2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries

← 2012 February 1 to June 14, 2016 2020 →
4,763 delegate votes to theDemocratic National Convention 2,382 delegate votes needed to win
Candidate Hillary Clinton Bernie Sanders Home state New York Vermont Delegate count 2,842 1,865 Contests won 34 23 Popular vote 16,917,853[a][1] 13,210,550[a][1] Percentage 55.2%[a] 43.1%[a]
First place by initial pledged delegate allocation First place by convention roll call First place by initial pledged delegate allocation   Hillary Clinton   Bernie Sanders First place by convention roll call   Hillary Clinton   Bernie Sanders   Tie
Previous Democratic nominee Barack Obama Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton

Presidential primaries and caucuses were organized by theDemocratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the2016 Democratic National Convention held July 25–28 and determine the nominee forPresident in the2016 United States presidential election. The elections took place within all fiftyU.S. states, theDistrict of Columbia, fiveU.S. territories, andDemocrats Abroad and occurred between February 1 and June 14, 2016. This was the first time the Democratic primary had nominated a woman for president.

2016 U.S. presidential election
Timeline General election debates Parties Polling national statewide by demographics international Newspaper endorsements primary general Russian interference Russia investigation origins conspiracy theory Media coverage Social media International reactions Electors Recounts Faithless electors Vote count
Republican Party
Primaries Candidates Debates and forums Polling national statewide straw polls Endorsements Results Nominee VP candidate selection Convention
Democratic Party
Primaries Candidates Debates and forums Polling national statewide straw polls Endorsements Results Nominee VP candidate selection Convention superdelegates
Third parties
Third-party and independent candidates Libertarian Party primaries debates nominee convention Green Party primaries debates nominee convention Constitution Party primaries nominee Reform Party primaries nominee American Solidarity Party Maturen Independents McMullin
Related races
House Senate Governors
← 2012 2016 2020 →
v t e

Six major candidates entered the race starting April 12, 2015, when formerSecretary of State andNew YorkSenatorHillary Clinton formally announced her second bid for the presidency. She was followed byVermontSenatorBernie Sanders, formerGovernor of MarylandMartin O'Malley, formerGovernor of Rhode IslandLincoln Chafee, formerVirginia SenatorJim Webb andHarvard Law ProfessorLawrence Lessig. A draft movement was started to encourageMassachusetts SenatorElizabeth Warren to seek the presidency. Warren declined to run, as did incumbent Vice PresidentJoe Biden. Webb, Chafee, and Lessig withdrew prior to the February 1, 2016,Iowa caucuses.^[2][3]

Clinton won Iowa by the closest margin in the history of the state's Democraticcaucus to date. O'Malley suspended^[b] his campaign after a distant third-place finish, leaving Clinton and Sanders as the only two candidates. The race turned out to be more competitive than expected, with Sanders decisively winningNew Hampshire, while Clinton subsequently wonNevada and won a landslide victory inSouth Carolina. Clinton then secured numerous important wins in each of the nine most populous states includingCalifornia,New York,Florida, andTexas, while Sanders scored various victories in between. He then laid off a majority of staff after the New York primary and Clinton's multi-state sweep on April 26.^[5] On June 6, theAssociated Press andNBC News stated that Clinton had become thepresumptive nominee after reaching the required number of delegates, including both pledged andunpledged delegates (superdelegates), to secure the nomination. In doing so, she became thefirst woman to ever be the presumptive nominee of any major political party in the United States.^[6] On June 7, Clinton secured a majority of pledged delegates after winning in the California and New Jersey primaries.^[7] PresidentBarack Obama, Vice PresidentJoe Biden and SenatorElizabeth Warren endorsed Clinton on June 9.^[8][9] Sanders confirmed on June 24 that he would vote for Clinton overDonald Trump in the general election^[10] and endorsed Clinton on July 12 inPortsmouth, New Hampshire.^[11]

On July 22,WikiLeaks published theDemocratic National Committee email leak, in which DNC operatives seemed to deride Bernie Sanders' campaign^[12] and discuss ways to advance Clinton's nomination,^[13] leading to the resignation of DNC chairDebbie Wasserman Schultz and other implicated officials. The leak wasallegedly part of an operation by theRussian government to undermine Hillary Clinton.^[14][15] Although the ensuing controversy initially focused on emails that dated from relatively late in the primary, when Clinton was already close to securing the nomination,^[13] the emails cast doubt on the DNC's neutrality and, according to Sanders operatives and multiple media commentators, showed that the DNC had favored Clinton since early on.^{[16][17][18][19][20]} This was evidenced by alleged bias in the scheduling and conduct of the debates,^[c] as well as controversial DNC–Clinton agreements regarding financial arrangements and control over policy and hiring decisions.^[d] Other media commentators have disputed the significance of the emails, arguing that the DNC's internal preference for Clinton was not historically unusual and did not affect the primary enough to sway the outcome, as Clinton received over 3 million more popular votes and 359 more pledged delegates than Sanders.^{[28][29][30][31][32]} The controversies ultimately led to the formation of a DNC "unity" commission to recommend reforms in the party's primary process.^[33][34]

On July 26, 2016, theDemocratic National Convention officially nominated Clinton for president^[35] and a day later, Virginia SenatorTim Kaine for vice president.^[36] Clinton and Kaine went on to lose to the Republican ticket ofDonald Trump andMike Pence in the general election.

