Valet Posting Service
03-31-2016, 11:55 AM
35361Jared Huffman is the U.S. Representative for the 2nd District of California, which includes Sebastopol and West County. This is from his Facebook page:
Regarding my "superdelegate" vote in the Democratic Presidential nominating process, I want to clarify a few things since there have been a lot of posts and comments on this lately. First, superdelegates have never decided a nomination and it won't happen this time. Let me be very clear: even though I have endorsed Secretary Clinton and expect her to be the nominee, if Senator Sanders were to win a majority of pledged delegates at the polls then he would become the Democratic nominee at the convention -- and he would have the support of superdelegates like me. Just as most of the Clinton superdelegates switched to Barack Obama in 2008 when it became clear that he would win the majority of pledged delegates at the polls, the same thing would happen, hypothetically, if Sanders went into the convention having won the most pledged delegates at the polls. To do otherwise would create the perception that party "insiders" were acting against the will of the voters and it would fracture the party going into a general election that we must win.
But, I also believe all of this is hypothetical. I believe Secretary Clinton will win a significant majority of pledged delegates at the polls when all is said and done, and there won't be any superdelegate controversy. I also consider her our strongest candidate for the general election, although I think Democrats can win with either candidate. I've said repeatedly that I respect Bernie and believe he has brought a strong progressive message that is making a positive difference in our political process, and I'll support him if he is our nominee. But let's stop overstating the significance of superdelegates and let the voters in the remaining primaries and caucuses have their say. This nomination will be decided at the polls, not in a rigged process at the convention. And hopefully we will all unite at that point and get to work on winning this crucial election.
Regarding my "superdelegate" vote in the Democratic Presidential nominating process, I want to clarify a few things since there have been a lot of posts and comments on this lately. First, superdelegates have never decided a nomination and it won't happen this time. Let me be very clear: even though I have endorsed Secretary Clinton and expect her to be the nominee, if Senator Sanders were to win a majority of pledged delegates at the polls then he would become the Democratic nominee at the convention -- and he would have the support of superdelegates like me. Just as most of the Clinton superdelegates switched to Barack Obama in 2008 when it became clear that he would win the majority of pledged delegates at the polls, the same thing would happen, hypothetically, if Sanders went into the convention having won the most pledged delegates at the polls. To do otherwise would create the perception that party "insiders" were acting against the will of the voters and it would fracture the party going into a general election that we must win.
But, I also believe all of this is hypothetical. I believe Secretary Clinton will win a significant majority of pledged delegates at the polls when all is said and done, and there won't be any superdelegate controversy. I also consider her our strongest candidate for the general election, although I think Democrats can win with either candidate. I've said repeatedly that I respect Bernie and believe he has brought a strong progressive message that is making a positive difference in our political process, and I'll support him if he is our nominee. But let's stop overstating the significance of superdelegates and let the voters in the remaining primaries and caucuses have their say. This nomination will be decided at the polls, not in a rigged process at the convention. And hopefully we will all unite at that point and get to work on winning this crucial election.