Why does the democratic party have superdelegates

This continues state by state, and usually one candidate manages to rack up a clear majority of the delegates before the convention. In the Democratic primary, there are about superdelegates, making up around 16 percent of the delegate count for the party [source: Ballotpedia ]. These superdelegates are Democratic members of Congress, high-ranking members of the Democratic Party, state governors and former presidents and vice presidents [source: Fang ].

Pledged delegates are selected at the local or state level and are usually ordinary party members who have applied and campaigned for the spots. Superdelegates are allowed to switch their pledges from one candidate to another at the national convention. They can also pledge and switch long before the convention. Some say this gives superdelegates undue influence on the course of primary voting behavior, and because they know this, candidates often swoon over superdelegates to curry their favor [source: Heersink ].

When they do switch, it's usually to reflect the direction they see the vote going. For instance, 30 superdelegates switched from Clinton to Obama in after he had gotten a narrow lead in pledged delegates.

More might have switched, but Clinton dropped out at this point. Usually, though, superdelegates don't change their minds, even when candidates plead with them to shift their alliances, as Bernie Sanders did during the primary season [source: AP News ].

That's where things often get messy. Although Clinton did win a majority of pledged delegates, Sanders and his supporters thought her early endorsements from so many superdelegates might have swayed primary voters [source: Conway ]. In the wake of these conflicts, Sanders and his activists sought several rule changes to the nominating process, which were mostly rejected by the DNC.

However, they did get one big change for the election — superdelegates were no longer allowed to cast their votes during the first ballot at the national convention, unless the outcome was already certain [source: to Win ]. So why does the Democratic Party have superdelegates? And does the Republican Party have anything equivalent?

During the s, the primary system expanded dramatically, giving local voters much more say in who was nominated for president. But after blowout losses in the general elections of and , Democratic Party leaders felt they should take back some control as to who won the nomination. The DNC decided to add superdelegates to the nomination process, who were not beholden to voting for whoever won the primary vote but could vote for whoever they thought had the best shot of winning.

The Republican Party does have superdelegates as well, but they must vote for the candidate who won the primary in their state, so they are less controversial. Superdelegates in the Republican Party make up 7 percent of its delegates, versus 16 percent of the Democratic Party's delegates [sources: PBS , Heersink ].

Superdelegates in the Democratic Party had an almost immediate effect after their creation in At the convention — thanks to superdelegate votes — Vice President Walter Mondale won the nomination over rival Sen.

Gary Hart, who had won more states than Mondale although Mondale won more of the popular vote. In the end though, Mondale lost the general election in a landslide to Ronald Reagan, winning just one state and D. They are at the center of the debate over the degree of influence primary voters have compared to party insiders in choosing the candidate.

Due to controversies over superdelegates , the Democratic party reformed its rules about superdelegates for the election. At the party convention, superdelegates cannot vote during the first ballot. Currently, there are 4, delegates at the Democratic National Convention. Of them, 3, are pledged delegates and are unpledged.

To win the nomination, a candidate needs to win a majority, which, based on party rules, comes to 1, If a candidate gets the vote of 1, or more delegates during the first ballot at the convention, they have won the nomination for the general election. Additional rounds of voting are needed. Pledged delegates become unpledged and superdelegates come into play. The Republican party has superdelegates, too, but they are limited to three per state and have to vote for the candidate who won the popular vote in the nominating contests primaries and caucuses.

Primaries can be scrapped or nominating processes changed when an incumbent president is running for reelection, as is the case for Donald Trump in the election. For the election, Super Tuesday was on March 3. While you mentally prepare for upcoming elections, take a moment to think about how your vote fits into a plurality vs.

And it would be wise to brush up on some of the worst alternatives to democracy and learn the difference between fascism and Naz ism. Feedback Tired of Typos? In , there will be an estimated superdelegates casting votes: the eight delegates from Democrats Abroad each have half of a vote. From to , 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 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.

Following the adoption of new party rules in , 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. 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 presidential election.

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