This article is part of a series about Hillary Clinton
Personal Political positions Honors and awards Bibliography Legal career Career in corporate governance Activities after 2016 Public image First Lady of Arkansas Tenure First Lady of the United States Tenure Health care plan Children's Health Insurance Program Adoption and Safe Families Act Foster Care Independence Act Vital Voices "Vast right-wing conspiracy" Save America's Treasures White House Millennium Council Hillaryland Whitewater controversy White House travel office controversy White House FBI files controversy Cattle futures controversy U.S. Senator from New York Tenure 2000 election 2006 election U.S. Secretary of State Tenure International trips Benghazi attack Obama administration Obama's foreign policy QDDR Email controversy Hillary Doctrine Presidential campaigns 2008 Primaries Convention Endorsements 2016 Primaries Convention Debates Election Vice Presidential Selection Basket of deplorables Endorsements Political Non-political Celebrities Screen and stage performers Organizations Clinton Foundation State Department controversy Onward Together
v t e

Democratic nominee for the 2016 presidential election

Candidate		Born	Most recent position	Home state	Campaign Announcement date	Total pledged delegates	Popular vote	Contests won[e]	Running mate	Ref.
Hillary Clinton		October 26, 1947 (age 68) Chicago,Illinois	U.S. Secretary of State (2009–2013)	New York	Campaign April 12, 2015 FEC filing Secured nomination: June 6, 2016	2205 / 4051 (54%)	16,917,853	34 AL,AR,AS,AZ,CA, CT,DC,DE,FL,GA, GU,IA,IL,KY,LA, MA,MD,MO,MP,MS, NC,NJ,NM,NV,NY, OH,PA,PR,SC,SD,[f] TN,TX,VA,VI	Tim Kaine	[37]

Major candidates who withdrew at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

Candidate		Born	Most recent position	Home state	Campaign announced	Lost Nomination	Campaign	Total pledged delegates	Popular vote	Contests won[e]	Ref.
Bernie Sanders		September 8, 1941 (age 74) Brooklyn,New York	U.S. Senator fromVermont (2007–present)	Vermont	April 30, 2015	July 26, 2016 (endorsed Clinton)[38]	(Campaign •Positions) FEC filing	1846 / 4051 (46%)	13,210,550	23 AK,CO,DA,HI, ID,IN,KS,ME, MI,MN,MT,NE,[g] NH,ND,OK,OR, RI,UT,VT,WA,[h] WI,WV,WY[f]	[39]

This article is part of a series about Bernie Sanders
Personal Political positions University of Chicago sit-ins Bibliography We Shall Overcome Outsider in the White House The Speech Our Revolution Bernie Sanders Guide to Political Revolution Where We Go from Here It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism Mayor of Burlington Mayoralty Elections 1981 1983 1985 1987 U.S. Representative from Vermont's at-large district CPC Elections 1990 1992 1994 1996 1998 2000 2002 2004 U.S. Senator from Vermont Elections 2006 2012 2018 2024 Global Warming Pollution Reduction Act 2010 Tax Relief Act filibuster Veterans Choice Act Stop BEZOS Act Yemen War Powers Resolution Workplace Democracy Act Presidential campaigns 2016 endorsements "America" primaries convention 2020 endorsements primaries
v t e

Major candidates who withdrew during the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Candidate		Born	Most recent position	Home state	Campaign announced	Campaign suspended	Campaign	Ref
Martin O'Malley		January 18, 1963 (age 53) Washington, D.C.	Governor of Maryland (2007–2015)	Maryland	May 31, 2015	February 1, 2016 (endorsed Clinton)[40]	(Campaign •WebsiteArchived January 26, 2016, at theWayback Machine) FEC filing	[41][42]

Major candidates who withdrew before the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries

Candidate		Born	Most recent position	Home state	Campaign announced	Campaign suspended	Campaign	Ref
Lincoln Chafee		March 26, 1953 (age 62) Providence,Rhode Island	Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015)	Rhode Island	June 3, 2015	October 23, 2015 (endorsed Clinton)[43]	(Campaign •Website) FEC filing	[44][45]
Jim Webb		February 9, 1946 (age 69) Saint Joseph,Missouri	U.S. Senator fromVirginia (2007–2013)	Virginia	July 7, 2015	October 20, 2015	(Campaign •Website) FEC filing Amended FEC filing (party changed to Independent)	[46][47]
Lawrence Lessig		June 3, 1961 (age 54) Rapid City,South Dakota	Professor atHarvard Law School (2009–2016)	Massachusetts	September 9, 2015	November 2, 2015	(Campaign •Website) FEC filing	[48][49]

The following candidates were frequently interviewed by news channels and were invited to forums and candidate debates. For reference, Clinton received 16,849,779 votes in the primaries.

Candidates in this section are sorted by number of votes received
Martin O'Malley	Lawrence Lessig	Jim Webb	Lincoln Chafee
Governor of Maryland (2007–2015)	Harvard law professor (2009–2016)	U.S. Senator fromVirginia (2007–2013)	Governor of Rhode Island (2011–2015)
Campaign	Campaign	Campaign	Campaign
110,423 votes	4 write-in votes in New Hampshire	2 write-in votes in New Hampshire	none

Other candidates participated in one or more state primaries without receiving major coverage or substantial vote counts.

