Your feedback ensures we stay focused on the facts that matter to you most—take our survey.

Superdelegates and the 2020 Democratic National Convention

From Ballotpedia
Jump to: navigation, search



2020 Presidential Election
Date: November 3, 2020
Presidential candidates
Republican Party Donald Trump
Democratic Party Joe Biden
Green Party Howie Hawkins
Libertarian Party Jo Jorgensen
Overviews
Candidates on the issues • Battleground states • Electoral College • Pivot Counties
Debates
September 29 debate • October 7 debate • October 15 debate • October 22 debate • Democratic debates
Primaries
Democratic • Republican • Libertarian • Green • Constitution
Presidential election changes in response to the coronavirus pandemic
Ballotpedia's presidential election coverage
2028 • 2024 • 2020 • 2016

Superdelegates, also known as automatic delegates, are unpledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention who are free to support the presidential candidate of their choosing. They include members of the Democratic National Committee, Democratic members of Congress and governors, and distinguished party leaders, including former presidents and vice presidents.[1]

Following disagreement over the role of superdelegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, a Unity Reform Commission was formed to revise the Democratic nominating process and reduce the power of superdelegates.[2][3][4]

At the conclusion of the party's national convention on August 25, 2018, officials adopted a measure banning superdelegates from voting on the first ballot at a contested national convention.[5]

This page provides the following resources to help readers understand superdelegates and the 2020 presidential election:

Who are the superdelegates?

Superdelegates are either members of the Democratic National Committee, elected officials serving as a governor or member of Congress, and distinguished party leaders.

Unlike at-large or district-level delegates, they are neither elected by Democratic presidential primary voters nor required to pledge their support to a specific presidential candidate. Beginning with the 2020 presidential election, they are prohibited from voting on the first ballot at a contested national convention.

In 2020, there will be an estimated 775 superdelegates casting 771 votes: the eight delegates from Democrats Abroad each have half of a vote.

Political analysis

From 1984 to 2016, superdelegates were involved in selecting the Democratic presidential nominee on the first ballot. The national party created superdelegates after reviewing the primary process in the 1980 presidential election. The role was designed to give party leaders a voice in the nominating process and potentially prevent a popular but undesirable candidate from winning the nomination.[6][7] During that time, superdelegates never changed the outcome of the electoral presidential primary by shifting the vote in favor of a candidate who had not won the plurality of pledged delegates.[8]

Following the adoption of new party rules in 2018, superdelegates may no longer vote on the first ballot at a contested convention. The following section provides a sampling of how party members reacted to this rules change.

Advocates for reducing superdelegate influence

"Today is a historic day for our party. We passed major reforms that will not only put our next presidential nominee in the strongest position possible, but will help us elect Democrats up and down the ballot, across the country. These reforms will help grow our party, unite Democrats, and restore voters' trust by making our 2020 nominating process the most inclusive and transparent in our history."[9]
"This is not disenfranchisement at all. The person that has their vote taken away and has been purged—that's the person we need to be fighting for. Voters want us to be listening to them, and this is a way to show that we are listening—to show that we are understanding the changes that had to be made after 2016."[10]
  • Jeff Cohen, RootsAction co-founder:
"It’s a big victory for the base of the party. Tom Perez realizes that he’d rather lose 10 dead-enders in the DNC than a couple million activists."[11]

Opponents of reducing superdelegate influence

"We’re not there to circumvent the will of the voters. We’re simply there to vote. Well, not anymore, we’re not. ... So, we superdelegates are now what? Merely the mechanism you default to in case of a tie? Great. I’ve fought for the Democratic Party my entire life, and now I’m one notch above a coin toss."[12]
  • Don Fowler, former governor of South Carolina:
"There is not a membership organization in the world that systematically cuts off its leadership from the most sacred decisions the organization makes.”[13]
  • Karen Carter Peterson, DNC vice chair and Louisiana state party chair:
"Are you telling me that I’m going to go to a convention, after my 30 years of blood sweat and tears for this party, that you’re going to take away my right? Are you so worried about building and gaining the trust of one group at the expense of losing the trust of another? Did you hear me? Losing the trust of another.”[11]

Superdelegates at the 2016 Democratic National Convention

See also: Superdelegates and the 2016 Democratic National Convention

Click on any of the following states or territories to find a list of the associated superdelegates and their preferred candidate, if known, in the 2016 presidential election.

States

Territories, districts, and Democrats Abroad

See also

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Congressional Research Service, "The Presidential Nominating Process and the National Party Conventions, 2016: Frequently Asked Questions," December 30, 2015
  2. ↑ Politico, "DNC 'unity' panel recommends huge cut in superdelegates," December 9, 2017
  3. ↑ NPR, "DNC Group Calls For Drastic Cut In 'Superdelegates' As Part Of Nomination Process," December 9, 2017
  4. ↑ Pew Research Center, "Who are the Democratic superdelegates?" May 5, 2016
  5. ↑ Politico, "Democrats strip superdelegates of power in picking presidential nominee," August 25, 2018
  6. ↑ The Guardian, "Who are the Democratic superdelegates and where did they come from?" April 19, 2016
  7. ↑ NPR, "Superdelegates Primer: What You Need to Know," April 14, 2018
  8. ↑ NBC News, "How Do Superdelegates Work? Here's What You Need to Know," April 11, 2016
  9. ↑ CNN, "DNC changes superdelegate rules in presidential nomination process," August 25, 2018
  10. ↑ CNN, "DNC changes superdelegate rules in presidential nomination process," August 25, 2018
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Politico, "Democrats strip superdelegates of power in picking presidential nominee," August 25, 2018
  12. ↑ USA Today, "Democrats stripped my superdelegate superpowers. Now I'm a notch above a coin toss: Brazile," August 31, 2018
  13. ↑ Vox, "Race is still the central dividing line in the Democratic Party," August 26, 2018
v • e
2020 United States presidential election
OverviewsPresidential Elections-2016-badge.png
Primaries and election dates
Democratic nomination
Democratic debates
Republican nomination
Issues


Retrieved from "https://ballotpedia.org/wiki/index.php?title=Superdelegates_and_the_2020_Democratic_National_Convention&oldid=8599964"