Primary elections can be one of the most confusing parts of politics. With states holding their own independent primaries but the nation only having specific candidates for each office and party, it can be incredibly confusing.
Held between March 5th and June 4th, the presidential primaries are like an independent election where each state’s voters will vote for the delegates to cast the ballot for their state. The nominee with the most delegates will in turn be nominated for the full election.
Each state’s primary is different as some are closed, and some are open. In a closed primary voters must be registered as a member of a party to vote in the primary election for their candidate. Meanwhile in an open primary anyone who is registered to vote can cast their ballot for each party.
Following this election, there is the national party convention. It is here where the delegates from each state announce their vote for the primaries. While typically all the delegates for each state are vast the same, there have been delegates that have deviated from that and voiced their own vote. Mind you, thus far when that has happened it has primarily been symbolic.
When all is said and done at the national party, the candidate with the most delegates wins the primary and receives the nod from their party. Following this, the winning candidate will choose their vice-presidential candidate. Quite often it will be the 2nd place in delegates that are chosen, but if they don’t get along or have the balance that is necessary to make a good team.
For the 2024 election year, the Republican National Convention will be held 15-18 July in Milwaukee, WI.
Milwaukee 2024 Host Committee Chair Reince Priebus believes this will set the gold standard for primaries going forward. “I could not be more proud of the leadership of those who are making the 2024 RNC Convention in Milwaukee possible. The location is set, the dates are booked, and now the work of pulling off the biggest event in politics is underway. With partners like the RNC and the city of Milwaukee, we are confident the RNC Convention will be the gold standard for decades to come.”
As a rule, even though these primaries may have five to ten different candidates when the ballots are cast, as a rule only two or three candidates are victorious in a caucus or primary in each election cycle. This makes the addition of the delegate’s votes straightforward.
Sometimes, these are nothing more than a dog and pony show. In 2004 when John Kerry won Iowa by a landslide and out of nowhere, the rest of his opponents dropped out and in essence handed the Democratic nomination to him on a silver platter. While many took that as a sign that he was a strong candidate, the fact of the matter is, they knew they had no shot against President George W Bush following the events of September 11th, 2001.
This kind of submission was made for the reelection of Bush with little to no difficulty.
In the 2024 primaries, we may see an anomaly, too. As a rule, a sitting President who wants to remain the party candidate for re-election will have little to no concern as the party doesn’t like to rock the vote. However, given President Biden’s frequent demonstrations of dementia, it’s likely others in the party will challenge him.
This makes the primary elections for 2024 more important as a whole, but especially for the GOP. With Biden potentially being taken off the 2024 Presidential election, the GOP can’t just choose any candidate. They need someone who can win decisively and someone who can decimate the competition. With the pool already tossing their hat in the ring, 2024’s GOP primary will be legendary and exactly what the people ordered.