In the weeks following the re-election of President Obama in the2012 election, media speculation regarding potential candidates for the Democratic presidential nomination in the 2016 presidential election began to circulate. The speculation centered on the prospects of Clinton, then-Secretary of State, making a second presidential bid in the 2016 election. Clinton had previously served as aU.S. Senator for New York (2001–09) and was theFirst Lady of the U.S. (1993–2001).^[50][51] A January 2013Washington Post–ABC News poll indicated that she had high popularity among the American public.^[52][53]

This polling information prompted numerous political pundits and observers to anticipate that Clinton would mount a second presidential bid in 2016, entering the race as the early front-runner for the Democratic nomination.^[54] From the party'sliberalleft wing came calls for a moreprogressive candidate to challenge what was perceived by many within this segment as the party's establishment.^[55] Elizabeth Warren quickly became a highly touted figure within this movement as well as the object of adraft movement to run in the primaries,^[56] despite her repeated denials of interest in doing so.^[55][57]

TheMoveOn.org campaign 'Run Warren Run' announced that it would disband on June 8, 2015, opting to focus its efforts toward progressive issues.^[58] The draft campaign's New Hampshire staffer, Kurt Ehrenberg, had joined Sanders' team and most of the remaining staffers were expected to follow suit.^[59] Given the historical tendency for sittingvice presidents to seek the presidency in election cycles in which the incumbent president is not a candidate, there was also considerable speculation regarding a potential presidential run by incumbent Vice PresidentJoe Biden,^[60][61] who had previously campaigned for the Democratic presidential nomination in the election cycles of1988 and2008.^[62]

This speculation was further fueled by Biden's own expressions of interest in a possible run in 2016.^[62][63] However, on October 21, 2015, speaking from a podium in theRose Garden with his wife and President Obama by his side, Biden announced his decision not to enter the race, as he was still dealing with the loss of his son,Beau, who died months earlier at the age of 47. Biden became the nominee for the Democratic Party four years later in the2020 presidential election where he became the46th President of the United States after defeating incumbent president Donald Trump in the general election.^[64][65][66]

On May 26, 2015, Sanders officially announced his run as a presidential candidate for the Democratic nomination, after an informal announcement on April 30 and speculation since early 2014.^[67][68][69] Sanders had previously served as Mayor ofBurlington, Vermont (1981–89), Vermont's sole U.S. Representative (1991–2007) and Vermont's junior Senator (2007–present).^[70] He emerged as the biggest rival to Hillary Clinton in the Democratic primaries, backed by a stronggrassroots campaign and asocial media following.^[71]

In November 2014,Jim Webb, a former U.S. Senator who had once served as theU.S. Secretary of the Navy during theReagan administration, announced the formation of anexploratory committee in preparation for a possible run for the Democratic presidential nomination.^[72] This made Webb the first major potential candidate to take a formal action toward seeking the party's 2016 nomination.^[72]

In June 2015,Lincoln Chafee, formerGovernor andSenator ofRhode Island, announced his campaign. Chafee had been aRepublican while serving in the senate, and anIndependent while serving as Governor. He formed an exploratory committee on April 3.^[73] Chafee endorsedBarack Obama in2008 and served as co-chair of hisre-election campaign in 2012.^[74]

Martin O'Malley, formerGovernor of Maryland as well as a formerMayor of Baltimore, made formal steps toward a campaign for the party's nomination in January 2015 with the hiring and retaining of personnel who had served the previous year as political operatives in Iowa – the first presidential nominating state in the primary elections cycle – as staff for hispolitical action committee (PAC). O'Malley had started the "O' Say Can You See" PAC in 2012 which had, prior to 2015, functioned primarily as fundraising vehicles for various Democratic candidates, as well as for two 2014ballot measures in Maryland.^[75] With the 2015 staffing moves, the PAC ostensibly became a vehicle for O'Malley – who had for several months openly contemplated a presidential bid – to lay the groundwork for a potential campaign for the party's presidential nomination.^[76]

In August 2015,Lawrence Lessig unexpectedly announced his intention to enter the race, promising to run if his exploratory committee raised $1 million byLabor Day.^[77][78] After accomplishing this, Lessig formally announcedhis campaign.^[79] He described his candidacy as a referendum onelectoral reform legislation, prioritizing a single issue: theCitizen Equality Act of 2017, a proposal that couplescampaign finance reform with other laws aimed at curbinggerrymandering and ensuringvoting access.^[80][81]

Despite being heavily favored in polls issued weeks earlier, Clinton was only able to defeat Sanders in the first-in-the-nationIowa Caucus by the closest margin in the history of the contest: 49.84% to 49.59%. Clinton collected 700.47 state delegate equivalents to Sanders' 696.92, a difference of one-quarter of a percentage point.^[82] This led to speculation that she won due to six coin-toss tiebreakers all resulting in her favor. However, the only challenge to the caucus' results was in a single precinct, which gave Clinton a fifth delegate.^[83]

The victory, which was projected to award her 23 pledged national convention delegates, two more than Sanders, made Clinton the first woman to win the Caucus and marked a clear difference from2008, where she finished in third place behind Obama andJohn Edwards.^{[84][85][86][87]} Martin O'Malley suspended^[b] his campaign after a disappointing third-place finish with only 0.5% of the state delegate equivalents awarded, leaving Clinton and Sanders the only two major candidates in the race.^[88] A week later, Sanders won theNew Hampshire primary, receiving 60.4% of the popular vote to Clinton's 38%, putting him ahead of Clinton in the overall pledged delegate count by four, and making him the firstJewish candidate of a major party to win a primary.^[89][90][91] Hillary Clinton's loss in New Hampshire was a regressionfrom 2008, when she defeated Obama, Edwards, and a handful of other candidates includingJoe Biden, with 39% of the popular vote.^[92]

