Sanders tries to sway Democratic superdelegates to leave Clinton fold
Indiana poll shows Trump leading Cruz
Bernie Sanders made a direct appeal to Democratic Party superdelegates to switch their support from Hillary Clinton, as he falls further behind in the pledged delegates needed to win the nomination and faces a self-described “uphill” fight.
Superdelegates are party officials who have a vote at the convention in July in Philadelphia, and Sanders cannot beat Clinton unless large numbers of them defect from her and he wins remaining primaries by large margins.
During a news conference, Sanders’ pitch was that superdelegates from states he carried should back him instead of Clinton, even if it wouldn’t be enough to close the gap with her.
He acknowledged he would still need to win 65% of pledged delegates to beat Clinton, calling it “admittedly a tough road to climb, but not an impossible one.”
The appeal comes as the Vermont senator saw a drop in fundraising last month. His campaign is laying off hundreds of staffers, and Clinton is shifting her focus to general election swing states.
Clinton has pointed out that she holds a strong lead among pledged delegates and has received nearly 2.7 million more popular votes than Sanders has.
Sanders says Clinton, a former New York senator and secretary of State, has the vast majority of superdelegates, even in states that Sanders carried by a landslide like New Hampshire. Clinton has an estimated 520 superdelegates, including many who committed even before their states cast votes, while Sanders has 39. Clinton also has a significant lead in the pledged delegates earned in primaries and caucuses, with 1,645 to Sanders’ 1,318.
Sanders said most polls show him leading GOP front-runner Donald Trump by a wider margin than Clinton in a theoretical general election. “This is an issue I hope superdelegates will pay keen attention to,” Sanders said.
Earlier in the day, the Sanders campaign said he raised $25.8 million in April, a significant drop from previous months. He raised $46 million in March.
The next major election is Tuesday’s primary in Indiana, where a new NBC News/Wall Street Journal/Marist poll gives Clinton only a 4-point lead over Sanders, who is also expected to perform well in Oregon.
On the GOP side, that Indiana poll says Trump leads Sen. Ted Cruz by 49% to 34%, while Ohio Gov. John Kasich is at 13%.
Cruz said Sunday that the Republican convention in July will be contested and that Trump will not reach the 1,237 delegates he needs to capture the nomination. Cruz, who recently picked up the endorsement of Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, said Republicans will coalesce around him if Trump falls short in a first round of voting at the convention.