Major Change For 2020 Wash. Presidential Primary Possible Sunday

PASCO, WA — In 2016, over 800,000 Washington voters participated in the state primary election, picking Hillary Clinton over U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders 52 to 47 percent.

But a month prior, Sanders won the state Democratic caucus. About 230,000 voters participated, awarding Sanders about 70 percent of the state's delegates.

So which candidate did Washington Democrats actually want to run for president in 2016? Yeah, exactly.

This weekend, the Washington State Democrats' Central Committee will vote on whether to ditch the caucus system and instead use the primary election to award state delegates — the people who go on to the nominating convention to pick the person who will actually run for president.

The possible switch comes after the state Legislature moved our state's primary up from the fourth Tuesday of May to the second Tuesday of March, creating the possibility that the state's primary election might actaully make a difference in the primary process. In 2020, that will mean Washington could help winnow down the huge field of Democrats running (including candidate Gov. Jay Inslee).

The Washington State Republican Party switched to using the primary system in 2016, although has used the caucus system in past presidential races.

If approved on Sunday, state Democrats would actually be creating a primary-caucus hybrid. The vote total in the primary would award delegates, but the caucus system would be used to pick those delegates.

State Democrats have been accepting public comment on the change since March. The 184 Central Committee members will vote on the change at 9 a.m. Sunday at the Pasco Red Lion Inn.