Sanders' narrow loss in Iowa and victory in New Hampshire generated speculation about a possible loss for Clinton inNevada, the next state to hold its caucuses on February 20.^[93][94] For her part, Clinton, who had won the state eight years prior in the2008 Nevada Democratic caucuses, hoped that a victory would allay concerns about a possible repetition of 2008 when she ultimately lost to Obama despite entering the primary season as the favorite for the nomination.^[95] Ultimately, Clinton emerged victorious with 52.6% of the county delegates, a margin of victory similar to her performance in 2008.^[96] Sanders, who attained 47.3% of the vote, was projected to receive five fewer pledged delegates than Clinton. The result was not promising for the following weekend's primary in South Carolina, more demographically favorable to Clinton than the prior contests. On February 27, Clinton won theSouth Carolina primary with 73.5% of the vote, receiving a larger percentage of theAfrican American vote than Barack Obama hadeight years earlier – 90% to Obama's 80%.^[97]

The 2016 primary schedule was significantly different from that of 2008. Duringthat election cycle, many states moved their primaries or caucuses to earlier in the calendar to have greater influence over the race. In 2008, February 5 was the earliest date allowed by the Democratic National Committee, leading 23 states and territories to move their elections to that date, the biggest Super Tuesday to ever take place. For 2016, the calendar was more disparate than it was in 2008, with several groups of states voting on different dates, the most important being March 1, March 15, April 26 and June 7. The day with the most contests was March 1, 2016, in which primaries or caucuses were held in 11 states, including six in the American south, andAmerican Samoa. A total of 865 pledged delegates were at stake.

Clinton secured victories in all of the southern contests exceptOklahoma. Her biggest victory of the day came inAlabama, where she won 77.8% of the vote against Sanders' 19.2%. Her most significant delegate prize came from Texas, where she received 65.2% of the vote with strong support from non-white as well as white voters. Collectively, the southern states gave Clinton a net gain of 165 pledged delegates.^[98] Apart from the South, Clinton also narrowly defeated Sanders inMassachusetts, as well as winning in the territory ofAmerican Samoa.^[99]

Sanders scored comfortable wins in theMinnesota andColorado caucuses and theOklahoma primary. He won an 86.1%–13.6% landslide in his home state ofVermont – one of only two times either of the two main candidates missed the 15% threshold in a state or territory, with theU.S. Virgin Islands, where Clinton received over 87% of the vote, being the other one. Although the results overall were unfavorable for Sanders, his four wins and narrow loss allowed him to remain in the race in anticipation of more favorable territory inNew England, theGreat Plains,Mountain States and thePacific Northwest.^[99] At the end of the day, Clinton collected 518 pledged delegates to Sanders' 347, taking her lead to 609–412, a difference of 197 pledged delegates.^[100]

Sanders found more hospitable ground on the weekend of March 5, 2016, winning caucuses inKansas,Maine andNebraska by significant margins. Clinton answered with an even larger win inLouisiana's primary, limiting Sanders' net gain for the weekend to only four delegates. Clinton would also win theNorthern Mariana Islands caucus, held the following weekend on March 12. Two states had held nominating contests on March 8 –Michigan andMississippi – with Clinton heavily favored to win both.^[101][102]

Mississippi went for Clinton, as expected, by a landslide margin. The Mississippi primary was the highest vote share Clinton won in any state. However, Sanders stunned by scoring a narrow win inMichigan.^[103] Analysts floated a number of theories to explain the failure of the Michigan polling, with most centering on pollsters' erroneous assumptions about the composition of the electorate stemming from the2008 primary in Michigan not having been contested due to an impasse between thestate party andDNC.^{[104][105][106]}

Although Clinton expanded her delegate lead, some journalists suggested Sanders' upset might presage her defeat in other delegate-rich Midwestern states,^[107] such asMissouri,Ohio andIllinois, who voted a week later on March 15, along withNorth Carolina andFlorida, where Clinton was more clearly favored.^[108][109] Clinton was able to sweep all five primaries, extending her pledged delegate lead by around 100 delegates, although Sanders was able to hold Clinton to narrow margins in her birth-state of Illinois and especially Missouri, where Clinton won by a mere 0.2 points.^[110]

Missouri state law allowed for a possible recount had any of the candidates requested it; however, Sanders forwent the opportunity on the basis that it would not significantly affect the delegate allocation.^[111][112] By the end of the evening, Clinton had expanded her pledged delegate lead to more than 320, several times larger than her greatest deficit in the2008 primary.^{[citation needed]}

Following the March 15 primaries, the race moved to a series of contests more favorable for Sanders. On March 21, the results of theDemocrats Abroad primary (held March 1–8) were announced. Sanders was victorious and picked up nine delegates to Clinton's four, closing his delegate deficit by five.^[113]Arizona,Idaho andUtah held primaries on March 22, dubbed "Western Tuesday" by media.^[114] Despite continued efforts by Sanders to close the gap in Arizona after his surprise win in Michigan, Clinton won the primary with 56.3% of the vote.^[115] However, Clinton lost both Idaho and Utah by roughly 60 points, allowing Sanders to close his delegate deficit by 25.^[116][117]

The next states to vote wereAlaska,Hawaii andWashington on March 26, 2016.^[118] All three states were considered as favorable for Sanders, and most political analysts expected him to win them all, given the demographics and Sanders' strong performance in previous caucuses.^[118] Sanders finished the day with a net gain of roughly 66 delegates over Clinton. His largest win was in Alaska, where he defeated Clinton with 82% of the vote, although the majority of his delegate gain came from the considerably more populous state ofWashington, which he won by a 46% margin, outperforming then-Senator Obama's 2008 results, when he defeated Clinton 68%–31%.^[119][120]

