What is a delegate? Here’s what happens now that Kamala Harris is running for president

What’s going to happen now?

That’s the big question in front of us after President Joe Biden officially dropped out of the 2024 presidential race this weekend. All eyes are now on the Democratic National Convention, which takes place next month in Chicago. That’s where the country’s Democrats will decide who’ll be on top of their ticket this November.

With no time to re-run primaries, the decision now falls to the hands of the party’s delegates. And California has 496 of them — more than any other state. That means California’s Democratic delegates will be wielding significant power as Vice President Kamala Harris seeks to secure the nomination for president.

On Monday night they spoke in one voice, voting to back Harris, their fellow Californian in a delegate meeting. Harris needs 1,976 delegate votes to clinch the nomination, and as of Tuesday morning, secured more than enough support to face off former President Trump, according to an Associated Press survey.

Here’s some background on California’s delegates — who they are, how they’re chosen and what’s in store for them next.

What is a delegate?

Delegates are political party members who are entrusted to represent voters in their community or state. They’ll cast votes at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago next month for the presidential nominee. They can be activists, local elected officials, or people highly-involved in the party. California has a total of 496 delegates and 35 alternates.

In order to be a delegate in the state, a person must be a registered party member. There are three categories to be selected in: district-level, at-large or PLEO (Party Leaders and Elected Official). (There are also 77 delegates who automatically get selected, like Gov. Gavin Newsom and members of Congress).

District-level delegates were selected in April. Each of California’s 52 Congressional Districts gets 4 to 7 delegates based on population and voting in previous elections. There are a total of 277 district-level delegates in California.

At-large delegates are chosen from a statewide pool — and there are 92 spots.

Party leaders and elected official (PLEO) delegates include mayors, statewide elected officials, state legislators, or other local elected officials. There are 55 of them.

Are the delegates compelled to vote for a particular candidate?

Usually, most of them are. But under current circumstances, they were not.

California has 424 pledged delegates and 72 unpledged delegates.

Pledged delegates are those who have already pledged their support to a presidential candidate based on the winners of primaries and caucuses. If you’re filing to be a district-level, at-large, or PLEO delegate, you have to pledge your support to a presidential candidate, per Democratic Party rules.

So those delegates pledged their support to Biden, who won California’s winner-take-all primary with 89.1% of the vote. Now that he’s out of the race, those rules go away. The pledges don’t get automatically transferred to anybody (Harris did not appear on the primary ballot with Biden.) The rules just say that at the convention, they must “in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them” — interpret that as you will.

The remaining 72 — party leaders and elected officials — aren’t bound to any particular candidate and can choose freely. They’re the delegates who are automatically selected and the ones also referred to as “superdelegates.” They can’t cast ballots in the first round of voting, a rule that changed in 2018.

So…what happens next?

Since Biden’s announcement Sunday, California’s Democratic Party has thrown its support behind Harris. Party leadership is actively encouraging delegates to support Harris’ nomination, according to Politico. And as of Monday afternoon, Harris has already received the backing of more than half the delegates she needs to win the nomination overall.

There's no guarantee that all the delegates will throw their weight behind her — although the California delegation's unanimous vote is significant.

Where the rest of the delegates’ support ultimately goes depends much on what happens in the coming weeks — if anybody else decides to mount a run against Harris, whether a roll call gets scheduled before the convention itself, and whether any other last-minute surprises happen to spring up.

Are there divisions among California’s delegation?

There are factions among California’s Democrats, the same way there are factions across the Democratic Party as a whole.

For instance, among the Democratic supermajority in the state Legislature, progressives and moderates have frequently been at odds on issues like single-payer health care. Members of the party’s endorsing caucuses for U.S. Senator were also nearly evenly split between current nominee Rep. Adam Schiff or Rep. Barbara Lee — neither met the threshold for an endorsement, so the party ended up with no endorsement for the seat.

Who exactly are California’s delegates? Show me the list!

The California Democratic Party has released a list of 277 district-level delegates. We also know that elected officials like Newsom and L.A. Mayor Karen Bass are among the delegation. But the party hasn’t released the full delegation list, which includes the at-large delegates, party leaders and elected officials. We’ve reached out to the Democratic Party to ask when the full list will be released, and will update as soon as we receive a response.

How can I get involved?

If you’re a registered Democrat looking to get more involved in what the party does next, you can always reach out to the state Democratic Party — or even an individual delegate — to make your preferences known.

But party leaders say a bigger contribution will be finding opportunities to volunteer or get involved once organizing starts for the official presidential campaign. You can find a local chapter for the party — here are the website for the party chapters in L.A. County and Orange County — and sign up for updates.

If you want to be a bigger part of these decisions for Democrats or Republicans in the longer term, consider a future seat on a County Central Committee (you may have voted for these in the March primary!). These unpaid volunteer positions help decide party platforms and candidate endorsements at the local level — and help influence the direction of the larger party statewide.