What happens to Joe Biden's delegates now that president has dropped out of election

President Joe Biden dropped out of the race on Sunday, leaving the delegates he earned during the primary races him scrambling for a backup choice.

The president announced he is no longer seeking reelection following calls to step down from politicians in his own party who doubted his ability to rematch Republican candidate Donald Trump. Biden has since endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris to be the Democratic presidential nominee.

Calls for the 81-year-old to leave the ticket escalated after his botched debate performance against Trump on June 27 led to scrutiny over his age and fitness for office. Attempts to restore the public's faith in his ability to be reelected, including two primetime interviews with leading news anchors and an evening press conference at the 2024 NATO summit, were unable to restore confidence in him.

Nearly two-thirds of Democratic voters said Biden should allow his party to replace him as the presumptive Democratic nominee, according to a new poll from the AP-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research released Wednesday.

How many delegates does Joe Biden have?

Before dropping out, Biden received 3,896 pledged delegates ahead of the Democratic National Convention, where he would have officially become the party's presidential nominee.

What happens to Biden's delegates now?

There is no system for Biden to appoint someone to take his place as the presumptive Democratic nominee.

Biden has been pledged 3,886 delegates throughout the primary races this year.

If no candidate wins the majority of the roughly 4,000 delegates, then the party's more than 700 superdelegates, or automatic delegates, will be able to vote at the convention. However, the decision was mainly made by the delegates who were initially elected to Biden.

What are superdelegates?

In the Democratic Party, a superdelegate is an unelected delegate who can vote for any candidate for the presidential nomination at the party convention.

This year, there are an estimated 3,933 pledged delegates and 739 superdelegates, according to NBC.