The 2020 Tennessee 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 Tennessee primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 73 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 64 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Former vice president Joe Biden easily decided the primary, winning almost 42% of the vote and 36 delegates and benefitting from overwhelming African-American support, as well as rural support among predominantly white working-class voters. 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 ...

took 25 % of the vote gaining 22 delegates, while 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 ...

reached the threshold with slightly more than 15% but was not allocated any statewide delegates due to his withdrawal the next day. Otherwise Biden would have had 33 delegates, Sanders 20 delegates and Bloomberg 10 delegates. Senator Elizabeth Warren received a single district delegate.

Procedure

Tennessee was one of 14 states and one territory holding primaries on March 3, 2020, also known as " Super Tuesday". Voting was expected to take place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. in the parts of the state in the Eastern Time Zone, and from 8:00 a.m. to 7:00 p.m. in parts of the state in the Central Time Zone. Polls closed simultaneously throughout the state, though specific opening times were set by each county, and were allowed to open as late as 9:00 a.m. in some parts of the state. The night before the primary, a line of severe storms swept across Tennessee, with several large tornadoes hitting communities across the state, the worst of which were two tornadoes in the

Nashville Nashville is the capital city of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the seat of Davidson County. With a population of 689,447 at the 2020 U.S. census, Nashville is the most populous city in the state, 21st most-populous city in the U.S., and the ...

area that killed an estimated 25 people and caused catastrophic damage, including knocking out power to tens of thousands and destroying numerous homes and businesses. A state of emergency was declared statewide. Some polling places in the hardest hit areas were closed, while others stayed open late. In the open primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 64 pledged delegates to the

were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 4 and 7 were allocated to each of the state's 9 congressional districts and another 8 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. Following county conventions on March 7, 2020 which designated delegates to the district conventions, the district conventions were held on March 21, 2020 (via teleconferencing due to the COVID-19 pandemic) and selected national convention district delegates. Afterwards, the state executive committee convened on April 18, 2020 to vote on the 14 at-large and 8 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 9 unpledged PLEO delegates: 6 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 ...

, 2 representatives from Congress, and former vice president

Al Gore Albert Arnold Gore Jr. (born March 31, 1948) is an American politician, businessman, and environmentalist who served as the 45th vice president of the United States from 1993 to 2001 under President Bill Clinton. Gore was the Democratic Part ...

Candidates

The following candidates filed and were on the ballot in Tennessee: Running * Joe Biden *

* Tulsi Gabbard *

* Elizabeth Warren Withdrawn *

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 ...

* Cory Booker *

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 ...

* Julian Castro * 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 ...

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 There was also an uncommitted option on the ballot.

Polling

Results

Results by county

Notes

References

External links

The Green Papers delegate allocation summary
{{2020 Democratic primaries Tennessee 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- ...