The state Republican Party is all in for next year’s presidential primary and that could benefit several candidates involved in Wednesday’s nationally televised debate.

Washington’s GOP, for the first time, will use results of the May contest to award its entire batch of 44 delegates.

But the winner won’t get all of them. Instead, party leaders have agreed to reward candidates based on how many votes they collect in each congressional district and on the final results.

That means any GOP candidate on the May 24 ballot could pick up a few delegates in Washington.

“We want the voters to have a say,” explained state Republican Party Chairwoman Susan Hutchison. “We believe we could have more than two and possibly as many as five still in the race.”

Meanwhile, the state Democratic Party, which opposes the presidential primary, will ignore the results and award all of its delegates through caucuses to be held in March. Voters will still be able to cast ballots for Democratic candidates in the primary but the results won’t make a difference in the nominating process.

The Republican Party’s state committee made its decision at a Sept. 12 meeting in Pasco.

Olga Farnam, who represents the Snohomish County GOP on the panel, said she preferred the winner-take-all approach but embraces the outcome.

“We debated and we came to this conclusion and I’m happy with it,” Farnam said. “It’s going to be the voice of the people for our party, unlike Democrats who will be the voice of the activists.”

Four years ago, the state Republican Party distributed half its delegates through its caucuses and the rest using results of the presidential preference vote.

Since then the Republican Party changed its national rules. In states with presidential primaries it now requires all the delegates be distributed based on the results.

Saturday’s debate among Washington Republicans focused on the method for distributing the cache of 44 delegates.

There was no hard push for giving them all to the winner. Rather, they deliberated on a formula to give credit to those who perform well in a congressional district and those who do well statewide.

They decided 11 delegates will be given out in proportion to the final statewide vote totals.

Another three delegates will be awarded in each of the 10 congressional district based on the results of votes cast within that district. If a candidate receives a majority of the vote in a congressional district, they will collect all three delegates.

The final three delegates belong to the state party chairwoman and the two national committee members — and they are free to vote their conscience at the Republican National Convention in July in Cleveland, Ohio.

This methodology makes it possible for a candidate to snag delegates in a couple of congressional districts even if they fare poorly statewide.

By late May, the lure of even a few delegates could give incentive for those still in the race to campaign in Washington, Farnam said. “That’s my hope and desire,” she said. “We’re going to play an integral part in the process this time around instead of being completely shut out.”

The new rules will certainly change the dynamic of the GOP precinct caucuses Feb. 20.

Historically, those caucuses are where party activists show up, assert their support of a candidate and vie to become a delegate to the national convention in order to cast a vote for that person.

In 2016, delegates chosen in the process that begins in February and wraps up in May won’t be pledged to any candidate. Instead they will be bound by the primary results.

That could make February’s caucuses less attractive to some Republicans, but the chairwoman of the Snohomish County Republican Party doesn’t believe so.

“I think people will be engaged,” said Billye Brooks-Sebastiani, the county party’s chairwoman. “It is a great opportunity to message and promote their candidate for the primary.”

Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623; jcornfield@heraldnet.com.

GOP debate

Republican presidential candidates will debate at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Local Republicans will hold a debate-watching event at the Everett Theatre, 2911 Colby Ave. Doors open at 5 p.m.

Tickets are $10. For information, call 425-232-3082.