Republican delegate rules, 2024

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Delegates to the Republican National Convention selected former President Donald Trump as the 2024 Republican presidential nominee on July 15, 2024, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The national nominating convention is the formal ceremony during which the party officially selects its nominee and adopts a party platform. The delegates are individuals chosen to represent their state or territory at the convention.

In 2024, there were an estimated 2,429 delegates: 2,325 pledged delegates and 104 unpledged delegates.

To win the Republican nomination, a presidential candidate had to receive support from a majority of delegates—an estimated 1,215 delegates.

Click here to learn more about 2020 Republican Party delegate rules by state.

This page provides an overview of the types of delegates to the convention, their selection and allocation, and a summary of delegates by state. Election dates, delegate counts, and delegate allocation rules are subject to change as each state finalizes its delegation selection process.

Presidential nomination roll call

See also: Republican National Convention, 2024

The following table contains the number of delegates each candidate received during the presidential nomination roll call at the Republican National Convention on July 15, 2024. It was updated live during the event.

Republican presidential nomination roll call, 2024
State	Trump	Abstentions	Total votes
Totals	2,388	41	2,429
Alabama	50		50
Alaska	29		29
American Samoa	9		9
Arizona	43		43
Arkansas	40		40
California	169		169
Colorado	37		37
Connecticut	28		28
Delaware	16		16
District of Columbia		19	19
Florida	125		125
Georgia	59		59
Guam	9		9
Hawaii	19		19
Idaho	32		32
Illinois	64		64
Indiana	58		58
Iowa	40		40
Kansas	39		39
Kentucky	46		46
Louisiana	47		47
Maine	20		20
Maryland	37		37
Massachusetts	40		40
Michigan	51	4	55
Minnesota	39		39
Mississippi	40		40
Missouri	54		54
Montana	31		31
Nebraska	36		36
Nevada	26		26
New Hampshire	22		22
New Jersey	12		12
New Mexico	22		22
New York	91		91
North Carolina	62	12	74
North Dakota	29		29
Northern Mariana Islands	9		9
Ohio	79		79
Oklahoma	43		43
Oregon	31		31
Pennsylvania	67		67
Puerto Rico	23		23
Rhode Island	19		19
South Carolina	50		50
South Dakota	29		29
Tennessee	58		58
Texas	161		161
Utah	40		40
Vermont	17		17
U.S. Virgin Islands	4		4
Virginia	42	6	48
Washington	43		43
West Virginia	32		32
Wisconsin	41		41
Wyoming	29		29

Delegate selection and allocation

Delegates are individuals chosen to represent their state at their party's national nominating convention. Republican delegates may be selected in a variety of ways, including through elections, by the Republican state committee, by state or congressional district conventions, or by virtue of a leadership position within the state's Republican Party.

There are three primary methods used to allocate Republican delegates (which means to bind them to vote for a certain candidate on at least the first ballot at the national convention):

• Proportional: States using this method either allocate all their delegates proportionally to the candidates based on the statewide vote or they allocate at-large delegates proportionally based on the statewide vote and congressional district delegates proportionally based on the vote at the district level.

• Winner-take-all: States using this method allocate all their delegates to the candidate who receives a plurality of votes in the primary election or caucus.

• Hybrid: The Republican National Committee describes hybrid allocation methods as those that combine other methods. Some states award at-large delegates on a winner-take-all basis according to the statewide vote and congressional district delegates on a winner-take-all basis according to the vote within the districts. Some states directly elect delegates, who are usually bound to a particular candidate on the ballot.

Most Republican delegate allocation rules are set by state parties and state laws, though the Republican National Committee sets some rules that states must comply with. Delegates bound by primaries or caucuses held before March 15 must be allocated proportionally to candidates, either based on the statewide vote or the vote at the congressional district level. States using proportional allocation are, however, allowed to establish a minimum threshold, up to 20 percent, below which a candidate does not qualify for any proportionally allocated delegates. States may also set a threshold of at least 50 percent above which a candidate receives all delegates.

The map below shows a summary of Republican delegate allocation methods by state in the 2020 presidential election.

Pledged vs. unpledged delegates

Pledged delegates

Pledged delegates, also called bound delegates, are bound to vote on at least the first ballot at the national convention based on the results of their states' primary or caucus. The Rules of the Republican Party, as passed in July 2020 and amended in July 2022, state the following:

“	Any statewide presidential preference vote that permits a choice among candidates for the Republican nomination for President of the United States in a primary, caucuses, or a state convention must be used to allocate and bind the state’s delegation to the national convention in either a proportional or winner-take-all manner for at least one round of balloting, except for delegates and alternate delegates who appear on a ballot in a statewide election and are elected directly by primary voters or delegates bound to a candidate that withdraws from the presidential race.	”
—Rule 16(a)(1), The Rules of the Republican Party

There are four distinct types of pledged Republican delegates:

Pledged district delegates are distributed and elected at the congressional district level. The Republican Party assigns three district-level delegates to each congressional district.

Pledged at-large delegates are distributed and elected statewide. The Republican Party assigns 10 at-large delegates to each state.

Pledged party leaders: The Republican Party gives delegate status to three party leaders from each state and territory—its national committeeman, national committeewoman, and state party chair.

