William Chrisman Student Named Democratic Presidential Delegate – Youngest in State History

After spending much of the last year and all this winter stumping for Hillary Clinton, William Chrisman junior Rachel Gonzalez will be spending a week of her summer trying to get the democratic front-runner into the White House. Gonzalez was elected one of the state’s Clinton delegates for the 2016 Democratic Convention in Philadelphia. Gonzalez is the youngest delegate in Missouri history!

“Right before it was announced that I won one of the positions, I received a text that said, ‘Voting is in, congratulations! Don’t scream,’” Gonzalez said. “Luckily, I didn’t scream, but I was so excited and honored.

“I didn’t cry there, but when I got home, I did.”

Gonzalez ran against several others vying for one of four Clinton delegate positions from Missouri’s 5th Congressional District, so she was more than surprised when she won.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I’d win, I just thought I’d try and give it my best,” she said. “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.”

Missouri requires delegates be old enough to vote in the November election and Gonzalez will be- barely. She turns 18 in late October. In fact, Gonzalez thought she was such a ‘long shot’ to become a delegate, she never told one of her biggest supporters until the dream came true.

“I didn’t tell my dad I was running until I won,” she said with a laugh. “When I got home that night, I immediately went to tell him.

“First he said, ‘Congratulations!’ and then he laughed, ‘Wait… how much does that cost?’”

Cost notwithstanding, the experience will be priceless!

Watch Rachel’s story on 41 Action News.