2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries and caucuses were a series of electoral contests organized by the Democratic Party to select the 4,051 delegates to the Democratic National Convention held July 25 – 28 and determine the nominee for President of the United States in the 2016 U.S. presidential election . The elections took place within all fifty U.S. states , the District of Columbia , and five U.S. territories and occurred between February 1 and June 14 , 2016 . A total of six major candidates entered the race starting April 12 , 2015 , when former Secretary of State and New York Senator Hillary Clinton formally announced her second bid for the presidency . She was followed by Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders , former Governor of Maryland Martin O'Malley , former Governor of Rhode Island Lincoln Chafee , former Virginia Senator Jim Webb and Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig . A draft movement was started to encourage Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to seek the presidency , but Warren declined to run , as did incumbent Vice President Joe Biden . Webb , Chafee , and Lessig withdrew prior to the February 1 , 2016 , Iowa caucuses
Democratic National Convention
2016 Democratic National Convention
2016 Democratic Party presidential primaries