2020 Democratic National Convention
The 2020 Democratic National Convention was a presidential nominating convention that was held from August 17 to 20, 2020, at the Wisconsin Center in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and virtually across the United States. At the convention, delegates of the United States Democratic Party formally chose former vice president Joe Biden and Senator Kamala Harris of California as the party's nominees for president and vice president, respectively, in the 2020 United States presidential election.
Convention
August 17–20, 2020[note 1]
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
and various locations remotely
Wisconsin Center
and various remote locations
- Joe Biden
- Kamala Harris
- Jimmy Carter
- Bill Clinton
- Barack Obama
- John Kerry
- Hillary Clinton
- Michelle Obama
- Jill Biden
- Colin Powell
- Chuck Schumer
- Keisha Lance Bottoms
- Bernie Sanders
- Cory Booker
- Elizabeth Warren
- Amy Klobuchar
- Doug Jones
- Catherine Cortez Masto
- Jim Clyburn
- Cedric Richmond
- Gretchen Whitmer
- Andrew Cuomo
- Gavin Newsom
- John Kasich
- Muriel Bowser
- Pete Buttigieg
- Andrew Yang
- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
4,749[1]
2,375 (Absolute Majority)[2]
- Biden (DE): 3,558 (74.92%)
- Sanders (VT): 1,151 (24.24%)
- Abstention: 5 (0.10%)
- Not Voting: 35 (0.74%)
Harris (CA): 100% (Acclamation)
1
Originally scheduled to be held July 13–16, 2020, at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee just a week before the planned start of the Tokyo Summer Olympics, the convention was postponed to August 17–20, 2020, due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. The convention was ultimately downsized, with its location shifted to the city's Wisconsin Center. Due to pandemic restraints, Milwaukee's host city role was decreased to that of a headquarters for the broadcast, with most of the convention activities occurring remotely from sites across the United States.
Adapting to pandemic restraints, the format was substantially different from previous conventions, with the duration of each day of the convention being significantly shorter than in past conventions and with most of the convention activity occurring held remotely from many venues across the country rather than at a single venue. Its activities were largely decentralized and it was regarded to be a "virtual" convention. However, the convention was officially considered to centered at the Wisconsin Center, which is where its production was headquartered, its roll call was directed from, and where a limited number of speeches (primarily those by Wisconsin politicians) were delivered. Both Biden and Harris instead delivered their acceptance speeches remotely from the Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, Delaware. Biden and Harris went on to win the 2020 election, defeating the Republican party ticket of incumbent president Donald Trump, and Vice President Mike Pence.
Nominating and balloting[edit]
Pre-convention delegate count[edit]
The table below reflects the presumed delegate count as per the 2020 Democratic primaries.
As of July 2020, the following overall number of pledged delegates is subject to change, as possible penalty/bonus delegates (awarded for each state scheduled election date and potential regional clustering) may be altered.[134]
The 2020 Democratic Party rules state that, unless a candidate has secured a majority of delegates using only pledged delegates, the superdelegates will have no voting rights on the first ballot.[38][39][40]
Candidates who have suspended their campaigns without having received any pledged or superdelegate endorsements, as well as those who've suspended their campaigns and subsequently lost their endorsements to other candidates, are not included in the table below.
The table below reflects the presumed pledged delegate count following the 2020 Democratic primaries. In addition to these, there will also be 771 superdelegate votes (including the eight half-votes belonging to Democrats Abroad superdelegates), making for 4,750 combined delegate votes.[134][135]
Closing fireworks display[edit]
After Biden's acceptance speech, the convention closed with Biden and Harris proceeding to exit the Chase Center on the Riverfront to grace a stage outside of the venue. There, they waved to a drive-in audience that had watched a broadcast of the speech from approximately 360 cars. The crowd greeted the nominees with cheers and the honking of their car horns. A five-minute fireworks display was then orchestrated before this audience to conclude the convention.[255][256]