Who Are Pennsylvania’s Delegates?

Pt 2. The People

If you missed yesterday’s post, I broke down how Pennsylvania will be selecting our 187 delegates.  They are broken down into five categories:  Unpledged Political Leaders and Elected Officials (PLEOs) and Unpledged Add-On Delegates (Superdelegates), Pledged Delegates (by Congressional District), Pledged At-Large Delegates, and Pledged PLEOs.

In this post, I’ll take a look at who our Superdelegates are, who some of the candidates running to be a Pledged Delegate are (especially here in Western PA), and who some of the other delegates are likely to be.

Superdelegates (Unpledged PLEOs & Add-Ons)

Superdelegates are those elected officials and party leaders who are automatically given a seat at the convention by virtue of their position.  They are free to endorse whichever candidate they want, and they can change their mind as often as they want before the convention.  The superdelegates have come under the microscope this year, unlike other elections in recent history, because of the possibility that neither candidate will secure a majority of delegates by pledged delegates alone.  The superdelegegates in PA are our Democratic governor, Democratic members of Congress, and members of the DNC.  The best source for a list of superdelegates who have endorsed and those who haven’t is at 2008 Democratic Convention Watch.

There will be 3 more Add-On Superdelegates selected by State Committee at their meeting on June 7. 

Pledged District-Level Delegates

Each congressional district will send a number of delegates to the convention.  Here in PA, we will be voting not only on our choice for president, but we will be voting on delegates as well.  In Pittsburgh (the 14th congressional district), we will vote for 7.

The number of delegates that PA sends must be equally split between men and women.  This includes Superdelegates, where men outnumber women 19-7, so women will outnumber men among the pledged delegates to make up for this difference.  The state has “representation goals” that they must try their best to meet through the affirmative action plan, which includes the minimum number of African Americans (22), Hispanics (9), Native Americans (1), Asian / Pacific Americans (4), Youth (20), Seniors (31), LGBT (11) will be a part of the delegation.  Delegates who actually go to the convention will be those with the highest votes, but are subject to the hard representation rule for male/female and a “best effort” to reach the other representation goals.  (I have a feeling that the delegation will have no problem reaching their goal for Seniors, at the very least.)

On the day that delegate petitions were due to the state, the Clinton campaign was embarassed by not fielding a full delegate-slate in many districts.  Clinton-backer Ed Rendell extended the deadline by one day because of weather, allowing a number of Clinton delegates to then get on the ballot.  The missing delegates says something about organization on the ground (at least in February), but will have no impact on the number of pledged delegates awarded.

In the 14th Congressional District, these are the individuals running to be pledged delegates:

Clinton:

Dan Frankel:  He is a state legislator for the Pennsylvania’s 23rd district.  This district includes many high-income Democrats from Pittsburgh’s East End who have been a part of Obama’s base in other states.

Jim Sheppard:  He is past president of the College Democrats at the University of Pittsburgh and a Allegheny County Committeemember from Pittsburgh’s 4th ward.

Tonya Payne:  She is a member of Pittsburgh City Council representing the 6th District.  Her district will likely overwhelmingly vote for Obama.  She’s likely to face a tough fight for her own re-election in 2009, and it will be interesting how presidential politics plays into that at all.

Gary Van Horn:  He is the former [updated 3/23] president of Steel City Stonewall Democrats (who endorsed Clinton) and heads the Delta Foundation.

Sylvia Wilson:  She is the Secretary for the Pittsburgh Federation of Teachers.  The PFT is part of the American Federation of Teachers, who endorsed Clinton.

Heather Arnet:  She is a member of the Pittsburgh School Board, district 2 and is the Executive Director of the Women and Girls Foundation.  Her school board district will likely be a toss-up between the two candidates.

Ethan Smith:  He is a student at the University of Pittsburgh and a frequent staff member of local campaigns.  Former Vice President, Pennsylvania College Democrats [Updated 3/23]

Obama:

Cliff Levine:  He is an attorney (frequently representing the Democratic Party in ballot questions) and a frequent player in local Democratic Paty politics.  He was an early Obama backer in the area.