The Clinton and Sanders campaigns reached an agreement on April 4 for a ninth debate to take place on April 14 (five days before theNew York primary) inBrooklyn, New York, which would air on CNN and NY1.^[121] On April 5, Sanders won theWisconsin primary by 13 and 1/2 percentage points, closing his delegate deficit by 10 more. TheWyoming caucuses were held on April 9, which Sanders won with 55.7% of the state convention delegates choosing him; however, Clinton had a stronger showing than expected, given her demographic disadvantage and that she did not campaign personally in the state. Each candidate was estimated to have earned 7 of Wyoming's 14 pledged delegates.^[122]

On April 19, Clinton wonNew York by 16 points. While Sanders performed well inUpstate New York and with younger voters, Clinton performed well among all other age groups and non-whites, and she won a majority in all boroughs ofNew York City.^[123]

FiveNortheastern states held primaries a week later on April 26. The day was dubbed the "Super Tuesday III" or the "Acela Primary" afterAmtrak'sAcela Express train service that connects these states.^[124] Clinton won inDelaware,Maryland,Pennsylvania andConnecticut. Sanders won theRhode Island primary.

On May 3, Sanders pulled off a surprise victory in theIndiana primary, winning by a five-point margin despite trailing in all the state's polls.^[125] Clinton won theGuam caucus on May 7^[126] and, on May 10, she won thenon-binding Nebraska primary^[127] while Sanders won inWest Virginia.

Clinton narrowly wonKentucky on May 17 by half a percentage point and gained one delegate, after heavily campaigning in the state. On the same day, Sanders won his second closed primary inOregon, gaining nine delegates, a net gain of eight on the day. Clinton won thenon-binding Washington primary on May 24.^[128]

June contained the final contests of the Democratic primaries, and both Sanders and Clinton invested heavily into winning theCalifornia primary. Clinton led the polls in California but some predicted a narrow race.^[129] On June 4 and 5, Clinton won two decisive victories in theVirgin Islands caucus^[130] andPuerto Rico primary.^[131] On June 6, both the Associated Press and NBC News reported that Clinton had sufficient support from pledged and unpledged delegates to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.^[132]

Clinton's campaign seemed reluctant to accept the mantle of "presumptive nominee" before all the voting was concluded,^[133] while Sanders' campaign stated it would continue to run and accused the media of a "rush to judgement."^[134] Six states held their primaries on June 7. Clinton won inCalifornia,New Jersey,New Mexico andSouth Dakota. Sanders wonMontana andNorth Dakota, the latter being the only caucus contest held on that day.^[135] Clinton finally declared victory on the evening of June 7, as the results ensured that she had won a majority of the pledged delegates and the popular vote.^[135]

Sanders stated he would continue to run for the Democratic Party's nomination in the final primary in theDistrict of Columbia on June 14,^[136] which Clinton won. Both campaigns met at a downtown Washington D.C. hotel after the primary.^[137] The Sanders campaign said that they would release a video statement on June 16 to clarify the future of Sanders' campaign; the video announced that Sanders looked forward to help Clinton defeat Trump.^[138] On July 12, 2016, Sanders endorsed Clinton inPortsmouth, New Hampshire.^[139]

On July 22, 2016,WikiLeaks released online tens of thousands of messages leaked from the e-mail accounts of seven key DNC staff.^[140] Some e-mails showed two DNC staffers discussing the possibility that Sanders' possible atheism might harm him in a general election with religious voters. Others showed a few staffers had expressed personal preferences that Clinton should become the nominee, suggesting that the party's leadership had worked to undermine Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign.^[140] Then-DNC chairDebbie Wasserman Schultz called the accusations lies.^[140]

The furor raised over this matter escalated to Wasserman Schultz's resignation ahead of the convention,^[141] and that of Marshals, Dacey, and Communications Director Luis Miranda afterwards.^[142] Following Wasserman Schultz's resignation, then-DNC Vice ChairDonna Brazile took over as interim DNC chairwoman for the convention and remained so until February 2017.^[143] In November 2017, Brazile said in her book and related interviews that the Clinton campaign and the DNC had colluded 'unethically' by giving the Clinton campaign control over the DNC's personnel and press releases before the primary in return for funding to eliminate the DNC's remaining debt from 2012 campaign,^[26] in addition to using the DNC and state committees to funnel campaign-limitation-exceeding donations to her campaign.^[144] Internal memos later surfaced, claiming that these measures were not meant to affect the nominating process despite their timing.^[145] At the end of June 2016, it was claimed that "more money [from the Hillary Victory Fund] will be moved to the state parties in the coming months."^[146] Brazile later clarified that she claimed the process was 'unethical', but 'not a criminal act'.^[16][147]

DNC officials including chairmanTom Perez pointed out that the same joint-fundraising agreement had been offered to Sanders and applied only to the general election; however, the Clinton campaign also had a second agreement that granted it additional, unusual oversight over hiring and policy, even though the text of the agreement insisted on the DNC's impartiality and focus on the general election.^[148] Brazile later denied that the primary was rigged, because "no votes were overturned," but described herself as "very upset" about a DNC–Clinton fundraising agreement.^[149]The Washington Post characterized Brazile's eventual argument as: "Clinton exerted too much power but did win the nomination fairly."^[150]

After the general election, the U.S. intelligence community and theSpecial Counsel investigation assessed that the leaks were part of a largerinterference campaign by the Russian government to cause political instability in the United States and to damage the Hillary Clinton campaign by bolstering the candidacies of Donald Trump, Bernie Sanders, and Jill Stein.^{[151][152][153][154]} The Russian government is alleged to have promoted Sanders beginning in 2015 as a way to weaken or defeat Clinton, who Russian PresidentVladimir Putin opposed. The influence campaign by theInternet Research Agency targeted Sanders voters through social media and encouraged them to vote for a third-party candidate or abstain from voting. Sanders denounced these efforts and urged his supporters to support Clinton in the general election.^[155]

