Hillary Clinton captured enough delegates to officially become the Democratic nominee, the Associated Press declared Monday. But Bernie Sanders’ campaign is saying not so fast.
“It is unfortunate that the media, in a rush to judgment, are ignoring the Democratic National Committee’s clear statement that it is wrong to count the votes of superdelegates before they actually vote at the convention this summer,” Sanders spokesman Michael Briggs said Monday night.
“Secretary Clinton does not have and will not have the requisite number of pledged delegates to secure the nomination. She will be dependent on superdelegates who do not vote until July 25 and who can change their minds between now and then. They include more than 400 superdelegates who endorsed Secretary Clinton 10 months before the first caucuses and primaries and long before any other candidate was in the race,” he added. “Our job from now until the convention is to convince those superdelegates that Bernie is by far the strongest candidate against Donald Trump.
The Associated Press reported that a win in Puerto Rico over the weekend and “a burst of last-minute support from superdelegates” was enough to push Clinton to the 2,383 mark—the number of delegates needed to become the presumptive Democratic nominee.
Clinton has 1,812 pledged delegates won in primaries and caucuses. She also has the support of 571 superdelegates, according to an Associated Press count.
The AP surveyed all 714 superdelegates repeatedly in the past seven months, and only 95 remain publicly uncommitted.
But it seems the Sanders campaign is giving up just yet.
"We think it’s important to give the voters their say and not cut off the process at this point," Briggs said on Monday.
The news comes ahead of the final Super Tuesday, when six states will have primary elections.