Following President Joe Biden’s decision to not seek reelection, the spotlight across the country has shifted to Vice President Kamala Harris – and the delegates charged with formalizing the Democratic nominee to run against Republican Donald Trump this November.
Democratic delegates across the U.S., including Connecticut’s 74, are overwhelmingly favoring Harris. Earlier this week, Connecticut’s delegates endorsed Harris with a non-binding voice vote.
Nancy DiNardo, chair of the Connecticut Democratic Party, said that group of delegates includes 14 automatic “superdelegates,” such as the governor, and U.S. Senators and representatives.
There are also 60 “pledged” delegates and five alternates. DiNardo said the goal is to represent a wide swath of Connecticut’s Democratic voices.
“When they developed the rules for this, they wanted to make sure it wasn't just party leaders, or our congressional people,” she said. “They wanted to make sure more people than usual have the opportunity to be involved.
DiNardo said the votes of the pledged delegates are counted first – before the votes of the superdelegates.
“It used to be, everybody voted on the first ballot,” she said, “and then people felt that there were too many elected people making those decisions.”
Typically, those votes are cast in person at the Democratic National Convention, where a roll call vote is taken and the necessary votes are cast for the new nominee.
But it appears this year will be different, with Democrats releasing new rules Wednesday that will allow for an online vote to select a new nominee before the convention. DiNardo said that online voting is to guarantee Harris gets on the ballot in certain states due to election laws, but Connecticut isn’t among them.
The Democratic National Convention kicks off in Chicago on Aug. 19.