Pledged bonus delegates: Bonus delegates are assigned to states whose electoral votes went to the Republican nominee in the last presidential election and to states in which Republicans hold: the governorship, at least half of U.S. representative seats, a majority of a state legislative chamber, a majority of seats in both legislative chambers, or a U.S. Senate seat (elected within the past six years).

Unpledged delegates

Unpledged delegates, also called unbound delegates, are not bound by the results of state primaries or caucuses. Some state and territory party rules dictate that some or all of their Republican delegates are unbound. The following was an estimate of unbound Republican delegates as of March 2023.

• Pennsylvania's 51 district-level delegates were not bound to support any particular presidential candidate.
• All 29 of North Dakota's Republican delegates were unpledged.
• Wyoming's three party leader delegates were unpledged.
• All 18 delegates from American Samoa (9) and Guam (9) were unpledged. The Virgin Islands' three party leader delegates were also unpledged.

Argument that delegates were unbound

During the 2016 Republican presidential nomination process, there was debate about whether delegates to the Republican National Convention were bound to vote for the candidate that won their states' primary or caucus.

Most Republican Party officials, like RNC Chairman Reince Priebus and a majority of Rules Committee members, supported the view that the Republican delegate allocation rules set by state parties and state laws were binding, and that pledged delegates were required to vote according to the results of their state’s primary or caucus. However, some argued that the state party rules and laws were not binding at the convention. Rather, they argued, Rule 37(b) of the national party rules and historical precedent supported the interpretation that delegates could vote according to their own preferences.

Former Republican National Committee member Curly Haugland wrote:

“

The history of the Republican National Convention proves that delegates have always, with the exception of 1976, been free to vote their conscience, and the rule that has protected this right over the last 136 years [Rule 37(b)] remains part of the temporary rules of the 2016 convention. The U.S. Supreme Court’s rulings on the issue also make clear that delegates are free to ignore state laws purporting to bind them, and the one national party rule purporting to bind delegates expires at the start of the convention. These facts make clear that all delegates are completely unbound and free to vote their conscience on any and all matters that come before them, including the first ballot to decide the party’s nominee for president. No rule change is needed to unbind delegates, so long as the party stands by its 160-year history (aside from the blemish of 1976) protecting this important right.

”

Ultimately, the Rules Committee of the Republican National Convention in 2016 adopted a version of Rule 16 of the national party rules that affirmed the requirement for pledged delegates to vote according to how state party rules bound them. The rule said, “The Secretary of the Convention shall faithfully announce and record each delegate’s vote in accordance with the delegate’s obligation under Rule No. 16(a)(1), state law, or state party rule.” The Rules Committee also voted to amend Rule 37 with an additional clause saying, “Nothing in this rule shall be construed to prohibit the binding of delegates pursuant to Rule No. 16(a).” Steve Scheffler, a Rules Committee member and member of the Republican National Committee, said, “The voters have spoken. Why would 112 people [members of the Rules Committee] say, ‘We don’t care what you did, we’re going to set our own rules?’”

Click on the following links to learn more about arguments for and against this interpretation of delegate binding:

• Green Papers: "The Ties that Bind–or Do They?" (March 19, 2016)
• The Hill: "All Delegates Are Unbound" (July 11, 2016)
• National Review: “Not a Single Republican Delegate Is ‘Bound’ to Donald Trump” (June 9, 2016)
• The Hill: “GOP delegates are legitimately bound, deal with it” (July 7, 2016)

State laws and party rules on replacing a presidential nominee

See also: State laws and party rules on replacing a presidential nominee, 2024

Replacing a presumptive nominee before the national convention

The Democratic and Republican parties do not formally nominate candidates until delegates vote at the party's national convention. The Democratic National Convention took place from August 19-22, 2024, and the Republican National Convention took place from July 15-18, 2024.

A party's presumptive nominee, meaning the candidate who receives an estimated majority of delegates after state nominating events, could be replaced at the convention. Delegates could elect a candidate who they were not initially bound to at the time of their state's election. Both state law and party rules govern how a delegate must vote at the national convention, including whether a delegate remains bound to a withdrawn candidate and for how many rounds a delegate remains bound to a candidate.

Both parties also have delegates who are not bound to a particular candidate at the convention. The Republican Party has a total of 104 unbound delegates, and the Democratic Party has a total of 739 unbound delegates. Democratic unbound delegates can only vote if a convention proceeds past the first round of voting.

Replacing a nominee between the national convention and the election

Rule 9 of The Rules of the Republican Party provides guidance on how to fill presidential and vice presidential vacancies.

It says that the Republican National Committee (RNC) is authorized to select a new candidate by majority vote or by reconvening the national convention to fill the vacancy. In the former process, the three RNC members from each state—comprised of a state chair, a national committeeman, and a national committeewoman—would be able to cast the same number of votes as the entire delegation from that state to the convention. Under Rule 9(c), if the three RNC members did not all support the same candidate, their votes would be proportionately distributed. For example, each RNC member would cast 13 of Kansas' 39 delegate votes.

It is important to note, however, that states require political parties to submit names of presidential and vice presidential nominees and presidential electors before election day in order to certify them for the general election ballot. Deadlines vary by state and depend on the election calendar, including early voting, voting by mail, and absentee voting considerations.

Overview of pledged and unpledged Republican delegates by state

The map below compares delegate counts by state. A lighter shade indicates a smaller number of delegates while a darker shade indicates a larger number.