Pledged nationalconvention delegates Type Type CD1 6 CD9 6 CD2 5 CD10 6 CD3 7 CD11 9 CD4 4 CD12 6 CD5 5 CD13 6 CD6 3 CD14 6 CD7 4 CD15 6 CD8 4 CD16 6 18 At-large 29Total pledged delegates 136 The 2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary took place through April 28, 2020, as part of the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election. In-person voting, originally scheduled for March 17, 2020 (along with three different states), had been cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The Ohio primary was a semi-open primary and awarded 154 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 136 were pledged delegates allocated based on the results of the primary.

The legislature and governor ultimately made the decision to run an all-mail primary, with no in-person voting, allowing votes to be received through April 28. Former vice president Joe Biden, the only Democrat still in the race, won the primary with more than 72% of the vote and 115 delegates. Senator Bernie Sanders caught 21 delegates, surpassing the threshold with around 17%.

Procedure The primary, scheduled for March 17, 2020 on the same day as Arizona, Florida and Illinois (whose primaries were not moved), had initially been postponed to June 2 one day before voting day, but was subsequently set to continue by extending mail-in voting until April 28 through a law signed by governor Mike DeWine on March 27. Mails had to be received by post until April 27, with the additional option to hand-deliver mail-in ballots on April 28. It was the only contest on that day, as all six states originally planned for that day postponed their primaries.

In the semi-open primary, candidates had to meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level in order to be considered viable. The 136 pledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention were allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of these, between three and nine were allocated to each of the state's 16 congressional districts and another 18 were allocated to party leaders and elected officials (PLEO delegates), in addition to 29 at-large delegates. As Ohio's primary had originally been planned for a March date on Stage I of the primary timetable, it received no bonus delegates by the Democratic National Committee.

District delegates to the national convention were planned to be elected at post-primary caucuses on April 16, 2020; should candidates have received more delegates based on the results of the primary than delegate candidates presented at the time, then additional delegates would have been nominated during these caucuses. The state executive committee of the party subsequently would have met on May 9, 2020, to vote on the 29 at-large and 18 pledged PLEO delegates for the Democratic National Convention. The delegation also included 18 unpledged PLEO delegates: 12 members of the Democratic National Committee, 5 members of Congress (one senator and four representatives, notably temporary presidential contender Tim Ryan), and former DNC chair David Wilhelm.

Postponement and delay The primary had originally been scheduled for March 17, 2020. While only the Ohio General Assembly, and not the governor, had the authority to schedule a new election dayBrandon Brown, "Ohio Democratic chairs issue letter on Ohio primary election," WFMJ News March 23, 2020; updated March 24th 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020. Republican Governor of Ohio Mike DeWine recommended on March 16 moving the primary election to June amid concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. As he did not have the power to unilaterally make this decision, he went to court to support a lawsuit requesting the delay,Li Zhou, "The chaotic delay of the Ohio primary, explained," Vox, Mar 17, 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020. but a judge rejected the lawsuit. Later in the day, the Health Director ordered the polls closed as a health emergency. Early on March 17, the Ohio Supreme Court denied the challenge to the state and allowed the primary's delay to proceed.

The governor had proposed to the state legislature that June 2 would be the replacement day, but the final joint decision by the legislature and governor was to run an all-mail primary, with voting through April 28.Andrew J. Tobias, "Ohio lawmakers sets all-mail primary election through April 28; legal challenge still possible", Cleveland Plain Dealer/cleveland.com, Mar 25, 2020. Retrieved 26 March 2020." Ohio Primary: State legislature OKs mail-in ballots, eliminates in-person voting", WHIO, March 25, 2020.

Candidates The following people appeared on the ballot in Ohio:

Running Joe Biden

Withdrawn

Michael Bennet Michael Bloomberg Pete Buttigieg Deval Patrick Tulsi Gabbard Amy Klobuchar Bernie Sanders Tom Steyer Elizabeth Warren

Andrew Yang (as well as John Delaney) did not qualify for the ballot due to invalid petitions, with Yang running a registered write-in campaign instead.

