Biden, Sanders Strike Deal on National Convention Delegates
WASHINGTON – Former Vice President Joe Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., have struck a deal that will allow Sanders, the former White House hopeful, to keep hundreds of delegates to the Democratic National Convention.
The agreement gives Sanders and his supporters a voice in helping create the party’s platform at the convention, which is being held in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, in August.
In a statement emailed to reporters Thursday morning, the Biden presidential campaign said, “While Senator Sanders is no longer actively seeking the nomination, the Biden campaign feels strongly that it is in the best interest of the party … to come to an agreement regarding these issues that will ensure representation of Sanders supporters and delegate candidates, both on the floor and in committees.”
Under Democratic party rules Sanders would have been required to relinquish about a third of his delegates because he is no longer running for the nomination.
Under the deal struck by the Biden and Sanders camps, statewide and at-large delegates, which make up about a third of the total delegate count, will be allocated to Biden in order to comply with party rules.
But Biden’s campaign has committed to working with Sanders’s campaign committee to fill those slots with “supporters of the Biden and Sanders campaigns based on the candidates’ respective statewide results,” according to a memo attached to the Biden statement.
“We must defeat Donald Trump this fall, and we believe that this agreement will help bring the party together to get Trump out of the White House and not only rebuild America, but transform it,” the Biden campaign’s statement concluded.
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