Guide to Super Tuesday
March 1, 2016
Seven Candidates. Thirteen States. Two Parties. Two Winners. One Super Tuesday.
So what really is Super Tuesday? It is when thirteen states vote to hand out the most delegates awarded on any given day in the presidential primary campaign.
States involved include Alabama (R&D), Alaska (R only), American Samoa (D), Arkansas (R&D), Colorado (D), Georgia (R&D), Massachusetts (R&D), Minnesota (R&D), Oklahoma (R&D), Tennessee (R&D), Texas (R&D), Vermont (R&D), and Virginia (R&D).
How does it work? Every state participating in Super Tuesday has a different voting process. Some states choose primaries while others choose caucuses.
In primaries, registered voters vote for their desired candidate through a secret ballot similar to the general election. In caucuses, members of the distinct political party meet in a county location to select a candidate, decide policies, and award appropriate delegates proportionate to the congregation size.
What could Super Tuesday mean to the candidates? Because of the huge number of delegates awarded on Super Tuesday, today could be a defining moment for frontrunners Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump who currently have 548 and 82 delegates respectively.
Republican candidates who require 1,237 delegates for a candidate nomination will have the opportunity to secure almost half, while Democratic candidates who require 2,383 delegates will have the opportunity to claim 800 delegates.
A strong Super Tuesday performance is especially needed for Republican Candidate and Texas Senator Ted Cruz who has only won in the state of Iowa. Without a win in his own state where he was won many political endorsements and over 27,000 volunteers working on the ground, Cruz’s campaign will see a long uphill battle to catch up with other Republican frontrunners.
Even Cruz has acknowledged the vitality of a home state win for the life of his as campaign as he said himself, “there is no doubt that any candidate who cannot win his home state has real problems.”
For Ohio Governor John Kasich, an increase in delegates awarded is necessary as the Republican National Committee is pressuring him to drop out. Kasich is optimistic of the primaries in Michigan and Ohio taking place on March 8 and March 15 respectively.
Even Republican candidate Marco Rubio is feeling the pressure to win a couple of states today as his own campaign as formally stated that, “failure by Senator Rubio to exit the SEC primary without a big delegate lead will spell the effective end of Senator Rubio’s campaign.”
On the Democratic side, Super Tuesday could be a major win for Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton by solidifying a significant delegate lead impossible for Senator Sanders to recover from due to her strong support of super delegates and previous wins. However, wins from Senator Sanders could continue the democratic primary for many months to come.
Super Tuesday is largely known as the turning point in the presidential primary election as the elections turn from four traditional states to a nationwide ordeal, weeding out those trailing behind.





![“I wasn't discouraged by some of the obstacles we faced. I learned a lot from the leadership. I found that different people need different ways of receiving feedback — you can't [just] tell them to do something and expect the best. [Some] people needed more incentive. A large part of my role was to figure out what worked for everyone and to figure out how to lead all these separate individuals as a team,” Suhana Bhandare (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/06/SuhanaBhandare_JasmineHansra-1-1200x798.jpg)


![“This is actually from Randy Pausch Randy P. Brick: ‘Walls are there for a reason. You have to show how much you want to overcome them.’ You have to show how much you want something. That's what I've always been able to do with tennis, Link Crew and getting that internship [with Kushy Baby]. It’s important pushing through that — getting around that brick wall, climbing over it or clawing through it,” Yash Sachdeva (’26) said.](https://harkeraquila.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/YashSachdeva_RamBatchu-copy-1200x1002.jpg)


















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