Three Dominican Democrat “Superdelegates”
Next week Senator Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama will end their tense battle for the Democratic presidential nomination in the US with elections in Puerto Rico, Montana and North Dakota. Under the system of the Democratic National Committee (DNC), Clinton and Obama must win delegates based on proportion of voting in each US state where elections were held (also known as “pledged delegates”) plus hundreds of so-called “superdelegates,” individuals who are allowed to vote any way they choose. Superdelegates include current and former members of Congress, former presidents and high-ranking members of the Democratic Party.
There are 796 DNC superdelegates in total. Of the 796 superdelegates, three are Dominican-Americans: Grace Diaz, Leo Perez Minaya and Maria Luna. Grace Diaz is an elected State Representative in Providence, RI and is the first Dominican woman ever elected to a state legislature in US history. She is also the Vice Chair of the Rhode Island Democratic Party. Leo Perez Minaya is the Vice Chair of the Americas Region for Democrats Abroad, a division of the DNC that represents Democratic Party members who live outside the US. Perez Minaya lives in Santo Domingo. Maria Luna is a veteran New York City activist who is a member of DNC, a Democratic District Leader in New York City, and a New York State committeewoman. She made history in 1983 when she was elected as the first Democratic District Leader in New York state history, and made history again in 1990 when she was elected the first Latina from New York State to serve on the DNC.
Grace Diaz, Leo Perez Minaya and Maria Luna have all pledged publicly to vote for Hillary Clinton for President of the United States at the Democratic National Convention, which will take place in Denver, Colorado on August 25-28, 2008. The superdelegates have received more attention than ever in US history this year, because of the tight race between Senators Clinton and Obama.
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