A delegate is a person selected to represent a group of people in some political assembly of the United States. There are various types of delegates elected to different political bodies. In the United States Congress delegates are elected to represent the interests of a United States territory and its citizens or nationals. In addition, certain US states are governed by a House of Delegates or another parliamentary assembly whose members are known as elected delegates. Prior to a United States presidential election, the major political parties select delegates from the various state parties for a presidential nominating convention, often by either primary elections or party caucuses. As elected official Delegate is the title of a person elected to the United States House of Representatives to serve the interests of an organized United States territory, at present only overseas or the District of Columbia, but historically in most cases in a portion of North America as the precursor to one or more of the present states of the union. Delegates have powers similar to that of Representatives, including the right to vote in committee, but have no right to take part in the floor votes in which the full house actually decides whether the proposal is carried. A similar mandate is held in a few cases under the style resident commissioner. Delegate is also the title given to individuals elected to the lower houses of the bicameral legislative bodies of Maryland, Virginia and West Virginia. Members of other parliamentary assemblies, such as the Continental Congress or the New York State Constitutional Convention. Members of a body charged with writing or revising a foundational or another basic governmental document (such as members of a constitutional convention are usually referred to as "delegates"). Presidential conventions Democratic Party The Democratic Party uses pledged delegates and unpledged delegates (generally known as superdelegates or sometimes as automatic delegates), a combined system which had been introduced in 1984. Between 1984 and 2016, a candidate for the Democratic nomination had to win a majority of combined delegate votes at the Democratic National Convention. Pledged delegates are elected or chosen at the state or local level, with the understanding that they will support a particular candidate at the convention. Pledged delegates are, however, usually not legally bound to vote for that candidate, thus the candidates are allowed to periodically review the list of delegates and eliminate any of