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Kentucky Democrats Expect Peaceful State Convention

Kentucky Democrats will hold their state convention in Louisville on Saturday, electing delegates who will represent the party at the Democratic National Convention.

The event is expected to be peaceful compared to the Nevada Democratic convention, in which Bernie Sanders supporters reportedly threw chairs and loudly protested convention speakers.

Daniel Lowry, communications director for the state Democratic Party, said he seriously doubts any problems will arise.

“Obviously we have to be aware of any possibility with security, so there will be law enforcement on hand to make sure things are safe and secure,” Lowry said. “But I don’t see any problems because our rules are pretty set.”

Hillary Clinton won Kentucky’s May 18 Democratic Presidential Primary by a margin of about 1,900 votes. Clinton earned 28 delegates from the election while Sanders earned 27.

Kentucky also has five unpledged superdelegates — two of whom (Congressman John Yarmuth and Charlotte Lundergan) have already expressed support for Clinton.

A recanvass of votes requested by Sanders’ campaign yielded 13 more votes for him than the initial results — not enough to change the delegate outcome.

Sanders trails Clinton in the overall pledged delegate count (that is, non-superdelegate) 1,501 to 1,769. He needs to win 69 percent of the remaining 761 delegates in order to get a majority of pledged delegates and Clinton needs just 34 percent.

Meanwhile, Clinton has 543 superdelegates, making her just 71 delegates shy of the 2,383 delegate threshold for securing the nomination. Sanders has 44 superdelegates.

Kentucky’s convention starts Friday night with a Wendell Ford Dinner featuring Julian Castro, secretary of the U.S Department of Housing and Urban Development. Castro has been mentioned as a possible vice presidential pick for Clinton.