2020 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary

2020 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary
← DE LA →
146 delegates (126 pledged, 20 unpledged); to the Democratic National Convention
	Election results by county Joe Biden

Last updated March 11, 2024

The 2020 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary took place on July 7, 2020 alongside the Delaware primary, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. It was originally planned for June 2 together with four other primaries, but was moved due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[1] The New Jersey primary was a semi-closed primary, with the state awarding 146 delegates, of which 126 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

Presumptive nominee and vice president Joe Biden won nearly 85% of the vote and almost all delegates. While senator Bernie Sanders closely failed to reach the 15% threshold for statewide delegates, he would have received 9 district delegates according to the final vote count, but for unknown reasons (possibly due to little time left for the delegate selection) the New Jersey Democrats only awarded him 5 delegates.

Procedure

New Jersey planned to originally hold its primary elections on June 2, 2020, the same day as that of Montana, New Mexico, South Dakota and the District of Columbia,^[2] and was the only state on that date to move its primary, as New Jersey is traditionally one of the last states to vote. New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy announced on April 8, 2020, that, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the primary would be postponed until July 7.^[3]

Voting was expected to take place throughout the state from 6:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. In the semi-closed primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the delegate district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 126 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between 3 and 6 were allocated to each of the state's 20 "delegate districts", each consisting of two legislative districts, and another 14 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 28 at-large delegates. Originally planned with 107 delegates, the final number included a 20% bonus of 19 additional delegates on the 70 district and 23 at-large delegates by the Democratic National Committee.^[4]^[5]

District-level delegates were chosen in the presidential primary with delegate candidates appearing on the ballot. Should presidential candidates have been entitled to more district delegates than delegate candidates presented, a special post-primary caucus at the state convention would have been called on July 18, to designate the additional delegates. The Democratic state committee subsequently convened at the state convention to vote on the 28 at-large and 14 pledged PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 20 unpledged PLEO delegates: 7 members of the Democratic National Committee, 12 members of Congress (both senators and 10 representatives), and the governor Phil Murphy.^[6]

On May 15, 2020, the governor signed an executive order declaring that the primary election would become a primarily vote-by-mail election. Democratic and Republican voters automatically received a vote-by-mail ballot while unaffiliated and inactive voters got a vote-by-mail application. Unaffiliated voters had to declare their party in the application and send it in to their respective county board of elections in order to vote and receive their primary election ballot. A limited number of polling stations in each county was available on primary day for those who preferred to vote in person (including with provisional ballots if they were unable to obtain one) and for voters with disabilities.^[7]

Pledged national convention delegates
Type	Del.	Type	Del.	Type	Del.
D1 (LD1, LD3)	3	D8 (LD14, LD15)	5	D15 (LD28, LD29)	6
D2 (LD2, LD9)	3	D9 (LD16, LD17)	4	D16 (LD31, LD33)	6
D3 (LD4, LD5)	4	D10 (LD18, LD19)	3	D17 (LD32, LD36)	5
D4 (LD6, LD7)	4	D11 (LD23, LD24)	3	D18 (LD34, LD35)	6
D5 (LD8, LD12)	3	D12 (LD21, LD27)	4	D19 (LD37, LD38)	6
D6 (LD10, LD30)	3	D13 (LD20, LD22)	4	D20 (LD39, LD40)	5
D7 (LD11, LD13)	4	D14 (LD25, LD26)	3	PLEO / At-large	14 / 28
Total pledged delegates					126

Candidates

The following candidates were on the ballot in New Jersey:^[8]

Joe Biden
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)

There was also an "uncommitted" option.