When news of the DNC leak first surfaced in June 2016, the Russian government denied allegations of hacking.^[156] WikiLeaks founderJulian Assange also stated that the Russian government was not source of the leak.^[157] In July 2018, the special counsel indicted 12 Russian intelligence officers for hacking and leaking the emails.^[158]

The2016 Democratic National Convention was held from July 25–28 at theWells Fargo Center inPhiladelphia, with some events at thePennsylvania Convention Center. The delegates selected the Democratic presidential and vice-presidential nominees and wrote theparty platform. A simple majority of 2,383 delegates was needed to win the presidential nomination.^[159] While most of the delegates were bound on the first ballot according to the results of the primaries, a progressively larger number of pledged delegates would have become unbound if the nomination required more than one ballot.^[160]

Clinton was nominated on the first ballot byacclamation, although all states were allowed to announce how they would have voted under a typicalroll call vote. On July 12, 2016, the Vermont delegates had supported Clinton in Sanders' request. Asking for party unity, he dropped out on July 26, 2016, and announced he would return to the Senate as anindependent.^[161]

This is an overview of the money used in the campaign as it is reported toFederal Election Commission (FEC) and released on April 27, 2016. Outside groups areindependent expenditure only committees—also calledPACs and SuperPACs. Several such groups normally support each candidate, but the numbers in the table are a total of all of them. This means that a group of committees can be shown astechnically insolvent, shown in red, even though it is not the case of all of them. The Campaign Committee's debt is shown in red if the campaign is technically insolvent. The source of all the numbers isOpenSecrets.^[162] Some spending totals are not available, due to withdrawals before the FEC deadline.

The Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses areindirect elections in which voters elect delegates to the2016 Democratic National Convention. These delegates directly elect the Democratic Party's presidential nominee. In some states, the party may disregard voters' selection of delegates, or selected delegates may vote for any candidate at the state or national convention (non-binding primary or caucus). In other states, state laws and party rules require the party to select delegates according to votes, and delegates must vote for a particular candidate (binding primary or caucus).^[165]

There were 4,051 pledged delegates and 714superdelegates in the 2016 cycle.^[165] Under the party's delegate selection rules, the number of pledged delegates allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states andWashington, D.C. is determined using a formula based on three main factors:

1. The proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections (2004, 2008, and 2012)
2. The number of electoral votes each state has in theUnited States Electoral College.
3. The stage of the primary season when they held their contest. States and territories that held their contests later are given bonus seats.

A candidate must win 2,383 delegates at the national convention, in order to win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination.^[165] For the U.S. territories ofPuerto Rico,American Samoa,Guam, theU.S. Virgin Islands and forDemocrats Abroad, fixed numbers of pledged delegates are allocated. All states and territories then must have used aproportional representation system, where their pledged delegates were awarded proportionally to the election results.^[166]

A candidate must receive at least 15% of the popular vote to win pledged delegates in a state. The current 714 unpledged superdelegates, or "soft" delegates, included members of theUnited States House of Representatives andSenate, state and territorialgovernors, members of the Democratic National Committee, and other party leaders. Because of possible deaths, resignations, or the results of intervening or special elections, the final number of these superdelegates may be reduced before the convention.^[166]

The Democratic National Committee imposed rules for states that wished to hold early contests in 2016. No state was permitted to hold a primary or caucus in January. Only Iowa, New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Nevada were entitled to February contests. Any state that violated these rules were penalized half its pledged delegates and all its superdelegates to the 2016 convention.^[166]

The following are the results of candidates who won at least one state. These candidates were on the ballots for every state, territory and federal district contest. The results of caucuses did not always have attached preference polls and attendance was extremely limited. The unpledged delegate count did not always reflect the latest declared preferences.

