Republican presidential nomination and delegates, explained

CNN —

Winning individual primaries and caucuses is just one step in the long path to winning a party’s presidential nomination.

How does the Republican Party pick a presidential candidate, in a nutshell?

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.

What is a delegate?

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 atthe party convention.

How many delegates are there?

2024 voting is about to begin. Do you know what a caucus is?

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.

When will delegates be secured in 2024?

How does a candidate win delegates?

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