Winning individual primaries and caucuses is just one step in the long path to winning a party’s presidential nomination.
Both parties hold conventions in the summer where delegates technically select the nominee. The process and rules are different for each party, but the primaries are about winning enough delegates to secure the nomination.
There are different kinds of nominating contests and different kinds of delegates in a calendar that stretches from January to June, so keeping track of the delegate math can get complicated.
Performing well in primaries and caucuses equals delegates, and the larger goal is amassing the magic number of delegates to secure a nomination before delegate voting at the party convention.
Whoever wins the GOP nomination needs to win at least 1,215 out of 2,429 delegates awarded as part of the primary process.
In years without an incumbent, like Republicans are experiencing in 2024, the winner frequently does not hit the magic number until May or even June. In 2016, in his first of three White House runs, Donald Trump hit the magic number on May 26.
But if Trump’s lead in polls holds up during early primaries, he could wrap things up much earlier.
During most of the early primaries and caucuses, states award delegates proportionally. That means that each candidate gets a number of delegates roughly equivalent to the percentage of the vote he or she has won. Delegates can be awarded based on results either statewide or in individual congressional districts.
For example, in 2016, Sen. Ted Cruz won the Iowa caucuses, but with less than…
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