Kamala Harris: Here's how Treasure Coast delegates say they'll vote at DNC in Chicago

The Treasure Coast's five Democratic congressional district-level delegates have endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris as the party's presidential nominee, according to a letter the Florida Democratic Party released Monday.

That means they're expected to vote for her at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago from Aug. 19-22.

Three St. Lucie County delegates told TCPalm they will vote for Harris at the DNC, but two delegates did not respond to TCPalm's questions.

Who are the Treasure Coast Democratic delegates?

• Bruce Benson of St. Lucie County (will vote for Harris)
• Ellis Bromberg of St. Lucie County (will vote for Harris)
• Felicia Bruce of St. Lucie County (will vote for Harris)
• Jane McLaughlin of St. Lucie County (did not respond)
• Lori Fritsch of Martin County (did not respond)

It was an easy choice to endorse Harris after Biden bowed out of the race, Bruce and Bromberg said.

"I will be proud and thrilled to cast my vote for Vice President Harris. That is why I signed the petition," Bruce said.

Bromberg agreed: "I have been an admirer of Vice President Harris for many years, and I'm obviously not alone. You can see how many people have rallied around her and contributed money in these few days since President Biden announced he'd 'pass the torch' to a next generation of strong leaders."

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How many Democratic delegates does Florida have?

Indian River County will not have delegates at the DNC, according to William Evans, executive chair of Democrats of Indian River County, which is in the 8th Congressional District with Brevard and parts of Orange counties.

"The way the districts were set up, the people that ran for the DNC delegates all came out of Brevard County," he said. "We did not put up any candidates."

Florida's 254 delegates and 19 alternates were selected April 20 in a post-primary caucus.

As of Wednesday, 242 Florida delegates and 3,189 U.S. delegates had signed the letter endorsing Harris , surpassing the 1,976 delegates she needed to claim the nomination, according to an Associated Press survey.

How are delegates chosen?

Here's how the 273 Florida delegates and alternates are broken down, according to Ballotpedia :

• 146 congressional or state legislative district-level delegates
• 30 automatic delegates: Includes members of the Democratic National Committee , Democratic Congress members, Democratic governors, and distinguished party leaders, including former presidents and vice presidents. They can vote for any presidential candidate to be the party's nominee.
• 29 party leaders or elected officials: Most often selected similarly to at-large delegates
• 49 at-large delegates: Elected statewide
• 19 at-large alternates: Attend the DNC, but do not vote unless a pledged delegate is unable to attend.

Here's the formula for how the 146 district-level delegates are chosen, according to the Florida 2024 Delegate Selection Plan:

• Equal weight is given to the total population and to the average of the vote for the Democratic candidates in the two most recent presidential elections

• Equally divided between men and women, so there are 73 men and 73 women. The Martin-St. Lucie congressional district has two men and three women.

Gianna Montesano is TCPalm’s trending reporter. You can contact her at gianna.montesano@tcpalm.com , 772-409-1429, or follow her on X @gonthescene .

This article originally appeared on Treasure Coast Newspapers: Kamala Harris: Here's how Treasure Coast delegates say they'll vote at DNC in Chicago