Off to the Races
Super Tuesday is one of the biggest days in the 2020 election cycle, and we’re here to help you prepare.
Preview your ballot here!
   
Fifteen states and territories will hold Democratic presidential primaries on Super Tuesday—including the nation’s most populous states, California and Texas. The jurisdictions voting March 3 are:
- Alabama
- American Samoa
- Arkansas
- California
- Colorado
- Maine
- Massachusetts
- Minnesota
- North Carolina
- Oklahoma
- Tennessee
- Texas
- Utah
- Vermont
- Virginia
Democrats Abroad—the Democratic political party affiliate representing U.S. citizens living outside the United States—will also begin their primary on March 3 and conclude voting on March 10.
Forty percent of the U.S. population has a Democratic primary event on Super Tuesday. A total of 1,344 presidential pledged primary delegates will be awarded, not including the 13 delegates from Democrats Abroad. That's 34% of the pledged delegates at stake in the whole Democratic primary process. With 4% of pledged delegates awarded so far, 38% of all available pledged delegates will have been awarded after Super Tuesday. The winner of 17 out of 18 Super Tuesdays between 1984 and 2016 went on to win their party’s presidential nomination.
In addition to the presidential race, we’re covering elections or primaries for 869 federal, state, and local offices. We’ve identified 32 of those primaries as battlegrounds that we expect may be particularly competitive or compelling. Fourteen of those contests are taking place in Texas, nine in California, four in North Carolina, and three in Alabama. We’re also covering both major party’s primaries for the Texas House of Representatives.
But that’s just the beginning of our Super Tuesday coverage. We’ll also be providing you with news and results for almost 300 ballot measures voters will decide that day. Three of those are statewide measures and the rest are local issues, almost all of them in California.
Follow the results here!
Top ten races
Here are the top ten Super Tuesday races outside the presidential primaries we think are worth special attention, presented alphabetically by election type.
In the closely watched Alabama Senate race, seven candidates are seeking the Republican nomination. The five drawing the most media attention are Bradley Byrne (R), Arnold Mooney (R), Roy Moore (R), Jeff Sessions (R), and Tommy Tuberville (R). If no candidate receives a majority of the vote on March 3, a primary runoff will be held March 31, 2020. The GOP nominee will face incumbent Sen. Doug Jones (D) in the Nov. 3 general election. Jones won a special election for the seat in 2017 by 1.7 percentage points, becoming the first Democrat to win a Senate seat in Alabama since 1992.
Five candidates are running in the Democratic primary—Cal Cunningham (D), Erica Smith (D), Trevor Fuller (D), Atul Goel (D), and Steve Swenson (D). Cunningham and Smith have led in endorsements, polls, and media attention. The winner of the primary faces incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis (R) in the Nov. 3 general election.
Twelve candidates are running in the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate seat up for election in Texas. Seven candidates have earned notable endorsements or generated substantial media attention—Chris Bell (D), Amanda Edwards (D), Annie Garcia (D), M.J. Hegar (D), Sema Hernandez (D), Cristina Tzintzún Ramirez (D), and Royce West (D). Recent polling suggests no candidate may win the March primary outright with 50% or more of the vote. If that happens, the top two finishers would advance to a primary runoff on May 26, 2020. The Democratic nominee will face incumbent Sen. John Cornyn (R) in the Nov. 3 general election.
Nine candidates are running in the top-two primary for California’s 50th Congressional District. Media attention and endorsements have focused on three Republicans and one Democrat—Ammar Campa-Najjar (D), Carl DeMaio (R), Darrell Issa (R), and Brian Jones (R). The election will fill the seat left vacant when former Rep. Duncan Hunter (R) resigned on January 13, 2020, after pleading guilty to misusing campaign funds. Campa-Najjar advanced to and then lost the 2018 general election by 3.4 percentage points. The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for the district was R+11, meaning that in the previous two presidential elections, this district’s results were 11 percentage points more Republican than the national average.
Sixteen candidates are running in the top-two primary for California’s 53rd Congressional District. Five candidates lead the primary field in fundraising, polling, and endorsements—Janessa Goldbeck (D), Georgette Gomez (D), Sara Jacobs (D), Famela Ramos (R), and Chris Stoddard (R). The 2017 Cook Partisan Voter Index for this district was D+14. Incumbent Rep. Susan Davis (D) announced she would not seek re-election in 2020, leaving the seat open.
Incumbent Kay Granger and challenger Chris Putnam are running in the Republican primary for Texas’ 12th Congressional District. This primary has seen involvement from national Republicans, such as President Donald Trump (R) and U.S. Rep. Liz Cheney (R). Both Granger and Putnam have focused their campaign messaging on their support of President Trump, who tweeted an endorsement of Granger in December 2019.
Incumbent Henry Cuellar and challenger Jessica Cisneros are running in the Democratic primary for Texas’ 28th Congressional District. Cuellar describes himself as a moderate-centrist Democrat and Cisneros describes herself as a progressive. A number of national political figures and organizations have made endorsements in the race, with U.S. Sens. Bernie Sanders (I) and Elizabeth Warren (D) supporting Cisneros and Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi (D) and Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee Chairwoman Cheri Bustos (D) endorsing Cuellar.
Proposition 13 would approve $15 billion in bonds for school and college facilities in California, with $9 billion allocated to pre-school and K-12 schools, $4 billion for universities, and $2 billion for community colleges. The statewide measure was legislatively referred to the ballot. Proponents say California schools and universities need the funds in order to complete health and safety updates and meet facility maintenance needs. Opponents say the measure will lead to higher taxes for California taxpayers as a result of increased borrowing limits for school districts.
Measure R is a citizen-initiated local ballot measure that would give the Los Angeles County Sheriff Civilian Oversight Commission the power to directly subpoena witnesses and documents pertinent to citizens’ and inmates’ complaints. Currently, the Commission must request that the Office of the Inspector General subpoena witnesses or documents. The measure would also require the commission to research and propose a plan to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to reduce the county’s jail population through mental health treatment.
Question 1 is a citizen-initiated statewide veto referendum seeking to reinstate religious and philosophical exemptions to vaccination requirements for K-12 and college students and employees of healthcare facilities. A ‘yes’ vote on Question 1 would both repeal Legislative Document 798, which was designed to eliminate religious and philosophical exemptions to mandatory vaccinations, and reinstate the law permitting religious and philosophical exemptions. A ‘no’ vote would uphold Legislative Document 798 eliminating these exemptions.
Where and when you can cast your ballot
Need to know where your polling place is? Here’s a handy list of poll locations and times, including when the polls close in the local time zone.
- Alabama: Polls close at 7:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- American Samoa: Poll closing time does not apply; Democrats in American Samoa are holding a caucus on March 3. Click here for more information.
- Arkansas: Polls close at 7:30 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- California: Polls close at 8:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Colorado: Polls close at 7:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Maine: Polls close at 8:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Massachusetts: Polls close at 8:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Minnesota: Polls close at 8:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- North Carolina: Polls close at 7:30 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Oklahoma: Polls close at 7:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Tennessee: Polls close at 7:00 pm for counties in the central time zone and 8:00 pm for counties in the eastern time zone. Click here to find your polling place and additional voter information.
- Texas: Polls close at 7:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional information.
- Utah: Polls close at 8:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional information.
- Vermont: Polls close at 7:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional information.
- Virginia: Polls close at 7:00 pm local time. Click here to find your polling place and additional information.
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