In United States politics, a brokered convention (sometimes referred to as an open convention and closely related to a contested convention) occurs when no candidate is nominated on the first ballot of a party's
nominating convention.
In many cases, delegates elected to a national, state or local convention through
primaries
Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
or
caucuses are
pledged to vote for a particular candidate on the first ballot of the convention, meaning that the candidate with the necessary number of delegate pledges in advance of the convention is considered the
presumptive nominee
Preselection is the process by which a candidate is selected, usually by a political party, to contest an election for political office. It is also referred to as candidate selection. It is a fundamental function of political parties. The presel ...
. However, if no candidate receives the necessary number of delegates' votes on the first ballot, the nomination is decided by the delegates through a process of bargaining and voting and the convention is then considered ''brokered''. In that circumstance, all delegates are "released" from any obligation to support a particular candidate and may switch their allegiance to a different candidate before the next round of balloting. In some cases, delegates change their vote during the balloting roll call, resulting in a brokered convention where only one ballot is taken.
Brokered conventions have become rare following the decline of
political machines and
party bosses, and the advent of national primary campaigns and
mass media
Mass media include the diverse arrays of media that reach a large audience via mass communication.
Broadcast media transmit information electronically via media such as films, radio, recorded music, or television. Digital media comprises b ...
. The term "contested" is a more modern term for a convention in which no candidate holds a majority.
Specific party rules
Democratic Party
Under the
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
rules, "A majority vote of the Convention's delegates shall be required to nominate the presidential candidate" and "Balloting will continue until a nominee is selected."
Superdelegates are unpledged party leaders who participate as delegates if no winner emerges after the first round. Before 2018, they were allowed to participate in the first round as well.
For the
Democratic Party, unpledged delegate votes, also called "
superdelegate
In American politics, a superdelegate is a delegate to a presidential nominating convention who is seated automatically.
In Democratic National Conventions, superdelegates—described in formal party rules as the party leaders and electe ...
votes", used to be counted on the first ballot. The term "brokered convention" has referred to a convention whose outcome is decided by superdelegate votes, rather than pledged delegates alone, but that is not the original sense of the term and has not been a commonly-used definition for a "contested convention."
Republican Party
The rules are subject to change every election cycle and are determined by the
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...
prior to the convention date. An example of this is Rule 40b of the RNC which was in effect in 2012, but was not adopted for the
2016 convention in Cleveland. Under this rule, a candidate must have the support of a majority of the delegates of at least eight states in order to get the nomination. Rule 40e then states that if no candidate has received the majority of votes, "the chairman of the convention shall direct the roll of the states be called again and shall repeat the calling of the roll until a candidate shall have received a majority of the votes."
Presidential history
At the presidential level, the
1952 Democratic National Convention
The 1952 Democratic National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 21 to July 26, 1952, which was the same arena the Republicans had gathered in a few weeks earlier for their national convention from ...
and
1952 Republican National Convention
The 1952 Republican National Convention was held at the International Amphitheatre in Chicago, Illinois from July 7 to 11, 1952, and nominated Dwight David Eisenhower, Dwight D. Eisenhower of New York (state), New York, nicknamed "Ike", for Pres ...
are the most recent brokered conventions by the two major American political parties. All subsequent presidential nominations have been decided on the first ballot of the respective convention, and the result is typically clear in advance of the convention.
However, before the widespread adoption of presidential
primary elections
Primary elections or primaries are elections held to determine which candidates will run in an upcoming general election. In a partisan primary, a political party selects a candidate. Depending on the state and/or party, there may be an "open pri ...
, political party conventions were routinely brokered. In particular, the Democratic Party required a two-thirds majority of delegate votes from their first convention in 1832 until 1936. This requirement increased the probability of a brokered convention, and conventions were routinely decided only after multiple ballots. At the
1924 Democratic National Convention
The 1924 Democratic National Convention, held at the Madison Square Garden (1890), Madison Square Garden in New York City from June 24 to July 9, 1924, was the longest continuously running convention in United States political history. It took ...
