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ZORA Explains
What Is Super Tuesday?
Su·per Tues·day [ \ ˈsü-pər| \ ˈtüz-(ˌ)dā ] An election day in the U.S. when the most states hold primary elections and caucuses
America doesn’t hold a national primary election day to pick the presidential nominee for a political party. Instead, we have Super Tuesday — the largest set of primary elections and caucuses across the nation, during which more than a dozen states and territories hold contests for presidential candidates.
The results of Super Tuesday are often a predictor of who may win a party’s nomination and go on to be on the ballot during the presidential race come November.
People of color play an increasingly influential role on Super Tuesday. In 2020, the 14 states and one territory that will hold contests are more racially diverse than all of the states that hold primaries and caucuses afterward. Because primary season kicks off in two of the whitest states in the country — New Hampshire and Iowa — Super Tuesday is a way to gauge how candidates will fare in a more racially diverse contest and also gives voters of color a say in which candidates move forward in the process.
Ironically, Super Tuesday began in the 1980s as a way to quell the rising influence of voters of…
