What is an at-large delegate?

Answer 1

An at-large delegate is a delegate chosen by the official state committee members. Unlike a congressional caucus delegate, where a delegate is chosen by their own district in which they reside, an at-large delegate is chosen to represent their entire state based on popular vote. For example, in Kansas, there were 7 seats available, based on the original Feb. 5 caucuses, Obama was entitled to five at-large delegates and Clinton earned two of the total seven state wide.

In Kansas, one of the at-large delegates is a state Rep., one an attorney that headed up Obama's campaign office in Lawrence during the caucuses, one, a lady that worked for our Gov. for nine years, one myself, I work to help get our state officials elected to every office, volunteer much time to the party and the Women's Federation, I am a reporter and a city planning and zoning board member. I honestly do not remember who the fifth person was for Obama, after hearing my name read after the votes were tallied, I was so overwhelmed that everything else seemed a blur at the time!

I can tell you that at-large delegates normally are vetted at some level by the presidential candidate, in my case, I received a letter of endorsement from Sen. Obama prior to being elected at state convention. I do know that out of 109 people trying to be elected as an at-large delegates for Obama, five of those people did receive a letter of endorsement from the candidate.

Answer 2

When there's only one representative for a state, he or she is known as an "at-large representative" because they represent the entire state, not a particular congressional district.