(NY Daily News) – Maybe the system really is rigged.
At least a half-dozen Democratic superdelegates in New York State who have already decided to support Hillary Clinton said Tuesday they would maintain their allegiance to her — regardless of the results of the Empire State’s primary.
Even if Sanders were to win the April 19 New York presidential contest, when a whopping 247 delegates are at stake, every single New York superdelegate reached by the Daily News said they would never back the Vermont senator.
“Absolutely not,” Elizabeth Stanley, the chief of staff for Westchester County Rep. Nita Lowey, told the Daily News when asked if she could see “any potential situation at all” resulting in her boss switching her support from Clinton to Sanders.
“Hillary Clinton is Congresswoman Lowey’s friend, colleague and her constituent, and she is behind her 100%,” Stanley added.
“I would not under any circumstances switch my allegiance from Secretary Clinton to Senator Sanders,” Queens Congressman Gregory Meeks said.
The other four New York superdelegates — who can pledge and withdraw their allegiance to a nominee based on their personal preference — also would never pull their support from Clinton, their spokespeople said. They all spoke anonymously for fear of insulting either campaign.
The offices for another six known New York superdelegates wouldn’t comment or didn’t respond to a request for comment. There are 44 superdelegates among New York’s 291 delegates.
The iron-willed insistence of so many politicians and sitting lawmakers already in the Hillary camp to not budge from their support of the Democratic front-runner speaks volumes to the difficulty faced by the Sanders campaign — or any political outsider — in securing the nomination.
But that challenge — one that is met by candidates every four years — isn’t merely a product of Clinton having earned so many supporters. It’s also due to the complicated setup of a nominating process that gives weight to the desire of party bosses who don’t have to take into account the expressed desire of Democratic voters.
The majority of Democratic delegates in New York, and across the U.S., are “pledged.” Typically they are elected state and local officials. They are awarded proportionally, and bound to the candidate who wins their state’s primary.
Across the U.S., there are about another 712 superdelegates — unelected delegates free to support any candidate for the nomination at the party’s convention.
The superdelegates who are elected officials are, for example, members of the House and Senate, Democratic governors and the Vice President as well members of the Democratic National Committee. Other superdelegates are “distinguished party leaders” like former Presidents, senators and House leaders.
Among New York’s superdelegates this year are Hillary’s husband, former President Bill Clinton, Sens. Kirsten Gillibrand and Chuck Schumer, and most of the state’s House members.
Superdelegates are not involved in the Republican Party nomination process.
To secure the Democratic nomination, either Clinton or Sanders must attain 2,383 total delegates before the party’s national convention in Philadelphia this July.
In spite of Sanders winning 15 states — including some by an 80%-20% margin — over 94% of the 498 superdelegates have said they are backing Clinton.
Right now, if Sanders had the superdelegate votes that Clinton currently has, he’d be winning handily, with 1,444 total delegates to Clinton’s 1,272.
Currently, Clinton has 1,712, total delegates, compared with 1,004 for Sanders. Excluding superdelegates, however, Clinton’s lead is only 1,243 to 975 — a narrower difference that has prompted the Sanders campaign to say it will try to convince many superdelegates to jump ship and support him.
“Yes, Hillary Clinton has a substantial lead but there are still hundreds who have yet to make a public declaration of support,” Sanders senior adviser Tad Devine told The News.
“We recognize that a lot of them have already made up their mind . . . and we respect that. We just think that if we can do well on the merits, we can get people to do what we feel is the right thing,” Devine added.
A Clinton representative said the campaign has “always said we would work to earn more pledged delegates.”
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/new-york-superdelegates-largely-back-clinton-sanders-article-1.2581729
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