Sanders picks up West Virginia Super Delegate
Sanders picks up West Virginia super delegate
By DANIEL STRAUSS 05/26/16 08:50 PM EDT
Sen. Bernie Sanders has picked up another super delegate: West Virginia Democratic National Committeewoman Elaine Harris has thrown her support behind the Vermont senator, she confirmed to POLITICO Thursday evening.
In a brief interview, Harris said she had been waiting to see how her state voted before she picked a candidate.
"The people voted here and I felt like the people needed to vote first," Harris said.
Sanders handily defeated Clinton in West Virginia's primary with 51 percent of the vote to Clinton's 36 percent.
The backing is a helpful but ultimately tiny boost for Sanders that might come too late. He's trailed far behind Clinton in the super delegate math: According to the Associated Press tracker Sanders has 42 super delegates not including Harris while Clinton has 540.
Clinton, the Democratic front-runner, has 1,769 pledged delegates and, including super delegates, is just 74 delegates short of clinching the nomination. Sanders, meanwhile, has 1,497 pledged delegates, according to tracker, and is 844 delegates short from getting the nomination.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/2016-dem-primary-live-updates-and-results/2016/05/bernie-sanders-west-virginia-super-delegate-223634#ixzz49tHV9YPC
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*Two of West Virginia's Eight Democratic super delegates are supporting Sen. Bernie Sanders:
- ELAINE HARRIS, chairwoman of the Kanawha County Democratic Executive Committee and a member of the Democratic National Committee whose union, the Communications Workers of America, endorsed Sanders in December.
- CHRISTOPHER REGAN, attorney and Vice Chairman of the West Virginia Democratic Party announced his endorsement of Sanders in January, 2016. “The concerns of middle-class families, including health care, tuition and a rising wage for honest work must be our focus in 2016, not just here in West Virginia, but across the country,” Regan said in a prepared statement in January.
“We cannot afford leadership corrupted by corporate money any longer. I endorse Bernie Sanders’ message, his values and his unparalleled commitment to taking our country back from the billionaire class.” While Clinton’s remarks about coal have drawn fire, Sanders is more forceful in his calls to move away from fossil fuels and has called for a ban on natural gas fracking.
“Forty and 50 years ago, at the absolute height of coal employment in West Virginia, President Johnson and President Kennedy visited our state and found crushing poverty,” Regan said during a Sanders campaign conference call last week. “So it has not been the solution and it is not going to be the solution. We need a new economy here in West Virginia and Sen. Sanders is pointing the way towards it.”
Bernie Super Delegate of WV, Elaine Harris
Bernie Super Delegate of WV, Chris Regan
http://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/20160508/wv-super-delegates-mostly-siding-with-clinton