Robert Hampshire:  He is a professor at Carnegie Mellon University.  He’s a newcomer to local politics and was heavily involved in early organizing for Obama in the region.

Betsy Magley:  She is a development director at the Andy Warhol Museum and was previously a development director for Planned Parenthood of Western PA.

Doug Shields:  He is President of Pittsburgh’s City Council and represents district 5.  His district will likely be won by Obama, but it could be close depending on turnout patterns across his district.

Karen Rollins-Finch: She works in the office of Representative Jake Wheatley from the 19th legislative district.

Susan Golomb:  She is a former Director of City Planning for the City of Pittsburgh and is the Director of Development for PNC Realty Services.

Joe Preston:  He is a state legislator for the 24th district.  His district will go overwhelmingly for Obama.

From elsewhere in the state, there is some other interesting political dynamics at play:

In district 2, Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is pleged to Clinton.  For a fantastic write-up of Obama’s decision to get involved in Philly’s mayoral race, read this post.  Nutter won his election against presumed frontrunner Chaka Fattah by putting together the same multi-racial coalition that Obama is banking on and running as a reformer.

In district 1, former Philadelphia Mayor John Street is running as a Clinton delegate and State representative and president of PA Young Democrats Tony Peyton is also an Obama delegate.

In Montgomery County, district 13, outside of Philadelphia, Joe Hoeffel is on the ballot for Clinton.  Hoeffel is a Montgomery County Commissioner and former Congressperson and candidate for US Senate.  He has been a favorite of many progressives around the state in the past.

On the Western side of the state, Valerie McDonald Roberts is running as an Obama Delegate in district 18.  She was the first African American woman elected to Countywide office in Allegheny County and was a former candidate for Lt. Governor.

In district 4, State Committeewoman Jennifer Rapach is on the ballot for Obama.  She works in the office of Congressperson Jason Altmire, but I would not interpret her support for Obama as an indication of the leanings of Rep. Altmire.

Pledged At-Large Delegates and PLEOs

The pledged At-Large and PLEO delegates will be selected by State Committee on June 7 in proportion to the statewide vote, and the candidates have a right-to-review the choices.  The at-large delegates tend to be labor leaders or other Party activists.  The PLEOs are big-city mayors and statewide officials, legislative leaders, state legislators, and other local and county officials.

Here are some officials who are more likely than not to be named as pledged PLEOs:

* In the unlikely event that Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter is not elected as a pledged delegate, he would probably be picked as a Clinton delegate

* Pittsburgh Mayor Luke Ravenstahl will likely be chosen as well.  He claims to be uncommitted for now, but The Burgh Report discusses why he’s likely to endorse Clinton here and here.  [Update: The Burgh Report also reports today that Ravenstahl and Onorato will be announcing their support for Clinton tomorrow.]

* According to Dayvoe at 2 Political Junkies, Pittsburgh’s City Council appears to have at least 5 members supporting Obama:  Doug Shieds, Bill Peduto, Bruce Kraus, Patrick Dowd, and Rev. Ricky Burgess.  Any of these council members could potentially be picked as a delegate, though they would be at the bottom of the priority list.

* Lt. Governor Catherine Baker Knoll will likely be elected as a Clinton delegate.

* Allegheny County Chief Executive Dan Onorato will likely be elected, and he also claims to be uncommitted right now.  [Update:  The Burgh Report tells us that he will be announcing support for Clinton tomorrow.]

* It will be interesting to see whether Auditor General Jack Wagner is selected and whether he will be on the same or opposite side as Onorato, as the two are presumed rivals for the 2010 Governor’s race.

* State Senate leaders Bob Mellow, Michael O’Pake and State House leaders Bill DeWeese and Keith McCall are also likely to be picked.

Wrap-Up

The micro-political dynamics are not likely to portend any huge swing one way or the other.  It will be more interesting to see if this presidential election has any effect on local elections over the next year or two.

In the final post, even though we are still a number of weeks out, I’ll do my best to throw out some predictions.

Tags: Ed Rendell