Voters in Tennessee’s Republican primary this month have hundreds of additional names they can sift through beyond just the crowded field of presidential contenders.
That’s because of the Tennessee Republican Party's process to assign presidential delegates, which allows each primary voter to choose 14 at-large delegates as well as three delegates from their home congressional districts. This is in addition to voting for a Republican presidential candidate.
The delegate portion of the primary — which includes 428 total delegate candidates across Tennessee — means the Republican primary ballot in Tennessee this year stretches around 10 pages long, perhaps even longer depending on the county. It dwarfs the ballot for Democrats, who have a different process to select their delegation later in March.
If the GOP delegate process seems a little confusing, just remember one thing: In the end, Tennessee’s 58 Republican presidential delegates will be awarded proportionately to candidates based on the candidates’ performance in the primary.
“The only thing that will determine how the delegates are allocated is who gets the most votes for president,” Tennessee Republican Party Chairman Ryan Haynes said.
Early voting in the Republican primary begins Wednesday ahead of the March 1 primary. Here’s how to understand the Republican ballot:
- Each ballot begins with the choice for president, which will include candidates such as George Pataki, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul and others who have dropped out of the race at some point. Like any election, voters can pick only one candidate.
- Next, Republican primary voters can vote for 14 at-large delegates. Most are committed to a particular presidential candidate, but some are uncommitted. Voters can pick any delegate regardless of who they vote for president. There are 148 overall at-large candidates.
- Voters also can vote for three delegates to represent their congressional districts. In Congressional District 5, which includes Nashville, there are 35 delegate candidates to choose from. Candidates are different in each of Tennessee’s nine congressional districts.
All told, the breakdown of the 58 delegates goes like this: 27 are congressional delegates, three from each district; 14 are elected at-large delegates; another 14 are appointed at-large delegates at a later time by the Tennessee Republican Party’s executive committee; and three additional delegates are picked by the Republican National Committee.
Delegates will represent the state party at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, in July.
The top delegate vote-getter on March 1 won’t necessarily be an individual who is listed as being committed to Tennessee’s presidential primary winner.
But it wouldn’t matter if that scenario happens, according to Haynes. That’s because a complex formula based largely on proportionality decides how many delegates are allocated to each candidate.
The most likely part of this formula that will apply to the upcoming election refers to a race in which no candidate receives more than two-thirds of the vote. In this scenario, at-large delegates are awarded proportionately to only those candidates who get at least 20 percent of the vote.
If more than one candidate gets more than 20 percent of the vote in a congressional district, then the first-place winner would get two congressional delegates and the second-place finisher would get one congressional delegate.
If no candidate receives 20 percent of the vote in a district, then the top three vote-getters are awarded one congressional delegate apiece.
Of course, Republican primary voters don't have to weigh in on the delegate race at all.
“For your average voter, the delegate process does not matter,” Haynes said. “In a lot of ways, it’s kind of an inside baseball type deal. A lot of politico people support those delegate candidates, but your average voter doesn’t really need to worry about the delegates unless they see somebody they like.”
Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.
