Super Tuesday: Everything you need to know
The Presidential nominating reaches one of its major milestones today, as the long road to the White House continues.
But what does it all mean? What’s actually happening and what are the press actually talking about?
Well, fear not. Here at PinkNews, we’ve put together this quick guide to help you get up to speed.
What is Super Tuesday?
Super Tuesday is the day that a large number of US states hold their caucuses and primaries to pick who is going to stand to be the next President.
Both the Democrats and the Republicans hold separate contests and each will end up with their own nominee.
For the Democrats, 11 states and one territory will be voting. They are: Alabama, Arkansas, Colorado, Georgia, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Vermont, Virginia and American Samoa.
For the Republicans, drop American Samoa and replace Colorado with Alaska. Also Wyoming is having a caucus too (though it’s not a real one, so doesn’t actually count!).
Still with us so far, good.
Who’s in the running?
You’ve probably heard loads of ‘Hillary said this’ and ‘Trump said that’, but here’s who’s actually left in the running for each party.
Democrats
Hillary Clinton
Former First Lady, Senator for New York and Secretary of State, Hillary lost out on the nomination to Barack Obama in 2008.
Bernie Sanders
A veteran Vermont Senator, Bernie has proved popular with younger voters and surprisingly gave Hillary a run for her money in early polls, despite her being the early favourite.
Republicans
Donald Trump
The reality TV billionaire has soared past his opponents and is predicted to clinch the nomination, despite having never held public office.
Marco Rubio
A Senator from the Sunshine State, Florida, Rubio rose to prominence as a poster boy for the right -wing Tea Party Republicans, but has failed to keep up with Trump.
Ted Cruz
Texas Senator, Ted Cruz is the only candidate who has beat Trump (he won the first race in Iowa). He now is pinning his hopes on the religious vote for Super Tuesday.
John Kasich
Ohio Governor, John Kasich is deemed to be the more moderate of the Republican candidates, but has struggled to make any real headway. Without a good showing on Super Tuesday, his campaign is likely to end.
Ben Carson
A retired neuroscientist, Ben Carson was another candidates that was among the frontrunners, but has only managed to secure a handful of delegates.
So where does everyone stand going in to Super Tuesday?
Democrats
Super Tuesday offers up 865 delegates for the Democrats. So although neither Bernie or Hillary will have enough to take it out right, a good showing by either could give them much needed momentum.
Polls show that Bernie is popular in Colorado, Minnesota and his home state of Vermont.
Hillary is ahead in all the other states, except Oklahoma and Virginia where polls show a virtual tie.
Republicans
The GOP have 595 delegates up for grabs. With Trump expected to win big, the real question will be how many of the other delegates can hang in for the later races.
There is a three horse race between Trump, Rubio and Cruz in Oklahoma, Arkansas, and Minnesota.
Trump and Cruz are neck and neck in Texas, but otherwise Trump is taking the lead everywhere else.
So what happens after Super Tuesday?
Well, the short answer is not very much.
In both parties, there no one will have earned enough delegates to secure the nomination.
However, for the Republicans it seems likely that Carson and Kasich will probably drop out.
If Cruz loses his home state of Texas to Trump he might go too, but who knows!
For the Democrats, if Hillary performs really well she could pull the wind from Bernie’s sails.
In all likelihood though, Bernie will fight on possibly even to the National Convention.
What States are next?
March 5th is the next big date on the primary calendar.
Following that there are two races on the 6th and another four on the 8th.
The rest of the races take place throughout March and April with the national conventions set to take place in July.
Do I need to know anything else.
If nothing else, make sure you know where everyone stands on LGBT rights.
(Here’s a hint, Democrats good, Republicans bad)
