How the Texas Primaries work

Published Sunday, February 17, 2008

By Staff

Democrats

Texas will send 228 delegates to participate in the Democratic National Convention in Denver Aug. 25-28. Of those, 126 will be allocated according to the primary election results in the 31 state senate districts. The number of delegates each district gets is based on the Democratic turnout in the general elections in 2006 and 2004.

There will be 67 delegates allocated through a convention process that begins at the precinct level after the polls close March 4, and goes through county and senatorial district conventions to decide on delegates to the state convention June 6-8, where the national convention delegates are selected according to each candidate's delegate strength. At each level, delegates will group according to their candidate preference and select delegates to the next-level convention.

Of those 67 delegates, 42 are at-large rank and file delegates, and 25 are pledged party leaders, legislators and local elected officials.

The final 35 delegates are unpledged, and include 32 "superdelegates" who are members of Congress, the Democratic National Committee, former U.S. House Speaker Jim Wright and former National Democratic Chairman Bob Strauss. Three of the delegates are so-called add-ons, selected through a three-tier convention process.

Republicans

Texas has 140 delegates to the Republican National Convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul Sept. 1-4. All but three are selected according to the primary vote, and the precinct conventions are primarily for choosing delegates to help govern the party.

Of those, three each are selected from the state's 32 congressional districts, for a total of 96.

If a candidate gets more than 50 percent of the vote in a congressional district, he gets all three delegates.

If no candidate has a majority, but two each have 20 percent or more, the first-place finisher gets two delegates and the second-place finisher gets one.

If just one candidate gets more than 20 percent of the vote, he gets all three delegates.

If no candidate gets 20 percent, the top three each get one delegate.

There are 41 delegates selected statewide. If a candidate gets a majority, he gets all 41.

If no candidate gets a majority, but one or more candidates get 20 percent or more, the delegates are allocated proportionately among those candidates over 20 percent.

If no candidate reaches 20 percent, all 41 delegates are divided proportionately among the candidates.

The final three delegates - the national committeeman and committeewoman, and the Texas GOP chairman, go to the national convention as uncommitted.

For a fuller discussion, go to www.hro.house.state.tx.us/interim/int80-3.pdf