Race Isn’t Over: Sanders Calls out AP for Declaring Clinton Win

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are competing to become the Democratic nominee for the upcoming US elections.

Democratic presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton on 9 March 2016. (Photo: AP)

Several news outlets on Tuesday carried the news of Hillary Clinton being chosen as the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee, claiming that she had won the majority of delegates to win the race, reported Vox.

The Associated Press, in a note on its website said: An AP count of pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses and a survey of party insiders known as superdelegates shows Clinton with the overall support of the required 2,383 delegates.

According to Vox, NBC later confirmed AP’s announcement. However, no states voted on Monday, and there has been no news of any recounts in any primary, the report said.

So What Did AP Report?

AP’s count reflects both – the pledged delegates, chosen by voters, and the 712 unelected superdelegates who are free to support who they wish to.

As trends show that Clinton’s nomination is more or less apparent, increasing number of these superdelegates have decided to vote for her, said Vox.

Sanders may be losing not due to these unelected superdelegates, but simply because he’s losing the popular vote, and therefore the “pledged delegate count,” said Vox.

But was AP still too soon to call it?

Why Bernie Sanders Is Unhappy

Sanders immediately clarified that the superdelegates could change their minds any time, leading up to the convention.

As of now, Sanders is falling behind the pledged delegates by a fairly large margin.

It would take extraordinary support from the superdelegates, for Sanders to stay in the race, the report added. That seems unlikely, unless something were to go wrong with Clinton’s campaign. But for AP to literally take Sanders out of the running has rather understandably warranted a reaction from an anguished Sanders.

Many Sanders fans have criticised AP for influencing the election with their announcement.

According to Al Jazeera, many were angry that AP’s count included the superdelegates, hence reflecting a misleading count. They think it’s still too early, and perhaps too unfair to declare the nominee already.