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Superdelegates Encouraged To Change Commitments After Caucus

Maggie Mullen

The Albany County Democrats are asking Wyoming’s superdelegates to reconsider their commitments to former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in order to more accurately reflect the popular presidential vote that favored Senator Bernie Sanders at last week’s statewide caucus.

Sanders may have won 56 percent of the popular vote in Wyoming, but the state’s superdelegates are currently split fifty-fifty between the two candidates. This is because Wyoming’s 14 delegates are split into three separate categories—those assigned by congressional district, at large delegates, and elected officials. Each of those three types is awarded proportionally. Because of that, Sanders came just shy of rounding up to the nearest delegate in Saturday’s caucus.

Meanwhile, all four of Wyoming’s superdelegates have pledged to support Clinton.

Pete Gosar is the Vice Chairman of the Albany County Democrats. He wants 3 of Wyoming’s 4 superdelegates to change their commitments to better reflect the popular vote.

“I think that would be a really nice gesture and a nice place to go. And say you know, this is who we support individually, but the democrats of Wyoming thought this is how it would be and so a 10/8 split would be as close as you could to the actual numbers from the caucus.”

Gosar says this is reflective of national discussion, but not something the Clinton campaign decided. Rather, it’s something the party needs to work on.

“People, they just want a fair deal. So, if a candidate gets fifty-percent of the vote, the number of delegates is fifty-percent. And I think that’s kind of how it needs to be done. You run the risk of disenfranchising people if that doesn’t happen.”

  

    

Maggie Mullen is Wyoming Public Radio's regional reporter with the Mountain West News Bureau. Her work has aired on NPR, Marketplace, Science Friday, and Here and Now. She was awarded a 2019 regional Edward R. Murrow Award for her story on the Black 14.
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