Date	State/territory	Calculated delegates			Type[i]	Popular vote or equivalent[j]		Estimated delegates[k]
						Clinton	Sanders	Clinton			Sanders			Available[l]
		P	U	T				P	U	T	P	U	T	P	U	T
Feb 1	Iowa[167]	44	7	51	Semi-open caucus	700SDE (49.8%)	697SDE (49.6%)	23	6	29	21	0	21	0	1	1
Feb 9	New Hampshire[168]	24	8	32	Semi-closed primary	95,355 (37.7%)	152,193 (60.1%)	9	6	15	15	1	16	0	1	1
Feb 20	Nevada[169]	35	8	43	Closed caucus	6,316CD (52.6%)	5,678CD (47.3%)	20	7	27	15	1	16	0	0	0
Feb 27	South Carolina[170]	53	6	59	Open primary	272,379 (73.4%)	96,498 (26.0%)	39	5	44	14	0	14	0	1	1
Mar 1	Alabama[171]	53	7	60	Open primary	309,926 (77.8%)	76,401 (19.2%)	44	6	50	9	0	9	0	1	1
	American Samoa[172]	6	5	11	Closed caucus	162 (68.4%)	61 (25.7%)	4	4	8	2	1	3	0	0	0
	Arkansas[173]	32	5	37	Open primary	146,057 (66.1%)	66,236 (30.0%)	22	5	27	10	0	10	0	0	0
	Colorado[174]	66	12	78	Closed caucus	49,789 (40.3%)	72,846 (59.0%)	25	9	34	41	0	41	0	3	3
	Georgia[175]	102	15	117	Open primary	543,008 (71.3%)	214,332 (28.2%)	73	11	84	29	0	29	0	4	4
	Massachusetts[176][177]	91	24	115	Semi-closed primary	606,822 (49.7%)	589,803 (48.3%)	46	21	67	45	1	46	0	2	2
	Minnesota[178]	77	16	93	Open caucus	73,510 (38.4%)	118,135 (61.6%)	31	12	43	46	2	48	0	2	2
	Oklahoma[179][180]	38	4	42	Semi-closed primary	139,443 (41.5%)	174,228 (51.9%)	17	1	18	21	1	22	0	2	2
	Tennessee[181]	67	8	75	Open primary	245,930 (66.1%)	120,800 (32.5%)	44	8	52	23	0	23	0	0	0
	Texas[182]	222	29	251	Open primary	936,004 (65.2%)	476,547 (33.2%)	147	21	168	75	0	75	0	8	8
	Vermont[183][184]	16	10	26	Open primary	18,338 (13.6%)	115,900 (85.7%)	0	5	5	16	5	21	0	0	0
	Virginia[185]	95	13	108	Open primary	504,741 (64.3%)	276,370 (35.2%)	62	12	74	33	0	33	0	1	1
Mar 5	Kansas[186]	33	4	37	Closed caucus	12,593 (32.3%)	26,450 (67.7%)	10	4	14	23	0	23	0	0	0
	Louisiana[187]	51	8	59	Closed primary	221,733 (71.1%)	72,276 (23.2%)	37	6	43	14	0	14	0	2	2
	Nebraska[188]	25	5	30	Closed caucus	14,340 (42.9%)	19,120 (57.1%)	10	3	13	15	1	16	0	1	1
Mar 6	Maine[189]	25	5	30	Closed caucus	1,232SCD (35.5%)	2,231SCD (64.3%)	8	4	12	17	1	18	0	0	0
Mar 1–8	Democrats Abroad[190]	13	4[m]	17	Closed primary	10,689 (30.9%)	23,779 (68.9%)	4	2½	6½	9	½	9½	0	1	1
Mar 8	Michigan[191][192]	130	17	147	Open primary	581,775 (48.3%)	598,943 (49.7%)	63	13	76	67	0	67	0	4	4
	Mississippi[193]	36	5	41	Open primary	187,334 (82.5%)	37,748 (16.6%)	31	3	34	5	2	7	0	0	0
Mar 12	Northern Marianas[194]	6	5	11	Closed caucus	102 (54.0%)	65 (34.4%)	4	5	9	2	0	2	0	0	0
Mar 15	Florida[195][196]	214	32	246	Closed primary	1,101,414 (64.4%)	568,839 (33.3%)	141	24	165	73	2	75	0	6	6
	Illinois[197]	156	27	183	Open primary	1,039,555 (50.6%)	999,494 (48.6%)	79	24	103	77	1	78	0	1[l]	1[l]
	Missouri[198]	71	13	84	Open primary	312,285 (49.6%)	310,711 (49.4%)	36	11	47	35	0	35	0	2	2
	North Carolina[199]	107	14	121	Semi-closed primary	622,915 (54.5%)	467,018 (40.9%)	60	9	69	47	2	49	0	3	3
	Ohio[200][201]	143	17	160	Semi-open primary	696,681 (56.1%)	535,395 (43.1%)	81	16	97	62	1	63	0	0	0
Mar 22	Arizona[202][203]	75	10	85	Closed primary	262,459 (56.3%)	192,962 (41.4%)	42	6	48	33	1	34	0	3	3
	Idaho[204]	23	4	27	Open caucus	5,065 (21.2%)	18,640 (78.0%)	5	1	6	18	2	20	0	1	1
	Utah[205]	33	4	37	Semi-open caucus	15,666 (20.3%)	61,333 (79.3%)	6	2	8	27	2	29	0	0	0
Mar 26	Alaska[206][207]	16	4	20	Closed caucus	2,146 (20.2%)	8,447 (79.6%)	3	1	4	13	1	14	0	2	2
	Hawaii[208]	25	9	34	Semi-closed caucus	10,125 (30.0%)	23,530 (69.8%)	8	5	13	17	2	19	0	2	2
	Washington[209]	101	17	118	Open caucus	7,140LDD (27.1%)	19,159LDD (72.7%)	27	11	38	74	0	74	0	6	6
Apr 5	Wisconsin[210][211]	86	10	96	Open primary	433,739 (43.1%)	570,192 (56.6%)	38	9	47	48	1	49	0	0	0
Apr 9	Wyoming[212]	14	4	18	Closed caucus	124SCD (44.3%)	156SCD (55.7%)	7	4	11	7	0	7	0	0	0
Apr 19	New York[213][214][215]	247	44	291	Closed primary	1,133,980 (57.5%)	820,256 (41.6%)	139	41	180	108	0	108	0	3	3
Apr 26	Connecticut[216][217]	55	16	71	Closed primary	170,045 (51.8%)	152,379 (46.4%)	28	15	43	27	0	27	0	1	1
	Delaware[218][219]	21	11	32	Closed primary	55,954 (59.8%)	36,662 (39.2%)	12	11	23	9	0	9	0	0	0
	Maryland[220][221]	95	24	119	Closed primary	573,242 (62.5%)	309,990 (33.8%)	60	17	77	35	1	36	0	6	6
	Pennsylvania[222]	189	19	208	Closed primary	935,107 (55.6%)	731,881 (43.5%)	106	19	125	83	0	83	0	1	1
	Rhode Island[223][224]	24	9	33	Semi-closed primary	52,749 (43.1%)	66,993 (54.7%)	11	9	20	13	0	13	0	0	0
May 3	Indiana[225]	83	9	92	Open primary	303,705 (47.5%)	335,074 (52.5%)	39	7	46	44	0	44	0	2	2
May 7	Guam[226]	7	5	12	Closed caucus	777 (59.5%)	528 (40.5%)	4	5	9	3	0	3	0	0	0
May 10	Nebraska[227]	—			Closed primary	42,692 (53.1%)	37,744 (46.9%)	Non-binding primary with no delegates allocated.
	West Virginia[228]	29	8	37	Semi-closed primary	86,914 (35.8%)	124,700 (51.4%)	11	6	17	18	2	20	0	0	0
May 17	Kentucky[229][230]	55	5	60	Closed primary	212,534 (46.8%)	210,623 (46.3%)	28	2	30	27	0	27	0	3	3
	Oregon[231][232]	61	13	74	Closed primary	269,846 (42.1%)	360,829 (56.2%)	25	7	32	36	3	39	0	3	3
May 24	Washington[233]	—			Open primary[234][n]	420,461 (52.4%)	382,293 (47.6%)	Non-binding primary with no delegates allocated.
Jun 4	Virgin Islands[235][236][237]	7	5	12	Closed caucus	1,326 (87.12%)	196 (12.88%)	7	5	12	0	0	0	0	0	0
Jun 5	Puerto Rico[238]	60	7	67	Open primary	52,658 (59.7%)	33,368 (37.9%)	37	6	43	23	0	23	0	1	1
Jun 7	California[239][240]	475	76	551	Semi-closed primary	2,745,302 (53.1%)	2,381,722 (46.0%)	254	66	320	221	0	221	0	10	10
	Montana[241][242]	21	6	27	Open primary	55,805 (44.2%)	65,156 (51.6%)	10	5	15	11	1	12	0	0	0
	New Jersey[243][244][245]	126	16	142	Semi-closed primary	566,247 (63.3%)	328,058 (36.7%)	79	12	91	47	2	49	0	2	2
	New Mexico[246][247]	34	9	43	Closed primary	111,334 (51.5%)	104,741 (48.5%)	18	9	27	16	0	16	0	0	0
	North Dakota[248]	18	5	23	Open caucus[249][o]	106SCD (25.6%)	258SCD (64.2%)	5	1	6	13	1	14	0	3	3
	South Dakota[250][251]	20	5	25	Semi-closed primary[252]	27,047 (51.0%)	25,959 (49.0%)	10	2	12	10	0	10	0	3	3
Jun 14	District of Columbia[253][254]	20	25	45	Closed primary	76,704 (78.0%)	20,361 (20.7%)	16	23	39	4	2	6	0	0	0
Total		4,051	712	4,763		16,847,084 (55.20%)[a]	13,168,222 (43.14%)[a]	2,205	570½	2,775½	1,846	43½	1,889½	0	97[l]	97[l]
Date	State/territory	P	U	T	Type	Clinton	Sanders	P	U	T	P	U	T	P	U	T
		Calculated delegates				Popular vote or equivalent		Clinton delegates			Sanders delegates			Available delegates
view talk edit