Polling Polling Aggregation Source of poll aggregation Dateupdated Datespolled JoeBiden BernieSanders Other/Undecided270 to Win270 to Win Mar 16, 2020 Mar 10–13, 2020 57.5% 35.0% 7.5%RealClear PoliticsRealClear Politics Mar 16, 2020 Mar 10–13, 2020 57.5% 35.0% 7.5%FiveThirtyEightFiveThirtyEight Mar 16, 2020 until Mar 13, 2020 58.7% 32.3% 9.0% Average 57.9% 34.1% 8.0% Tabulation of individual polls of the 2020 Ohio Democratic primary Poll source Date(s)administered Samplesize Margin JoeBiden MichaelBloomberg CoryBooker PeteButtigieg KamalaHarris BernieSanders ElizabethWarren AndrewYang Other Undecided Apr 8, 2020 Sanders suspends his campaign: Politico StorySwayableSwayable Mar 16, 2020 2,027 (LV) ± 3.0% 66% – – – – 24% – – 10% –Marist/NBC NewsMarist/NBC NewsMar 10–13, 2020 486 (LV) ± 5.6% 58% – – – – 35% – – 4% 4% 830 (RV) ± 4.1% 56% – – – – 36% – – 4% 4%Emerson College/NexstarEmerson College/Nexstar Mar 11–12, 2020 464 (LV) ± 4.5% 57% – – – – 35% – – 1% 7%ROI RocketROI Rocket Mar 6–12, 2020 880 (LV) ± 3.3% 61% – – – – 33% – – – – Mar 5, 2020 Warren withdraws from the race Mar 4, 2020 Bloomberg withdraws from the race: NYT Story Mar 2, 2020 Klobuchar withdraws from the race: NYT Story Mar 1, 2020 Buttigieg withdraws from the race: NYT Story Feb 29, 2020South Carolina primary; Steyer withdraws from the race after close of polls Feb 11, 2020New Hampshire primary; Yang and Bennet withdraw from the race after close of polls Feb 3, 2020 Iowa Caucuses Baldwin Wallace University/OaklandUniversity/Ohio Northern UniversityBaldwin Wallace University/OaklandUniversity/Ohio Northern UniversityJan 8–20, 2020428 (RV) –32.1%10.1% –6.1% –20.8%10.7%2.1%5.7%9.8% Jan 13, 2020 Booker withdraws from the race Jan 10, 2020 Williamson withdraws from the race Jan 2, 2020 Castro withdraws from the race Dec 3, 2019 Harris withdraws from the race Nov 24, 2019 Bloomberg announces his candidacy Nov 1, 2019 O'Rourke withdraws from the race Oct 24, 2019 Ryan withdraws from the raceClimate NexusClimate Nexus Oct 1–7, 2019 443 (LV) –32% – 3% 5% 6% 13% 21% 3% 17% –EmersonEmerson Sep 29 – Oct 2, 2019 353 (LV) ± 5.2% 29% – 0% 5% 7% 27% 21% 3% 5% 2%QuinnipiacQuinnipiac Jul 17–22, 2019 556 ± 5.1% 31% – 1% 6% 14% 14% 13% 1% 6% 11%Zogby AnalyticsZogby Analytics May 23–29, 2019 222 ± 6.6% 29% – 3% 6% 5% 19% 12% 3% 6% –

Results

2020 Ohio Democratic presidential primary Candidate Votes % Delegates Joe Biden 647,284 72.37 115 Bernie Sanders (withdrawn) 149,683 16.74 21 Elizabeth Warren (withdrawn) 30,985 3.46 rowspan=9 Michael Bloomberg (withdrawn) 28,704 3.21Pete Buttigieg (withdrawn) 15,113 1.69Amy Klobuchar (withdrawn) 11,899 1.33Tulsi Gabbard (withdrawn) 4,560 0.51 Tom Steyer (withdrawn) 2,801 0.31 Michael Bennet (withdrawn) 2,030 0.23 Deval Patrick (withdrawn) 822 0.09 Andrew Yang (write-in; withdrawn) 502 0.06 Total894,383100%136

See also 2020 Ohio Republican presidential primary Impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on politics

Notes

Additional candidates

References

External links The Green Papers delegate allocation summary Ohio Democratic Party delegate selection plan FiveThirtyEight Ohio primary poll tracker