30 April 2000: Unpledged delegate preference update: Gore 13. Unpledged delegates appear in the "Soft Unpledged" field.
April 19, 2000: About 8000 Democrats attended the City and County Caucuses held April 15 and April 17.
These 135 caucuses elected 3500 delegates to attend the Virginia Congressional District conventions and the Virginia State Convention.
Presidential Preference: Gore: 95%, Uncommitted: 5%, LaRouche: "a small number". Gore, the only candidate to receive 15% of the vote, will receive the 52 district, 17 at-large and 10 Pledged PLEOs delegates.
Reports in the Virginia Times-Dispatch state that Lyndon
LaRouche was denied a place on the caucus ballot because he has a
felony conviction and he is not a registered voter. In spite of this,
a small number of LaRouche delegates were elected to attend the
Virginia Congressional District and the Virginia State Convention.
(This year the Supreme Court ruled that it was lawful for the DNC to
refuse to count votes cast for LaRouche in the 1996 Presidential
Nominating Process in Virginia [and other
jurisdictions].)
Unpledged delegate preference update: Gore 11. Unpledged delegates appear in the "Soft Unpledged" field.
The Virginia Delegate Selection Plan involves a three-step process
to elect 96 delegates to the Democratic National Convention. (DNC Rule
10A prohibits use of the 29 February Virginia State Primary for
Delegate Selection purposes.)
Saturday 15 April OR Monday 17 April 2000: Democratic Party Caucuses
may meet in each county or independent city (NOTE: Virginia has 41
so-called "independent cities" which are not part of any county,
although many of them function as county seats for the surrounding
county of which they are not a part). The County or City Caucuses
choose delegates to the Congressional District Conventions as well as
delegates to the Virginia Democratic State Convention based on
presidential preference. These County or City Caucuses must be
county-wide or city-wide; however, at the sole discretion of the
Democratic Party Committee for a given county or independent city,
smaller caucuses may be held on either of these two dates in each
precinct, magisterial district (of a county only) or ward (of an
independent city only), such Local Caucuses being utilized solely to
choose delegates to a later County or City Convention.
- "The County or City Caucus chooses the county's or independent
city's delegates to both the Democratic Convention of the congressional
district in which the county or independent city is located and the
Democratic State Convention. Such Congressional District Convention or
State Convention delegates from the county or independent city are
allocated to presidential contenders in proportion to the percentage of
the support each candidate received at the County or City Caucus- a
mandatory 15 percent threshold being required for such allocation. If
a county or independent city has opted to hold Local Caucuses (as
described above), any County or City Convention delegates from the
precinct, magisterial district or ward holding these smaller caucuses
are allocated to presidential contenders in proportion to the
percentage of the support each candidate received at the Local Caucus-
a mandatory 15 percent threshold being required for such
allocation."
No later than Saturday 29 April 2000: Democratic County or City
Conventions convene in each county or independent city which had opted
for the Local Caucuses in lieu of the County or City Caucuses. Each
County or City Convention chooses delegates to the Congressional
District Convention as well as delegates to the Virginia State
Democratic Convention based on presidential preference.
- "These County and City Conventions choose the county's or
independent city's delegates to both the Democratic Convention for the
congressional district in which the county or independent city is
located and the Democratic State Convention, but only in those counties
and/or independent cities where earlier county-wide or city-wide
caucuses were not used to choose these delegates. Such Congressional
District or State Convention delegates from the county or independent
city are to be allocated to presidential contenders in proportion to
the percentage of the support each candidate received at the County or
City Convention- a mandatory 15 percent threshold being required for
such allocation."
Saturday 6 May OR Saturday 13 May OR Saturday 20 May 2000:
Democratic Congressional District Conventions convene for each of
Virginia's 11 congressional districts. Each Congressional District
Convention chooses the district delegates to the Democratic National
Convention based on presidential preference.
- "Congressional District Conventions choose Virginia's 52
district delegates to the Democratic National Convention. Such
district National Convention delegates are to be allocated to
presidential contenders in proportion to the percentage of the support
each candidate received at the Congressional District Convention- a
mandatory 15 percent threshold being required for such
allocation."
Friday 2 June through Saturday 3 June 2000: The Virginia State
Democratic Convention convenes. The State Convention chooses the
remaining 27 Pledged delegates to the Democratic National
Convention.
- "The Virginia State Convention chooses 17 at-large and 10
Pledged PLEO delegates to the Democratic National Convention. These 27
remaining Pledged National Convention delegates are to be allocated to
presidential contenders in proportion to the percentage of the support
each candidate received at the State Convention- a mandatory 15 percent
threshold being required for such allocation."
The remainder of Virginia's 96 National Convention delegates consist
of 15 Unpledged PLEOs and 2 Unpledged "add-on"s; these 17 delegates
will go to the Democratic National Convention officially
"Unpledged".
The breakdown of unpledged delegates is:
- 8 Democratic National Committee members
- 6 Members of Congress (1 Senator, 5 Representatives) [Representative Virgil H. Goode, Jr., was elected as a Democrat. However, he has changed his affiliation to Independent. With this change, Virginia now has 5 Democratic House members.]
- 2 add-ons
