Understand the Washington state caucus in 4 minutes

An upward of 25,000 attended the Washington State Republican Party (WSRP) in its precinct caucuses in February.

It was the WSRP's first step in the long process of picking 44 Washington delegates to this year's Republican National Convention in July.

Here’s how it works for WSRP.

– On Feb. 20, the WSRP will hold its precinct caucus. Click here for a caucus locator.

What this means: The purpose of the Republican precinct caucus is to elect delegates to the county GOP conventions. [In King County, this is slightly different: precinct caucuses lead to legislative district caucuses then followed by the county convention.]

– Between March 12 and March 16: The WSRP holds its county GOP conventions.

What this means: The County Conventions elect delegates to the State Convention, where delegates to the National Convention will be elected by Congressional District

– The State GOP Convention will be held May 19-21 in Pasco.

Now wait, isn’t there a primary in our state too?

Yes, the Presidential primary is May 24, when Republicans and Democrats vote for their favorite candidates using a mail-in ballot.  Republicans will use only the primary results to allocate delegates to their presidential candidates.

What about the Democrats?

Democrats will use only their precinct caucuses on March 26 to decide delegates will be allocated to their presidential candidates. They will not use the May primary results to allocate delegates.

Primaries and caucuses are different.

Primaries are straight-forward and similar to how local elections run with ballots. In Washington State, all voters can participate without regard to their political party.

Caucuses give political parties more assurance that loyal members are selecting their presidential nominees. Click here for more FAQ on primaries. 

Cox Media Group