How will delegates and superdelegates at the DNC handle Biden dropping out?

President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race Sunday, throwing a historic question mark over the upcoming Democratic National Convention.

Biden won 3,896 delegates through the Democratic primaries who are now up for grabs in Chicago.

The President and some other power players in the party aligned behind Vice President Kamala Harris in the immediate aftermath of the announcement.

The power to formally nominate a party's candidate lies with the delegates at the convention, meaning that the over 4,000 party apparatchiks have an election-altering decision to make in just over five weeks.

Here's what to know about delegates and superdelegates after Joe Biden dropped out.

A President steps aside: Joe Biden drops out of 2024 race and endorses Kamala Harris

What can pledged delegates do?

Pledged delegates are sent to the convention as a result of the primary results of a state. There are 14 states that have laws binding pledged delegates to the candidates, according to Ballotpedia.

The Democratic National Committee rules for delegates voted in by the primaries say that: “Delegates elected to the national convention pledged to a presidential candidate shall in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them.”

William Mayer, a political science professor at Northeastern University, told Factcheck.org that the Democratic convention delegate rules allow for pledged delegates to vote for a new candidate.

"You are kind of encouraged to vote for the candidates for whom you were elected – but ‘in all good conscience’ you could vote for someone else," Mayer said.

A candidate needs to win 1,968 votes, a majority of pledged delegates, on the first ballot to secure the nomination, according to Ballotpedia.

When do superdelegates matter?

Automatic delegates, better known as superdelegates, are delegates that serve on the DNC or are current or former elected officials. There are 739 automatic delegates, according to NBC.

Superdelegates were a point of contention between Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primary.

The Democratic party in 2018 passed a rule that banned automatic delegates from voting in the first round of a contested convention.

A candidate must receive a majority of all delegates — 2,258 votes — if the convention moves to a second ballot and beyond, according to Ballotpedia.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: What DNC delegates and superdelegates can do after Biden drops out