William Chrisman High School junior claims delegate spot in Missouri

A junior at William Chrisman High School in Independence will be traveling to Philadephia in July — as the youngest political convention delegate, apparently, in Missouri history.

Last Thursday Democrats in the 5th Congressional District picked Rachel Gonzalez as a delegate. She’s pledged to Hillary Clinton.

A news release issued by the Independence School District says Gonzalez is 17 years old. In fact, she won’t be 18 — old enough to vote — until just before the November election.

“I was so excited and honored,” Gonzalez said in quotes provided by the school district. “I didn’t cry there, but when I got home, I did.”

The high school student said she didn’t tell her father of her candidacy until after Democratic electors met to pick congressional district delegates.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d win, I just thought I’d try and give it my best,” she said in the school’s news release.

“I called every person I knew who would be voting to give them some background information on myself, made flyers to hand out when people walked in and I wrote what I thought was a great speech,” she said.

Gonzalez has started a GoFundMe campaign that had raised $2,360 for convention expenses as of Tuesday. She is chairwoman of High School Democrats of Missouri.

Gonzalez is one of 36 Clinton delegates to the national convention in July. There will be 35 pledged delegates for Sen. Bernie Sanders, and 13 superdelegates from Missouri.

This story was originally published May 3, 2016 at 11:49 AM.