By Meg Kinnard Associated Press
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) — President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump have officially secured the necessary numbers of delegates to be considered the expected nominees of their parties.
It was a predictable result. Biden had minimal opposition in the Democratic primary. While several prominent Republicans ran against Trump, they were not close to stopping him in his third consecutive bid for the Republican nomination.
Here is a look at what that means, what’s changed, and what still needs to happen before Biden and Trump can become their parties’ official standard-bearers without the "expected" label:
‘Presumptive nominee:’ What does it mean?
The Associated Press uses the term “expected nominee” once a candidate has reached the number of delegates required to secure the majority vote at the national party convention this summer. For Republicans, the number this year is 1,215. For Democrats, it's 1,968.
This essentially marks the end of the presidential primary season, though both Biden and Trump have been primarily focused on each other for months.
Do the political parties function any differently?
Sort of.
Typically, the national Democratic and Republican parties begin direct coordination with their expected nominees once their status is clear, with a few exceptions.
Last week, the Republican National Committee installed new leadership selected by Trump, including a new chairman, co-chair, and party chief of staff. Trump’s appointed leaders then moved to dismiss dozens of RNC staff.
After Trump won both the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary — but still faced GOP opponents, a longtime Trump ally who is an RNC member proposed a resolution that would have allowed the party to acknowledge him as its “expected nominee” and permitted some of that coordination sooner.
Trump actually spoke out against the measure — though he acknowledged it would probably have been approved — which was eventually withdrawn.
As for the Democratic National Committee, Biden is effectively leading the party, though any official leadership changes must go through established channels. During the 2020 campaign, the DNC reorganized its leadership and entered into a shared fundraising agreement with Biden in April, even though he had not secured the Democratic nomination until June.
When do expected nominees become official?
A presidential candidate doesn’t officially become the Republican or Democratic nominee until winning the vote on the floor of the nominating convention, which takes place this summer. Delegates casting their votes is mostly a ceremonial process, but it hasn’t always been this way.
Many years ago, presidential candidates may have participated in primaries and caucuses, but the eventual nominees were not determined until delegates and party leaders discussed and negotiated at the conventions.
Meg Kinnard can be reached at http://twitter.com/MegKinnardAP.
