2024 United States Democratic Primaries (Bennybop)

From January 3 to June 5, 2024, voters of the Democratic Party chose its nominee for president in the 2024 United States presidential election. President Joe Biden won the Democratic Party nomination by securing more than the required 2,383 delegates on April 3, 2024 after a series of primary elections and caucuses. He was formally nominated by the 2024 Democratic National Convention on July 29, 2024, in Charlotte, North Carolina.

The general expectation was that, with President Joe Biden having the advantage of incumbency and being the only viable candidate running, the race would be merely pro forma. West Virginia senator Joe Manchin reportedly considered challenging Biden in the primaries but decided not to run after then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer talked him out of it.

Several of the lesser-known candidates made efforts to raise visibility. Some Occupy movement activists made an attempt to take over the Iowa caucuses, and got about 2% of the vote for Uncommitted. With nine minor candidates on the ballot in New Hampshire, there was a debate at Saint Anselm College in Goffstown, New Hampshire on December 19, 2023, in which seven candidates participated. Pro-life activist Randall Terry bought time on television in order to show graphic commercials denouncing abortion.

Three candidates – other than Biden – who had been on the ballot in New Hampshire were also on the ballot in Missouri. One such candidate, Randall Terry, attempted to air graphic TV commercials during Super Bowl LVIII, but was met with resistance from various TV stations in some locations. The Democratic National Committee also tried to stop the ads by claiming that Terry was not a legitimate Democratic candidate even though he was legally on the ballot.

A number of partisans of Barack Obama citizenship conspiracy theories, challenging the legitimacy of Obama's birthright citizenship, attempted to have the President's name removed from the Georgia primary ballot. A state administrative judge upheld a subpoena, which was ignored by the President and his staff. In February 2024, the activists' legal challenge was rejected by a Georgia state law judge and by the Secretary of State of Georgia, and Obama remained listed on the primary ballot.

On May 8, 2024, Joe Manchin won 41% of the primary vote in West Virginia in a write-in vote against incumbent Joe Biden, a higher percentage of the vote in one state than any other primary opponent of Biden had hitherto achieved in 2024. Shortly thereafter, author and former Presidential candidate Marianne Williamson won 42% of the primary vote in Maryland and 32% of the primary vote in Washington, D.C., after widespread speculation that Williamson could possibly pull off an upset of the states.

Challengers to President Biden only qualified for the ballot in ten states – Maryland, Washington, D.C., New Hampshire, Missouri, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Arkansas, and Alaska – while a eleventh (Ohio) was going to have Randall Terry on the ballot, but removed his name before the ballots were printed. Randall Terry also attempted to contest the Kansas caucus, but was denied a spot on the caucus ballot after the state's Democratic Party determined that he didn't meet the requirements.

Marianne Williamson suspended her bid for the nomination on April 28, 2024. She still appeared on the ballot in Texas and was an eligible write-in candidate in California after suspending her campaign.

Four states canceled their respective Democratic primaries altogether, citing Biden being the only candidate to qualify on their respective ballot: Connecticut, Delaware, New York, and Virginia.

Despite the limited opposition and ultimately receiving 100% of the pledged delegates, Biden's total percentage of the national popular primary vote was the highest of any incumbent since the 1996 election when Bill Clinton was challenged by Lyndon LaRouche.

Delegate allocation
The number of pledged delegates allocated to each of the 50 U.S. states and Washington, D.C. is based on two main factors: (1) the proportion of votes each state gave to the Democratic candidate in the last three presidential elections, and (2) the number of electoral votes each state has in the United States Electoral College. In addition, fixed numbers of delegates are allocated to Puerto Rico, American Samoa, Guam, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Democrats Abroad under the party's delegate selection rules. Depending on each state's law and each state's party rules, when voters cast ballots for a candidate in a presidential caucus or primary, they may be voting to actually award delegates bound to vote for a particular candidate at the state or national convention (binding primary or caucus), or they may simply be expressing an opinion that the state party is not bound to follow in selecting delegates to the national convention (non-binding primary or caucus).

States are awarded bonus pledged delegates if they schedule their primary or caucus later in the primary season. Those states with April dates are awarded a 10 percent increase, while those who schedule from May 1 to June 12 get a 20 percent increase. And starting on March 20, a 15 percent bonus is awarded when clusters of three or more neighboring states begin on the same day.

The unpledged superdelegates included members of the United States House of Representatives and Senate, state and territorial governors, 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 was not known until the week of the convention.

Some delegates committed to candidates other than the President were not permitted to be elected in contested primaries for administrative reasons.