, divisions between the anti-
prohibition
Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...
"wets" and the pro-prohibition "dries" led to a 102-ballot deadlock over 17 days between the frontrunners,
Alfred E. Smith and
William G. McAdoo.
John W. Davis was chosen as a compromise on the 103rd ballot.
Reasons for rarity
Several factors encourage a clear and timely decision in the primary process.
Firstly, candidates tend to get momentum as they go through the process because of the
bandwagon effect
The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon where people adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes simply because others are doing so. More specifically, it is a cognitive bias by which public opinion or behaviours can alter due to ...
. Thus, one or two candidates will be portrayed by the media to voters as the frontrunners as a result of their placement in the first primaries and caucuses, and as also-ran candidates drop out, their supporters will tend to vote for one of the frontrunners. Theorists have identified two types of political momentum, piecemeal and all-at-once, with different impacts on front-runners and those right behind them.
Secondly, political parties wish to avoid the negative publicity from a brokered convention and to maximize the amount of time that the nominee has to campaign for the presidency.
Especially because of the desire to foster party unity in the months leading up to
Election Day, it is considered possible, if not probable, for any "brokering" that may be required for a future presidential convention to take place in the weeks and months before the convention, once it becomes clear that no candidate will likely secure a majority of delegates without an agreement with one or more rivals. Such an agreement would likely commit the frontrunner to make some form of concession(s) in return, such as selecting the former rival as his/her vice presidential nominee. That was the case prior to the
1980 Republican National Convention
The 1980 Republican National Convention convened at Joe Louis Arena in Detroit, Michigan, from July 14 to July 17, 1980. The Republican National Convention nominated retired Hollywood actor and former Governor Ronald Reagan of California for p ...
. Former California Governor
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was an American politician and actor who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He was a member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party a ...
won the presidential nomination and chose
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...
as his vice-presidential nominee although President
Gerald Ford
Gerald Rudolph Ford Jr. (born Leslie Lynch King Jr.; July 14, 1913December 26, 2006) was the 38th president of the United States, serving from 1974 to 1977. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, Ford assumed the p ...
was the frontrunner for the slot.
In popular culture
Film
The 1964 film ''
The Best Man'', based on a play
of the same name, centers on the actions of two presidential candidates vying for an unspecified political party's nomination leading up to and during a brokered convention.
Television
* In the U.S. edition of ''
House of Cards
A house of cards (also known as a card tower or card castle) is a structure created by stacking playing cards on top of each other, often in the shape of a pyramid. "House of cards" is also an expression that dates back to 1645 meaning a struc ...
'', two episodes of the fourth season center on an open Democratic National Convention, at which the vice-presidential nomination is contested between
Secretary of State Catherine Durant and
First Lady Claire Underwood.
* The final two episodes of season six of ''
The West Wing
''The West Wing'' is an American political drama television series created by Aaron Sorkin that was originally broadcast on NBC from September 22, 1999, to May 14, 2006. The series is set primarily in the West Wing of the White House, where t ...
'' center on a brokered convention for the presidential nomination.
* In the final season of ''
Veep
''Veep'' is an American political satire comedy television series that aired on HBO from April 22, 2012, to May 12, 2019. The series was created by Armando Iannucci. The series follows Selina Meyer (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), the fictional Vice Pres ...
'',
Selina Meyer
Selina Catherine Meyer ( ; née Eaton) is a fictional character portrayed by Julia Louis-Dreyfus on the HBO television comedy series '' Veep''. Louis-Dreyfus has been critically acclaimed for the role, earning a record-breaking six consecutive ...
wins the nomination at a brokered convention after a series of compromising decisions.
See also
*
List of Democratic Party presidential primaries
*
Democratic National Convention
The Democratic National Convention (DNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1832 by the United States Democratic Party. They have been administered by the Democratic National Committee since the 18 ...
*
List of Republican Party presidential primaries
*
Republican National Convention
The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...
Notes
References
{{United States presidential elections
United States presidential nominating conventions