On Saturday a decision was made to significantly reduce the power of superdelegates. The vote at The Democratic National Committee was pushed by Bernie Sanders and DNC Chairman Tom Perez.

Who is a superdelegate?


A superdelegate in American politics is "an unpledged delegate to the Democratic National Convention who is seated automatically and chooses for themselves for whom they vote." (source). Which basically means that they are free to support any candidate they want for the presidential nomination. They currently make up around 15% of all convention delegates. Superdelegates are usually former presidents, big-money fundraisers, congressional leaders, and so on.

After the vote on Saturday, Perez said that "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."

Superdelegates will now be prohibited from voting at the party's 2020 convention. Well, unless the outcome is already sure or if there's a deadlock. And superdelegates will still be allowed to endorse and advocate for candidates.

William Owens, a DNC member from Tennessee, said that "I was skeptical of this proposal, but I'm a team player, and the most important thing we can do is elect Democrats this fall and in 2020." Many DNC members were against the move, as nearly all of them are superdelegates, and not too willing to give up their power.