COLUMBUS — Thousands of Ohio Democrats turned out last week at 16 caucuses across the state to elect slates of 89 district-level delegates and eight alternates to represent Ohio at the 2020 Democratic National Convention in Milwaukee this summer.
“A record 3,300 Ohio Democrats filed to run for district-level delegate — far outpacing our previous record of 800 delegate applicants in 2016,” said Ohio Democratic Party Chairman David Pepper. “Since the beginning of the year, hundreds of new volunteers have signed up and committed to help the Ohio Democratic Party, no matter who our nominee is. That’s evidence of Ohio Democrats’ amazing grassroots energy for 2020.”
Candidates ran to become pledged delegates for Michael Bennet, Joe Biden, Michael Bloomberg, Cory Booker (who will still appear on Ohio’s primary ballot, despite withdrawing from the race), Pete Buttigieg, Tulsi Gabbard, Amy Klobuchar, Deval Patrick, Bernie Sanders, Tom Steyer or Elizabeth Warren. The results of Ohio’s presidential primary on March 17 will determine the number of delegates each candidate is allocated in each congressional district.
In addition to the district-level delegates, Ohio will have 18 pledged PLEO (party leaders and elected officials) delegates and 29 at-large delegates, who will be allocated to candidates proportional to the statewide election results. The remaining members of the delegation are automatic members and will not vote on the first ballot at the convention, according to new rules established by the Democratic National Committee’s Unity Reform Commission.
Ohio will have a total of 153 convention delegates and 11 alternates, evenly divided between men and women, with diversity goals for African Americans, Hispanic/Latinos, Native Americans, Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders, LGBTQ+ folks, people with disabilities, veterans and young people (age 18-36).
For more information about the Ohio Democratic Party’s 2020 delegate selection plan, click here.
