Bernie Sanders might try to get rid of superdelegates for future elections

Bernie Sanders does not want superdelegates in future elections.

(Image credit: Win McNamee/Getty Images)

published 13 May 2016

Sen. Bernie Sanders has vowed to stay in the Democratic race "until the last vote is cast." And even if he can't clinch the nomination, he'll likely have enough support heading into the 2016 Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia to push for significant changes in his party.

So now the question looms: What kind of changes does he want? An unnamed senior Sanders advisor told Buzzfeed News that the senator's camp may have to choose between "feel-good changes to the platform and fundamental changes to the nominating process" — like, say modifying or getting rid of the superdelegate system, which has been a source of considerable frustration to Sanders fans.

Another possible area of reform could be the party's committees, which Sanders addressed in a letter to Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz last week. "I believe that the composition of the standing committees must reflect the relative support that has been received by both campaigns," Sanders wrote. "That was why I was so disappointed to learn that of the over 40 people our campaign submitted at your request, you chose to select only three of my recommendations for the three standing committees."

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Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

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