Politics

Super Tuesday, So Exactly Whats At Stake?

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Super Tuesday is Hillary Clinton’s chance for to put some real distance between here and Sen. Sanders with an armload of victories that would give her full claim to front-runner status in the Democratic primary race. But count out the power of the BERN, Senator Bernie Sanders could play spoiler with big wins somewhere outside his native Northeast. Here’s how the Super Tuesday states break down for the DEMS!

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Super Tuesday: What’s at Stake

After a month of “early state” contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina, “Super Tuesday” — the biggest day of voting in the 2016 primary — has arrived. Eleven states will vote to select a party nominee, plus one U.S. territory for the Democrats. As we’ve seen so far, a race in one state can whittle the field down, so multiple states with hundreds of delegates at stake are potential game-changers. Here’s everything you need to know about what’s at stake, both in general and for the individual candidates.

DEMOCRATS: STATES VOTING: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia

DELEGATES AT STAKE: 1,015


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DELEGATE MATH: A candidate needs to secure 2,383 delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination. After Super Tuesday, a little under 50 percent of that would have been allocated. Clinton is currently leading in both pledged delegates and superdelegates — unpledged delegates (usually elected officials and party leaders) who can support whomever they want, whenever they want. She is expected to retain that lead after Super Tuesday, but the question will be by how much. Sanders will definitely pick up delegates. While Clinton leads in the South, he is expecting races like Minnesota, Colorado and Massachusetts to be competitive, and the Democratic party’s rule that delegates are allocated proportionally once candidates receive over 15 percent of the vote. But if Clinton gets a majority of the pledged delegates and keeps the distance between their counts at a minimum of 100, Sanders may not be able to catch up, especially given her advantage among superdelegates. “That 100 delegate mark — a lead of that much — will make it very difficult for Sanders to equalize,” Josh Putnam, a University of Georgia professor who specializes in campaigns and elections, told ABC News.

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What’s the biggest prize?

Texas is by far the biggest delegate prize on the map, with 155 Republican delegates and 252 total Democratic delegates at stake. That’s why candidates on both sides have spent time there and invested significant resources into the state.

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