2020 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary


The 2020 Massachusetts Democratic presidential primary took place in Massachusetts, United States, on March 3, 2020, as one of 14 contests scheduled on Super Tuesday in the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 presidential election, following the South Carolina primary the weekend before. The Massachusetts primary was a semi-closed primary, with the state awarding 114 delegates towards the 2020 Democratic National Convention, of which 91 are pledged delegates allocated on the basis of the results of the primary.
Joe Biden won the state, whilst Bernie Sanders finished second and Elizabeth Warren finished third in her home state. Biden carried most of the state's counties and townships. Biden's victory was seen by many observers as a surprise, as both Sanders and Warren were favored in pre-election polls and forecasts over the former Vice President.
One of the bigger upsets of the night, major polling prior to Super Tuesday had seen Sanders emerge as the favorite to win, edging out senator Elizabeth Warren in her home state. In fact, Joe Biden was only attributed a 1 in 12 chance of winning Massachusetts, but owing to his success in South Carolina and last minute endorsements from former Democratic opponents Pete Buttigieg, Amy Klobuchar and Beto O'Rourke, the former Vice President was able to surpass expectations and won the primary by more than 6%.

Procedure

Massachusetts was one of 14 states holding primaries on March 3, 2020, also known as "Super Tuesday".
Voting took place throughout the state from 7:00 a.m. until 8:00 p.m. in much of the state, with some precincts opening starting at 5:45 a.m. In the semi-closed primary, candidates must meet a threshold of 15 percent at the congressional district or statewide level to be considered viable. The 24 unpledged delegates to the 2020 Democratic National Convention will be allocated proportionally on the basis of the results of the primary. Of the 91 pledged delegates, between 6 and 8 are allocated to each of the state's 9 congressional districts and another 12 are allocated to party leaders and elected officials, in addition to 20 at-large pledged delegates. Bonus delegates will be allocated as Massachusetts shares a primary date with numerous other states on Super Tuesday; these numbers do not yet account for these delegates.
After congressional district caucuses on Saturday, April 25, 2020, during which national convention district delegates will be selected, the state convention will subsequently be held on Saturday, May 16, 2020, to vote on the 20 pledged at-large and 12 PLEO delegates to send to the Democratic National Convention. The 91 pledged delegates Massachusetts sends to the national convention will be joined by 23 unpledged PLEO delegates.

Candidates

The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth released the following list of candidates on the ballot:
Running
Withdrawn
;With only Biden, Sanders and Warren
Poll sourceDate
administered		Sample
size		Margin
Joe
Biden		Bernie
Sanders		Elizabeth
Warren		Undecided
Oct 23-25, 2019443 –35%13%41%11%

Results


CandidateVotes%Delegates
Joe Biden473,86133.4145
Bernie Sanders376,99026.5830
Elizabeth Warren303,86421.4316
Michael Bloomberg166,20011.72
Pete Buttigieg 38,4002.71
Amy Klobuchar 17,2971.22
Tulsi Gabbard10,5480.74
Deval Patrick 6,9230.49
Tom Steyer 6,7620.48
Andrew Yang 2,7080.19
Michael Bennet 1,2570.09
John Delaney 6750.05
Marianne Williamson 6170.04
Cory Booker 4260.03
Julian Castro 3050.02
No Preference5,3450.38
Blank ballots4,0610.29
All Others1,9410.14
Total1,418,180100%91

†Candidate withdrew after early voting started.

Results by county

Analysis

According to exit polls, Biden overwhelmingly won voters over 50, followed by Warren, while Sanders did the same with voters under 40. Voters between the ages of 40 and 49 years old were split between Biden and Sanders. Biden also won white voters by 8 points over Sanders and African-American voters by 7 points, while Sanders won the Hispanic/Latino vote over Biden by 13 points. Sanders also won the LGBTQ+ voters over Warren and Biden by 12 and 23 points respectively.
Biden carried 7 of the state's 9 congressional districts: the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, and the 9th. Sanders carried the remaining districts. The one comprised by the Boston-Metro Area showed the best performance for Sanders, and was the only district where Warren finished second. This was a change from the pre-election prediction that Biden would do better in this district and Sanders worse.