primaries

1. State elections of delegates to the nominating convention that chooses a major party's presidential candidate. In some states, delegates are elected by popular vote; in other states, party caucus es or miniconventions choose delegates.

Notes

Primaries occur at different times during the presidential election year, a situation that drags out the process by which parties nominate candidates but allows wide public exposure to candidates and issues.

Example Sentences

During the Republican primaries this year, Trump sought to take credit for nominating the conservative Supreme Court justices who enabled states to pass restrictive abortion laws.

From Los Angeles Times

Harris may have been the voters’ choice in primaries.

From Los Angeles Times

Schiff criticized Garvey for voting for Trump three times, including in this year’s primaries, and sought to yoke him to Trump’s most unpopular policy proposals, including mass deportations of people living in the country illegally.

From Los Angeles Times

Other times it involved independent voters who had no say in elections at all, with most members elected from noncompetitive elections decided in primaries.

From Salon

A clown car full of grifters and kooks, meanwhile, used the primaries as an opportunity to suck up to Trump, whom everyone knew would inevitably be the nominee.

From Salon