democratic Democratic primary

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...