Polling

Polling aggregation
Source of poll aggregation	Date updated	Dates polled	Joe Biden	Bernie Sanders	Undecided^{[lower-alpha 1]}
FiveThirtyEight	Mar 8, 2020	until Feb 18, 2020^{[lower-alpha 2]}	35.5%	30.5%	34.0%

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Joe Biden	Michael Bloomberg	Cory Booker	Pete Buttigieg	Kamala Harris	Beto O'Rourke	Bernie Sanders	Elizabeth Warren	Other	Undecided
	Mar 5, 2020	Warren withdraws from the race
	Mar 4, 2020	Bloomberg withdraws from the race
	Mar 3, 2020	Super Tuesday
	Mar 2, 2020	Klobuchar withdraws from the race
	Mar 1, 2020	Buttigieg withdraws from the race
	Feb 29, 2020	South Carolina primary; Steyer withdraws from the race after close of polls
	Feb 22, 2020	Nevada caucuses
FDU	Feb 12–16, 2020	357 (RV)	–	16%	23%	–	10%	–	–	25%	8%	7%^{[lower-alpha 3]}	11%
	Feb 11, 2020	New Hampshire primary; Yang withdraws from the race
	Feb 3, 2020	Iowa caucuses
Emerson College	Jan 16–19, 2020	388	± 4.9%	28%	9%	–	6%	–	–	25%	15%	16%^{[lower-alpha 4]}	–
	Jan 13, 2020	Booker withdraws from the race
	Dec 3, 2019	Harris withdraws from the race
	Nov 24, 2019	Bloomberg announces his candidacy
Monmouth University	Sep 12–16, 2019	713	± 3.7%	26%	–	9%	6%	6%	0%	18%	20%	7%^{[lower-alpha 5]}	8%
Change Research Archived 2019-08-27 at the Wayback Machine	Aug 16–20, 2019	1176	± 2.9%	26%	–	5%	12%	8%	2%	21%	23%	3%^{[lower-alpha 6]}	–

Results

2020 New Jersey Democratic presidential primary^[9]
Candidate	Votes	%	Delegates^[6]
Joe Biden	814,188	84.92	121
Bernie Sanders (withdrawn)	140,412	14.65	5
Uncommitted	4,162	0.43
Total	958,762	100%	126

Results by county

Biden won every county in New Jersey. As was the case in the 2016 primary, Sanders performed best in the northwestern part of the state.

County^[9]	Biden	Biden %	Sanders	Sanders %
Atlantic	24,562	86.4%	3,867	13.6%
Bergen	84,620	84.7%	15,242	15.3%
Burlington	54,631	88.0%	7,424	12.0%
Camden	62,808	87.3%	9,111	12.7%
Cape May	7,973	86.3%	1,264	13.7%
Cumberland	11,590	87.8%	1,604	12.2%
Essex	87,316	88.5%	11,292	11.5%
Gloucester	30,911	85.6%	5,210	14.4%
Hudson	57,392	82.2%	12,448	17.8%
Hunterdon	12,551	82.1%	2,740	17.9%
Mercer	39,446	86.5%	6,131	13.5%
Middlesex	70,927	83.3%	14,218	16.7%
Monmouth	49,116	84.1%	9,284	15.9%
Morris	41,609	82.4%	8,904	17.6%
Ocean	35,520	85.6%	5,996	14.4%
Passaic	29,148	82.9%	6,030	17.1%
Salem	5,086	84.6%	928	15.4%
Somerset	32,244	83.8%	6,250	16.2%
Sussex	8,891	77.6%	2,564	22.4%
Union	60,035	88.0%	8,150	12.0%
Warren	7,317	81.3%	1,679	18.7%
Total	813,693	85.3%	140,336	14.7%

Notes

↑ Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined
↑ FiveThirtyEight aggregates polls with a trendline regression of polls rather than a strict average of recent polls.
↑ Klobuchar with 3%, Steyer with 2%, Gabbard with 0%, someone else at 1%
↑ Yang with 6%, Klobuchar with 3%, Gabbard with 3%, Delaney with 2%, someone else at 2%
↑ Gabbard with 2%; de Blasio, Klobuchar and Yang with 1%; Bennet, Bullock, Castro, O’Rourke, Ryan, Steyer and Williamson with <1%
↑ Gabbard, Steyer, and Yang with 1%

