2024 State Primary Election Calendar

Washington, D.C., and each American state and U.S. territory holds a Democratic and a Republican primary, caucus, or convention to select a presidential candidate before the party nominates a candidate for a nationwide presidential election. A primary is a statewide vote in which each voter selects their preferred candidate. A caucus is a “system of local gatherings” during which voters decide on a candidate. A state convention works like the national convention: the jurisdictions within the state hold primaries or caucuses and then send delegates to the state convention to select a candidate. Most states hold primaries. If an election is a caucus or convention or if the Democratic and Republican votes are on separate dates, it is noted below.

While people in U.S. territories cannot vote in the presidential election, each territory does have primaries or caucuses, sends delegates to the party conventions, and is therefore included below. We have not included primaries for the Green and Libertarian parties because they do not happen consistently in every state; however, we have included the third party conventions when dates are available.

The candidates for the Democratic and Republican parties are selected at the conventions based on the number of delegates gained from each state. Delegates are people who travel to the national conventions to represent the state. The 2024 Democratic party convention will have “an estimated 4,532 delegates: 3,788 pledged delegates and 744 automatic [superdelegates] delegates,” according to Ballotpedia, which also estimates the 2024 Republican party convention will have “an estimated 2,469 delegates: 2,365 pledged delegates and 104 unpledged delegates.”

Each state has rules on how delegates are awarded to candidates. Pledged delegates have agreed to vote for the candidate who wins the state’s election. Superdelegates (also called automatic or unpledged delegates) are not bound to any particular candidate and may vote however they choose, but, at the Democratic convention, superdelegates may only vote if the convention is contested and goes to a second ballot. To win the party nomination, a candidate must win the majority of the party’s delegates.

Each primary or caucus is open, closed, or mixed. Open means that any registered voter may vote, regardless of party registration or affiliation, but must choose only one party’s ballot to vote on. Closed means that only voters registered with the particular party may vote, and, in most cases, voters must be registered with the party before voting day. Mixed most often means that independent voters may vote without declaring party affiliation, though the rules vary state-by-state and by party.

Super Tuesday, the date in March or April with the greatest number of state primaries, is March 5 for the 2024 presidential election.

For the results of a specific primary or caucus, click the state name below. For all results click here.

Sources

270toWin, “2024 Presidential Election Calendar,” 270towin.com (accessed Dec. 5, 2023)

Ballotpedia, “Democratic Delegate Rules, 2024,” ballotpedia.org (accessed Dec. 5, 2023)

Ballotpedia, “Republican Delegate Rules, 2024,” ballotpedia.org (accessed Dec. 5, 2023)

D’Angelo Gore, “Caucus vs. Primary,” factcheck.org, Apr. 8, 2008

Green Party U.S., “National Meetings,” gp.org (accessed Jan. 22, 2024)

Libertarian Party, “Libertarian National Convention,” lp.org (accessed Dec. 5, 2023)

Domenico Montanaro, “Here Are Important Dates on the 2024 Election Calendar,” npr.org, Jan. 9, 2024

National Conference of State Legislatures, “2024 State Primary Election Dates,” ncsl.org, Oct. 13, 2023

Open Primaries, “Rules in Your State,” openprimaries.org (accessed Dec. 5, 2023)