Following months of nationally televised debates and a handful of early caucuses and primaries, Super Tuesday is where the rubber meets the road for the remaining Democratic candidates.
A total of 1,357 delegates will be up for grabs, with 1,338 of them in 14 states holding their primaries on March 3.
Another six delegates will be in play in American Samoa, as well as 13 among Democrats living abroad, who vote beginning Tuesday through March 10.
Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders jumped out to an early lead in the pre-Super Tuesday contests, nearly besting former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the Iowa caucuses, then nipping him in the New Hampshire primary and winning the Nevada caucuses in a blowout.
But just when his campaign appeared sunk, former Vice President Joe Biden captured the South Carolina primary to catapult back into relevance.
Buttigieg and Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar dropped out of the race on Sunday and Monday, respectively, with each indicating they would throw their support behind Biden, setting the stage for a fierce fight on Super Tuesday.
Here’s what you need to know:
What states vote on Super Tuesday?
California (with 415 delegates in play), Texas (228), North Carolina (110), Virginia (99), Massachusetts (91), Minnesota (75), Colorado (67), Tennessee (64), Alabama (52), Oklahoma (37), Arkansas (31), Utah (29), Maine (24) and Vermont (16).
Who’s on the Super Tuesday ballot for the Democrats?
Most eyes will be on Sanders and Biden, but Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg are making what could be their last stands.
Super Tuesday will particularly serve as a referendum on Bloomberg, on the primary ballot for the first time. After a late November 2019 late entrance into the race, Bloomberg employed an unusual strategy, punting on the early contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina to pour his energy and vast resources into the Super Tuesday states.
Hawaii Rep. and super-longshot candidate Tulsi Gabbard also remains in the race, but has failed to poll highly enough to earn invites to the Democratic debates in months.
Do Republicans vote on Super Tuesday?
Yes, though incumbent President Trump is facing no serious challengers in his bid for a second term, rendering the vote a formality.
However, in states with open presidential primaries, Republicans may still be able to tip the scales by voting in the Democratic proceedings, as Trump urged supporters to do in Saturday’s South Carolina primary.
Super Tuesday states with open primaries include: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Minnesota, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont and Virginia.
How does a candidate win on Super Tuesday?
It’s not quite as simple as capturing the most votes.
None of the 14 Super Tuesday states uses a winner-take-all system. Rather, the delegates are divvied up proportionally, based on how each candidate fares in the vote. That makes the margin of victory in a given race crucial. A narrow win for a candidate won’t give them as much breathing room as a blowout, as they and the second-place finisher could have a near-even break of the delegates.
So the delegate division is strictly proportional to the votes?
Not quite. There is also a 15 percent vote threshold that candidates will need to clear in order to receive any delegates at all. Candidates who fall short of that mark — be it at 14 percent or 1 percent — will come away empty-handed. This mark applies to both delegates tied to individual congressional districts in the states — or state senate districts, in the case of Texas — as well as the “at large” statewide delegates.
In states where Biden and Sanders are the only candidates polling above 15 percent, the primary will feel more like a true, head-to-head race. But in states where Warren or Bloomberg can swoop in and grab some delegates of their own, things can get a bit dicier for the front-runners.
Exactly what’s at stake on Super Tuesday?
The 1,357 delegates up for grabs represent roughly a third of the total delegates in play nationwide this election cycle. A candidate needs to secure at least 1,991 delegates in order to gain the nomination.
That means that while no one candidate can clinch the nomination on Super Tuesday, a dominant showing will get you most of the way there.
When will we know the Super Tuesday results?
With states on both coasts in play, polls close over several hours Tuesday night. Vermont’s polls close at 7 p.m. EST, while California’s remain open until 11 p.m. EST. But the final results might not even be in by the time you wake up Wednesday.
California, the most delegate-dense and, possibly, consequential on the Super Tuesday docket, is notorious for its glacial vote-tallying process. The Golden State accepts mail-in ballots up to three days after in-person polling, and in 2016, it took over a month to tally the final results.