At the 2024 Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, the Republican delegation from New York, consisting of around ninety-one delegates, gathered around Representative Elise Stefanik on Monday in order to publicly endorse the party’s presidential nominee, Donald Trump.
Next month, it will be up to New York’s 307 Democratic delegates to support President Joe Biden at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, unless the commander-in-chief decides to release them in favor of a different (and younger) candidate.
A variety of elected politicians, political heavyweights, labor lobbyists, and other party enthusiasts make up the group of delegates from New York – some appointed by party executives, others chosen through a more complex procedure. Gothamist examined who was included and how they were included.
As a deep-blue state that has historically supported Democratic candidates, New York receives a larger share of Democratic delegates, who also make up the majority of the more well-known ones. The most famous among them is former President Bill Clinton, who lives in Chappaqua and is granted a seat at the convention for life as a “distinguished party leader” (the designation is reserved by the Democratic National Committee for former presidents and congressional leaders).
The two U.S. senators from the Empire State, Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, as well as the 16 Democratic members of the House of Representatives are also included on the Democratic list. The Democratic mayors of Buffalo, Rochester, and Albany are also there, together with Gov. Kathy Hochul, Mayor Eric Adams, Speaker of the City Council Adrienne Adams, and others.
Representative Anthony D’Esposito of Long Island, Rep. Nick Langworthy of western New York, who served as the previous leader of the state GOP, and Stefanik, the fourth-ranking member of the House, are among the few Republican members of the New York House who are on the GOP’s delegate list.
Other conservative delegates include Nassau County Executive Bruce Blakeman, Will Barclay, the minority leader of the state assembly, and Rob Ortt, the minority leader of the state senate. Andrew Saul, a Republican businessman selected by Trump to the position of commissioner of the Social Security Administration in 2019, is also included on the list.
There are two categories of delegates on the Republican side: at-large and district-level. The state Republican committee members from each of the state’s 26 congressional districts choose the three delegates for each district. The remaining thirteen delegates are at-large; Ed Cox, the state Republican Party chair, is one, two are the state’s representatives on the national GOP committee, and ten are chosen by the state committee.
In contrast, 179 of the 307 Democratic delegates from New York are chosen in the presidential primary on a district-by-district basis.
Together with them, the state Democratic Committee has chosen 89 party leaders, elected officials (PLEOs), and other at-large delegates who are not affiliated with any particular congressional district but have committed to backing the state’s primary winner, namely Biden.
The other 39 Democratic delegates from New York are referred to as “automatic” delegates; they are entitled to be delegates by virtue of their positions, either current or past. Although they aren’t officially associated with any one candidate, they aren’t permitted to cast a ballot on the first round of the convention, in contrast to previous cycles’ “superdelegates.”
The Democratic delegates will be crucial if Biden decides to withdraw from the race and release his delegates because they will regain the freedom to back any deserving Democratic candidate they choose to run as their party’s nominee.
