Ignoring the embarrassing and undemocratic concept of Superdelegates, which are not bound and often change their votes to support whomever won the most pledged delegates, there are a total of 3,979 delegates in the 2020 Democratic primaries. In order to secure the Democratic nomination, a candidate needs to win at least 1,990 delegates.
Between the botched Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire primaries earlier this month, 65 delegates have been awarded so far. Here is where the candidates stand:
| Candidate | Total Delegates Won | Total Delegates Won (%) |
| Buttigieg | 22 | 33.85% |
| Sanders | 21 | 32.31% |
| Warren | 8 | 12.31% |
| Klobuchar | 7 | 10.77% |
| Biden | 6 | 9.23% |
| Steyer | 0 | 0.00% |
| Bloomberg | 0 | 0.00% |
On the surface, this creates three tiers of candidates.
Buttigieg and Sanders are effectively tied in the first tier as the frontrunners, with Buttigieg holding a very slight lead of 1 delegate (1.54% of the delegates awarded so far). Buttigieg enjoys a slight lead in delegates whereas Sanders can claim to have the highest vote total in each state so far. Though they may be tied so far, it is important to consider how they will each perform in Nevada, South Carolina, and Super Tuesday.
Warren, Klobuchar, and Biden are in the second tier of potentially viable. It’s important to consider momentum: Klobuchar surged after her strong debate performance in New Hampshire, Warren seems to be rebounding thanks to her strong debate performance in Nevada, and Biden has been plummeting since the first votes were cast.
Steyer and Bloomberg, the billionaires who have bought their way into the race, are in the third tier with 0 delegates. Unless Steyer can pull some impressive feats in the next two contests, I don’t think he lasts through the end of the month.
Bloomberg is a truly unique and unprecedented candidate, at least in terms of his campaign strategy. He is skipping the first few states entirely and bombing broadcast and social media with ads in Super Tuesday states. Recent polling indicates that he actually sits between the top two tiers of candidates. Conversely, he was notably pummeled in a lazy debate performance earlier this week. Depending on how well this translates into votes, he could quickly exit the race or quickly become the leading centrist candidate. Regardless of how he performs, he has enough money to stay in the race as long as he wants to.
With the Nevada caucuses this evening, we are just hours away from seeing the effects of the Nevada debate and gaining a clearer look into the tiers of candidates.