HuffPost reporter: Sanders could win plurality of delegates but lose nomination

HuffPost reporter Daniel Marans said Tuesday there is a possibility that no Democratic presidential candidate will win the majority of delegates needed heading into the party’s nominating convention in July.

“It would basically be a situation where [Sen.] Bernie Sanders goes into the convention in July in Milwaukee with a plurality of delegates, meaning he has more than anyone else,” Marans told Hill.TV.

Marans added that “most folks inside Bernie Sanders’ inner circle are not yet freaking out” about a potential brokered convention.

To win the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination outright, a candidate needs a majority of pledged delegates, 1,991. That number could prove difficult to reach this year because of a new rule by the Democratic National Committee.

Previously, superdelegates – senior or former Democratic leaders, including former presidents and lawmakers – were able to vote on the first ballot at the convention, allowing candidates who had a plurality of delegates to capture the nomination on the first ballot. Superdelegates are now ineligible to vote until the second ballot.

Marans said it would be disastrous for Democrats if Sanders were to have a plurality of delegates but lose the nomination in a brokered convention. 

“It would make the Iowa caucus look like a success,” Marans said.