When is the DNC and where is the 2024 Democratic National Convention?

The race for the White House took a dramatic turn when President Biden announced that he would no longer be running for a second term. The once presumptive nominee for the party finally gave into the mounting pressure for him to step aside and pass the baton onto another candidate who may have a better chance at defeating the Republican nominee, Donald Trump.

The 81-year-old was unable to quell the upswell of concern about his age and acuity brought about by his disastrous debate performance in June. Now the Democratic party will now have to decide if they will quickly fall behind a new candidate or if there will be a contested convention when delegates meet in August.

When and where is the 2024 Democratic National Convention?

This year, the Democratic Party will host its convention in Chicago starting on the 19th of August and running through the 22nd.

The once presumptive nominee with over 99% of pledged delegates will surely call on them to nominate his loyal Number Two, Vice President Kamala Harris, for the top of the ticket. However, it isn’t guaranteed that they will all fall in line as the DNC rules allow delegates to “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them,” which could lead to a ‘contested’ convention.

The true power of the superdelegates unmasked

One way a candidate can be unseated, even if they win the plurality of votes in the primary, is through the support of superdelegates, who are party officials and elected leaders. The power of ‘superdelegates’ was limited in 2018, following the 2016 convention where Sanders supporters accused the party of manipulating the results against the popular will.

During the 2016 Democratic Primary between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, the DNC Chair, Florida Congresswoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, defended the use of ‘superdelegates’ at the party’s convention. In an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, the DNC Chair argued that superdelegates prevent “party leaders and elected officials” from being in a “position where they are running against grass-roots activists.” The remarks were seen as a clear attack on the Sanders campaign, which had nearly seized the nomination from one of the party’s most powerful leaders.

Limiting the power of superdelegates

In 2018, the DNC decided that superdelegates could only vote in a contested convention, meaning they are barred from participating on the first ballot. If a candidate is not elected on the first ballot, they would be allowed to vote, allowing them much power in determining the outcome, thus favoring establishment candidates like President Biden. Before the changes, the superdelegates were permitted to participate in the first ballot and vote for whoever they pleased (i.e., they were not tied to specific candidates based on the primary results, such as ‘pledged delegates’).

Thus, superdelegates had a disproportionate say over who the nominee was. Although superdelegates’ votes have typically aligned with the popular vote since their introduction to the convention structure in 1984, there was no guarantee that this would always be the case.

The situation in 2024

At the DNC convention in August, rules say Superdelegates don´t typically vote on the first ballot but it is unclear when the candidate with the most pledged delegates drops out of the race if this would still apply.

Were it to though, the 3,933 pledged delegates would cast their ballot in the first presidential roll call. should no one candidate receive the support needed to secure the nomination in the first round of voting, the superdelegates, could help that candidate get there or throw their support behind another candidate.

That would mean of the 4,521 delegates that will be present at the convention, a single candidate would need to get majority support from all of the delegates, or 2,258 votes according to Ballotpedia.