What About Candidates Who Decide to Leave the Race?

What about candidates who decide to leave the race? What happens to their delegates?

When a candidate decides to leave the presidential race, they are entitled to keep any district-level delegates that were awarded to them and any district-level delegates that might be awarded to them in future contests. If pledged PLEO delegates and at-large delegates have been selected prior to the candidate withdrawing from the race, they are also allowed to keep those delegates. However, if a candidate leaves the race prior to the selection of pledged PLEO and at-large delegates, those delegate positions are reallocated to the candidates still in the race.

Delegates are not “bound” to vote for the candidate they were elected to represent. They can, and have in the past, cast a vote for another presidential candidate at the Convention. As a sign of good faith, most former candidates will “release” their delegates from voting for them; however, this is not required, and only has a symbolic meaning to it. Delegates can vote for another presidential candidate without being “released.”