PHILADELPHIA - Delegates will play a key role this week, nominating Hillary Clinton as the Democratic candidate for president. But who are these delegates?
In his segment, Verify, reporter David Schechter takes real people to get their questions answered. He’s in Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention and his guest reporter wants to know what a delegate is and what they do.
Mesha Coleman is a professional and mom from McKinney, TX. She’s not getting paid to be a guest reporter, but it is her job to see things first hand and reach her own conclusions.
To find out more about delegates, Coleman first talked with Jim Blanchard, the former Governor of Michigan and US Ambassador to Canada. He assembled a slate of 80 delegates for Clinton and this is his 12th convention.
“How do you select those delegates?” Coleman asked Blanchard.
“We look at geography. A certain number of people who are women, minorities, from Detroit, from the Upper Peninsula, people who are friendly with labor, people from the gay community,” he responded.
Coleman noted that it is important to be a strong supporter and be very active in the campaign.
“You want people who are activists, who are loyal and supportive of Hillary. Who represent different facets of life in Michigan. Who are representative of the population,” Blanchard said. “But people who are active politically are an usual breed.”
Coleman then spoke to Doreen Hermelin, also from Michigan. She is a major political donor and longtime Clinton supporter.
Even though Hermelin has been an active Democrat for 30 years, this is her first convention.
“It’s really getting hands on here. Although, I’ve always supported her and supported whoever the candidate has been it’s good to get involved on the ground floor and make sure things happen the way it’s gotta happen," Hermelin told Coleman.
Anna Cuprill, Chair of the Wyoming Democratic Party, drove with her family more than 2000 miles to be at the DNC.
Coleman wanted to know, mom-to-mom, why Cuprill wanted her children to also attend the convention.
“I think this is a very historic time for our lives and for their lives also. A lot of what happens in November will effect them for a very long time,” Cuprill told her.
After speaking to the delegates Hermelin reflected on seeing the delegates as real people.
“I looked at it as a vote. Not a person. So, meeting them, it’s a person now, not just a vote,” she said.
TEGNA, our parent company, paid for Coleman's travel and hotel and submitted her information to be credentialed to attend the Democratic National Convention so she could be a guest reporter.
