What happens to Joe Biden's Michigan delegates after he dropped out of presidential race

Remember that early primary we had in Michigan on Feb. 27, brought to you by the Democratic Party? Turns out its results don't mean terribly much now.

On Sunday, the winner of that primary — and every other Democratic nominating contest held this year, President Joe Biden — succumbed to growing pressure for him to step aside as the presumptive nominee amid worries that he can't beat former President Donald Trump given concerns about Biden's age and mental acuity.

But can the Democratic Party simply set aside the results of Michigan's primary, which was decided by voters?

Yes, it can. In fact, it pretty much has to, given that Biden has decided not to be the nominee (though he says he will serve out his term as president).

But wait, you say: Didn't Biden endorse Vice President Kamala Harris to take his spot on the ticket? (He did.) Doesn't that mean all the delegates he won in all the primaries and caucuses to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August have to vote for her?

It does not, though it's a good bet a lot of them — if not all of them — will.

A short explanation of the delegate math

Primaries like Michigan's actually are used to divvy up a certain number of delegates between a number of candidates running for president. Then, later, delegates are elected, with most of them pledged to support a given candidate based on how well that candidate did in the primary.

Case in point: Michigan gets 138 delegates to the national convention. Twenty-one of those are unpledged delegates — think Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, state Democratic Party Chairwoman Lavora Barnes, the state's Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate. They can vote for whomever they support, once it comes to that. (They're also called superdelegates.)

Then there are the other 117 delegates. Based on Democratic Party rules, they're bound to vote at the convention in such a way that "in all good conscience reflect the sentiments of those who elected them." In Michigan, that meant that 115 were set to support Biden based on the results of the primary; two were "uncommitted."

Nationally, Biden already had locked up 3,748 of the total 4,696 delegates, far more than he needed to secure the nomination.

Those delegates become free agents now

Now that Biden has left the race, all of those delegates are technically free to vote for anyone, pretty much. That increases the chance of a contested convention — meaning it would take more than one ballot for one of the parties' delegates to settle on its presidential nominee — something that hasn't happened since the Democratic convention in 1952 in Chicago, when Illinois Gov. Adlai Stevenson won the nomination on the third ballot.

But there are several important caveats to that.

First, Biden has endorsed Vice President Harris and a slew of Democratic Party officials have followed suit, meaning there is a good chance she will be all but unopposed in picking up the mantle. Democratic delegates may also feel as though since she was already on Biden's ticket, his endorsement and the people's primary votes for him means supporting her reflects those sentiments.

Second, it also looks like Democrats may not wait until the national convention in mid-August to settle the question, since the Party had already been discussing holding a virtual roll call for Biden to settle the question for a ballot deadline in Ohio. If that were to happen and top Democrats coalesce around Harris, it's not hard to fathom the Democrats avoiding a contested convention, which can be messy.

Then it would just be a matter of Harris naming a running mate and that person being voted on, likely without much fuss, at the convention.

What happens if delegates don't coalesce around Harris?

Well, let's say some other potential candidates — we're not going to float a list of names here, but Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a co-chair of Biden's national campaign, has been talked about as a possibility, especially given her presumptive strength in the Midwest — decide to actively throw their hats in the ring.

If that virtual roll call were held and no candidate got a majority, or if it were canceled, then it would fall to the delegates to make a decision in Chicago no matter how many ballots it takes.

Those pledged delegates would get to vote on the first ballot (unless the convention secretary has already determined a majority of pledged and unpledged delegates support a single candidate); superdelegates would get to vote on the ballots after that.

But candidates would have to do a good bit of work even to be considered: Even before the convention begins, a would-be candidate has to submit a petition signed by at least 300 (and not more than 600) delegates who say they will vote for that person, not more than 50 of which come from any single state. Those delegates may also sign only one nominating petition.

If it were to come to that, the scene in Chicago next month could be fractious, with lots of behind-the-scenes wheeling and dealing. Democrats will likely be keen on avoiding such a scene, though there are also those who think it could enliven the party and rouse supporters ahead of the fall.

Who are Michigan's delegates?

Like we said, 21 of them are well-known elected officials like the governor or Democratic Party bigwigs. Another 15 are pledged elected leaders or public officials — the list includes Lt. Gov. Garlin Gilchrist II, Attorney General Dana Nessel and Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan.

The rest of the delegates come from across the state, doled out on an at-large basis or from each congressional district.Here's a list:

Contact Todd Spangler: [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @tsspangler.

This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: What happens to Joe Biden's Michigan Democratic delegates