Related Research Articles

The 2020 California 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 California primary formed an unusual part of Super Tuesday as it had historically departed from its typical June date. It was a semi-closed primary, with the state awarding 494 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 415 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

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 and awarded 79 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 67 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary took place on March 3, 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 Massachusetts primary was a semi-closed primary, with the state awarding 114 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 91 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Minnesota 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 Minnesota primary, only the fifth in the state's history and the first since 1992, was an open primary, with the state awarding 91 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 75 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Early voting was possible for just over six weeks beginning January 17, 2020.

The 2020 North Carolina 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 North Carolina primary was a semi-closed primary, with the state awarding 122 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 110 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

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, of which 64 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Utah 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 Utah primary was an open primary, with any registered voter able to participate. The primary awarded 34 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 29 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Virginia 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 Virginia primary was an open primary, wherein any registered voter can vote, regardless of party registration. The state awarded 124 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 99 were pledged delegates allocated at the local level.

The 2020 Michigan Democratic presidential primary took place on March 10, 2020, as one of several states voting the week after Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Michigan primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 147 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 125 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Mississippi Democratic presidential primary took place on March 10, 2020, as one of several states voting the week after Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Mississippi primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 41 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 36 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Missouri Democratic presidential primary took place on March 10, 2020, as one of several states voting the week after Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The Missouri primary was an open primary, with the state awarding 79 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 68 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary took place through April 28, 2020, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. In-person voting, originally scheduled for March 17, 2020, had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ohio primary was a semi-open primary and awarded 154 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 136 were pledged delegates allocated based on the results of the primary.

The 2020 Washington Democratic presidential primary took place on March 10, 2020, as one of several states voting the week after Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. The state-run semi-open primary, which was used instead of party-run caucuses for the very first time by Washington's Democrats, awarded 109 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 89 were pledged delegates allocated according to the results of the primary.

The 2020 Arizona Democratic presidential primary took place on March 17, 2020, the third primary Tuesday of the month, as one of three contests on the same day in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, while the contest in Ohio had been postponed for roughly a month. The closed primary allocated 80 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 67 were pledged delegates allocated according to the results of the primary.

The 2020 Florida Democratic presidential primary took place on March 17, 2020, the third primary Tuesday of the month, as one of three states voting on the same day in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, while the contest in Ohio had been postponed for roughly a month. The Florida primary was a closed primary, with the state awarding the fourth-largest amount of delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention and the third-largest amount up to that point: 249 delegates, of which 219 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.

The 2020 Alaska Democratic presidential primary had been scheduled to take place on April 4, 2020, in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, but in-person voting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mail-in voting was extended to April 10, 2020. The Alaska primary was a closed party-run primary, with the state awarding 19 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 15 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Voters cast ranked-choice voting ballots, with a voter's ballot counting for four ranked backup choices if their original choice was in last place and below the 15 percent threshold for winning delegates.

The 2020 Hawaii Democratic presidential primary had been scheduled to take place on April 4, 2020, a Saturday, in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, but in-person voting was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic and mail-in voting was extended to May 22, 2020. Instead, voters had until May 22 to submit mail-in ballots. The Hawaii primary was a closed party-run primary, awarding 33 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 24 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary. Voters cast ranked-choice voting ballots, with a voter's ballot counting for two ranked backup choices if their original choice was in last place and below the 15 percent threshold for winning delegates.

The 2020 Pennsylvania Democratic presidential primary took place on June 2, 2020, after being postponed due to concerns about the COVID-19 pandemic, as one of eight delayed and regular primaries on the same day in the Democratic primaries for the 2020 presidential election. It was originally planned to take place on April 28, 2020, as one of several northeastern states in the "Acela primary". The Pennsylvania primary was a closed primary, with the state awarding 210 delegates, of whom 186 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results.