Superdelegates are elected officials and members of theDemocratic National Committee who vote at theDemocratic National Convention for their preferred candidate. Also known asunpledged delegates, they comprise 15% of the convention (712 votes out of 4,763) and they may change their preference at any time. The table below reflects current public endorsements of candidates by superdelegates, as detailed and sourced in thefull list above. Because commonly referenced estimates of superdelegate support, including those byCNN^[255] and theAP,^[256] do not identify individual delegates as supporting a given candidate, their published tallies may differ from the totals computed here.

Note:Democrats Abroad Superdelegates are assigned half-votes; each of them accounts for ½ rather than 1 in the table above.

Source:^[257]

States where the margin of victory was under 1%:

1. Missouri, 0.25%
2. Iowa, 0.25%
3. Kentucky, 0.42%

States where the margin of victory was under 5%:

1. Massachusetts, 1.40%
2. Michigan, 1.42%
3. Illinois, 1.95%
4. South Dakota, 2.06%
5. New Mexico, 3.06%
6. Indiana, 4.92%

States where the margin of victory was under 10%:

1. Nevada, 5.28%
2. Connecticut, 5.38%
3. California, 7.03%
4. Montana, 7.40%

States where the margin of victory was under 20%:

1. Oklahoma, 10.36%
2. Rhode Island, 11.63%
3. Pennsylvania, 12.08%
4. Ohio, 12.99%
5. Wisconsin, 13.54%
6. Wyoming, 13.64%
7. North Carolina, 13.64%
8. Oregon, 14.18%
9. Nebraska, 14.28%
10. Arizona, 14.90%
11. West Virginia, 15.57%
12. New York, 16.06%
13. Colorado, 18.68%

• 
  Breakdown of the results in vote distribution, by state
• 
  Results of popular vote, by county
• 
  Results in popular vote margin, by state
• 
  Results in popular vote margin, by county
• 
  Breakdown of the results in pledged delegates, by state
• 
  Breakdown of the results in total delegate count, by state
• 
  Results in pledged delegates, by state

Related

Democratic Party articles

• Results of the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• Nationwide opinion polling for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• Statewide opinion polling for the 2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential candidates
• 2016 Democratic Party presidential debates and forums
• List of Democratic Party presidential primaries

Presidential primaries

• 2016 Constitution Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Green Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Libertarian Party presidential primaries
• 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries

National conventions

• 2016 Constitution Party National Convention
• 2016 Democratic National Convention
• 2016 Green National Convention
• 2016 Libertarian National Convention
• 2016 Republican National Convention