A project of
Data for Rhode Island
April 25, 2016
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2016 Primary Spotlight: April 26 Primaries (CT, DE, MD, PA, RI)

The five presidential primaries next Tuesday are all on the east coast—Connecticut, Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and Rhode Island. These primaries could mark the end of Sen. Bernie Sanders’s presidential campaign and move the Republicans closer to a contested convention.

Here’s what’s at stake:

  • Connecticut: 70 Democratic delegates (awarded proportionally); 28 Republican (awarded proportionallyif no candidate gets >50%, winner-take-all if one candidate does)
  • Delaware: 31 Democratic delegates (awarded proportionally); 16 Republican (winner-take-all)
  • Maryland: 118 Democratic delegates (awarded proportionally); 38 Republican (winner-take-all by district and state)
  • Pennsylvania: 210 Democratic delegates (awarded proportionally); 71 Republican (winner-take-all/“loophole”)
  • Rhode Island: 33 Democratic delegates (awarded proportionally); 19 Republican (awarded proportionally)
  • The Rising American Electorate—unmarried women, people of color, and millennials—make up the majority of voters in Maryland (56%) and Delaware (56%) and close to half the electorate in the other primary states (49% in Connecticut, 47% in Pennsylvania, and 48% in Rhode Island).

    Forty percent of the eligible voters in Maryland are people of color (40%), the largest share of any state voting on Tuesday. 30% of MD’s eligible voters are African Americans—and the participation of these voters could decide the tightly-contested Democratic primary race for the open U.S. Senate seat between Representatives Chris Van Hollen and Donna Edwards. According to Washington Post polling, voters are split along racial lines between Van Hollen, a white man, and Edwards, an African-American woman. The Post poll shows that Edwards has a 51-point lead among African-American women.

    The VPC has prepared in-depth profiles on unmarried women in each of Tuesday’s five primary states:
    Connecticut
    Delaware
    Maryland
    Pennsylvania
    Rhode Island