Thanks To Superdelegates, Hillary Clinton Still Wins After Getting Crushed In New Hampshire

Last updated on September 25th, 2023 at 01:54 pm

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Bernie Sanders may have crushed Hillary Clinton in the New Hampshire popular vote, but thanks to superdelegates, Clinton will leave New Hampshire with the same number of delegates as Sanders.
The Hill reported:

Sanders had won 13 delegates with his 20-point victory on Tuesday and is expected to raise that total to 15 by the time all of the votes are counted.

Two of the state’s 24 delegates are currently unpledged but will likely be awarded to Sanders once the results are finalized.

Clinton won nine delegates in the primary but came into the contest with the support of six superdelegates, who are state party insiders given the freedom to support any candidate they choose.

Superdelegate support is fluid, though, so some of those delegates now backing Clinton could switch to Sanders before the Democratic National Convention in late July.

But as it stands, the superdelegate support gives Clinton a total of 15 New Hampshire delegates.

According to the Associated Press’ delegate count, Hillary Clinton leads Bernie Sanders 394-44. Clinton has roughly 360 superdelegates to 8 for Bernie Sanders. Clinton already has 16.5% of the delegates needed to win the nomination.

Contrary to what some progressive groups who are supporting Sen Sanders are suggesting in their emails to supporters, superdelegates aren’t a trick to take the nomination away from Bernie Sanders. Superdelegates have been around since the 1984 election. They represent 20% of the total delegate pool. Clinton’s domination of the superdelegates means that winning the popular vote, or a majority of delegates won’t be enough for Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination.

If Sanders were to win the nomination without winning a large percentage of superdelegates, he would need to defeat Clinton by 60-40 delegate margin in the remaining states. Winning won’t be good enough. Sanders is going to need to win big.

Bernie Sanders won New Hampshire by 22 points and gained nothing on Hillary Clinton in the delegate count.

Even when Hillary Clinton loses, she still manages to find a way to win.

Jason Easley

Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.

Awards and  Professional Memberships

Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association