DNC Officials Vote To Scale Back Role Of 'Superdelegates' In Presidential Nomination

[oberliner]

A day after scoring dramatic victories in Maryland and New York primaries, progressives have notched another major win in the Democratic Party.

A Democratic National Committee panel has voted to drastically curtail the role 'superdelegates' play in the party's presidential nominating process. The DNC's Rules and Bylaws Committee voted 27 to 1 to block officeholders, DNC members, and other party dignitaries from casting decisive votes on the first ballot of presidential nominating conventions.

Speaking ahead of the vote, DNC Chair Tom Perez said the shift is part of a broader effort to rebuild trust and heal the wounds of the still-lingering 2016 primary. "No candidate should have an accumulated lead, whether real or perceived, before a first ballot is cast," Perez said.

Eliminating superdelegates had been a top priority for Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders in the wake of the 2016 primary. The independent called the vote "a major step forward" in a statement, saying, "this decision will ensure that delegates elected by voters in primaries and caucuses will have the primary role in selecting the Democratic Party's nominee."

https://www.npr.org/2018/06/27/623913044/dnc-officials-vote-to-scale-back-role-of-superdelegates-in-presidential-nominati

[liskddksil]

1. Woot Woot. Only positive news today sadly...nt

[pansypoo53219]

2. TOO LATE. now cheating stays for HOW LONG?

[Garrett78]

3. I don't see this having any impact on who gets nominated.

[OnDoutside]

5. Completely agree. A young, energized Democrat will still win.

[Garrett78]

6. It wouldn't have had an impact in the past either.

[OnDoutside]

7. True too. +1

[Tom Rinaldo]

8. That can't really be known with certainty

Yes I understand that the break down of votes of super delegates in the past has not been such that taking them away would have changed who was nominated. That is the most obvious metric, granted. But compiling their pledged votes votes in a public way from day one of a primary season has been used to create a sense of momentum if not inevitability about the outcome of a race, whereas primary delegates can't be assigned until the actual primaries are held throughout the winter into summer. And don't say that momentum isn't a real force - political campaigns know how to work with it.

I am waiting for the DNC to abolish caucuses now.

[Garrett78]

9. Those superdelegates are still going to make public endorsements.

And they will still switch their support if called for, as many did in 2008.

Caucuses are a much bigger problem.

[Gothmog]

14. The quid pro quo for this change is the DNC rule that sanders supporters hate

In order to pass this rule, the DNC has to adopt a rule that I do like https://www.politico.com/story/2018/06/08/dnc-rule-change-sanders-supporters-634998

Democratic National Committee officials on Friday moved forward with a proposal to force the party’s presidential candidates to identify as Democrats, a move that drew immediate criticism from a top official in Bernie Sanders’ 2016 campaign.

The prospective rule change, approved by the DNC’s Rules and Bylaws Committee, would not necessarily impact Sanders, the independent Vermont senator who ran for president as a Democrat.

Sources familiar with the discussion said officials believed the rule change could help garner support for a separate bid to reduce the influence of superdelegates in the party’s presidential nomination process — a priority of Sanders’ supporters after the 2016 election. Both proposals are scheduled to be considered by the full DNC in August.

I know a number of DNC members and will ask them to add the following to this rule:
1. A requirement that any defeated candidates agree to support the nominee. As a delegate to the National Convention, I swore an oath to support the nominee of the Democratic Party. Sanders delegates also swore such an oath but disregarded such obligation. That is sad. One should live up to their oaths.
2. Require the candidates to share mailing lists with the DNC. Sanders has refused to do so.
3. Agree to vet their delegates to the national convention and agree to be responsible for any poor conduct by such delegates. Under DNC rules, each candidate has full approval rights over their delegates. I was vetted by the Clinton campaign in order to be a delegate. Candidates need to vet their delegates and be responsible for any inappropriate conduct done by their delegates at the convention. There was a ton of poor conduct at the convention including a number of sanders delegates yelling obscenities at my child (who was my guest) and calling her the C-word for not agreeing to get me to change my vote.

Finally, I would expect sanders to apologize to Congressman John Lewis for the conduct of sanders delegates at the National Convention. There was a planned stunt by the sanders delegates to boo Congressman John Lewis at the National Convention. I was warned of this stunt 20 or 30 minutes in advance by my whip. Sanders evidently knew of this stunt and refused to stop it. Again candidates should be responsible for the bad conduct of their delegates.

I would also like to see the DNC abolish caucuses and open primaries. The DNC made Texas drop the Texas two step for the 2016 cycle.

[Gothmog]

11. Super delegates have never changed the result of any primary race

sanders hates super delegates because these delegates knew him from Congress and largely rejected him

[leftynyc]

4. Good

Now get rid of caucuses and open primaries and I'll be happy.

[Gothmog]

10. Horrible decision

Hopefully the CBC can block this idiotic proposed rule change. I really think that the party should ignore the demands of non democrats like sanders

I will be seeing Congressman Al Green soon and will ask him about this

[Garrett78]

13. It really doesn't make any difference. They'll still endorse who they want.

And they'll still ultimately support whoever wins the most delegates. In other words, nothing has changed.

Now if we could just get rid of caucuses.

[mfcorey1]

12. STUPID DECISION! Anytime someone says "boo" the party capitulates!

Those who want this have self serving interest!!! IJS

[George II]

15. I wonder if there was any discussion about changing the rules regarding allowing only Democrats....

....to participate in Democratic Primaries, or anything about potential candidates being required to release their tax returns?

Those would be bigger steps forward than changing something that never affected the choice of a candidate in the first place.