The 2020 Georgia Democratic presidential primary was held on June 9, 2020 alongside the West Virginia primary, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. It was originally scheduled for March 24, 2020, but was moved to June 9 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and previously cast early mail-in votes were disallowed and separately counted. The election coincided with primaries for Georgia's Class 2 Senate seat and Georgia's U.S. House of Representatives seats. The Georgia primary was an open primary, which awarded 118 delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of whom 105 were pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the primary results.

The 2020 Maine 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 Maine primary, the first in the state since 2000, was a closed primary, meaning that only registered Democrats could vote in this primary, but unenrolled voters were permitted to enroll in a party at the polls with same day registration. The state awarded 32 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, 24 of which were pledged delegates allocated based on the results of the primary. The primary election coincided with a people's veto referendum to reject changes to Maine's vaccination laws.

References

↑ "New Jersey moves primary elections to July". The Hill. April 8, 2020.
↑ Putnam, Josh. "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.
↑ Johnson, Brent (April 8, 2020). "Murphy officially postpones N.J.'s primary elections to July due to coronavirus outbreak". NJ.com. NJ Advance Media.
↑ "Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
↑ "The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2023.
1 2 "2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: New Jersey Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved July 13, 2020.
↑ Brent Johnson (May 15, 2020). "N.J.'s July 7 primary election will be mostly vote-by-mail during coronavirus pandemic, Murphy says". NJ.com . Retrieved May 25, 2020.
↑ "Primary Election Candidates: U.S. President" (PDF). Retrieved June 23, 2023.
1 2 "Official Election Results -AMENDED-: Candidates for Democratic District Delegates/Alternate District Delegates For- July 7, 2020- PRIMARY ELECTION" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. Retrieved September 20, 2020.

External links

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.

[undecided-9] Calculated by taking the difference of 100% and all other candidates combined

[trendline-10] FiveThirtyEight aggregates polls with a trendline regression of polls rather than a strict average of recent polls.

[11] Klobuchar with 3%, Steyer with 2%, Gabbard with 0%, someone else at 1%

[12] Yang with 6%, Klobuchar with 3%, Gabbard with 3%, Delaney with 2%, someone else at 2%

[13] Gabbard with 2%; de Blasio, Klobuchar and Yang with 1%; Bennet, Bullock, Castro, O’Rourke, Ryan, Steyer and Williamson with <1%

[14] Gabbard, Steyer, and Yang with 1%

[1] "New Jersey moves primary elections to July". The Hill. April 8, 2020.

[FHQ-primarydates-2] Putnam, Josh. "The 2020 Presidential Primary Calendar". Frontloading HQ. Retrieved June 23, 2019.

[3] Johnson, Brent (April 8, 2020). "Murphy officially postpones N.J.'s primary elections to July due to coronavirus outbreak". NJ.com. NJ Advance Media.

[4] "Democratic Timing Penalties and Bonuses". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2023.

[5] "The Math Behind the Democratic Delegate Allocation - 2020". The Green Papers. November 24, 2021. Retrieved January 5, 2023.

[NJ-GP-6] 1 2 "2020 Presidential Primaries, Caucuses, and Conventions: New Jersey Democrat". The Green Papers. Retrieved July 13, 2020.

[7] Brent Johnson (May 15, 2020). "N.J.'s July 7 primary election will be mostly vote-by-mail during coronavirus pandemic, Murphy says". NJ.com . Retrieved May 25, 2020.

[8] "Primary Election Candidates: U.S. President" (PDF). Retrieved June 23, 2023.

[NJ-NPR-results-15] 1 2 "Official Election Results -AMENDED-: Candidates for Democratic District Delegates/Alternate District Delegates For- July 7, 2020- PRIMARY ELECTION" (PDF). New Jersey Division of Elections. Retrieved September 20, 2020.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[lower-alpha 1]

[lower-alpha 2]

[lower-alpha 3]

[lower-alpha 4]

[lower-alpha 5]

[lower-alpha 6]

[9]