POLITICS : Democrats Agree To Compromise On Superdelegates And Other Reforms A “unity commission” proposal will strip two-thirds of superdelegates of their power to vote independently.

 07/24/2016 01:36 pm 13:36:55

The Democratic National Convention’s Rules Committee agreed on Saturday evening to create a “unity commission” that will recommend reductions in the power of superdelegates and enable wider participation in party caucuses.

Hillary & Bernie

Although the commission’s recommendations would not be binding, activists who sought to eliminate superdelegates altogether are celebrating it as a significant victory given their lack of control of the Rules Committee and other key party organs.

The accord, reached after a marathon committee meeting and several rounds of voting, represents an attempt by the party to bridge the divide between supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and presumptive Democratic presidential nomineeHillary Clinton. National progressive groups and an array of Sanders delegates, along with some Clinton supporters, were pushing for the removal of all superdelegates, who are elected officials and other party insiders.

Committee members voted by a wide margin to approve the creation of a 21-member commission charged specifically with recommending that superdelegates who are not governors, senators or members of the House would become pledged delegates, losing their power to vote independently of their state’s voters. By becoming pledged delegates, they would be required to represent the proportional results of the primary or caucus in their state. In effect, some two-thirds of the current total of superdelegates would lose their influence if the commission’s recommendations are adopted.

The Sanders and Clinton campaigns had been in talks on a compromise for several days, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.

Sanders has long argued that superdelegates are a way for the Democratic Party to limit the influence of insurgent candidates. The Vermont progressive often noted that hundreds of superdelegates endorsed Clinton before he even announced his campaign. In that way, even in states where superdelegates did not change the math in Clinton’s favor, they contributed to a perception that Clinton’s nomination was inevitable, according to Sanders. more