Jonathan Bernstein, Columnist

The Case for Superdelegates Is Stronger Than Ever

Ditching them would be a gigantic, self-inflicted error for the Democratic Party.

November 20, 2017 at 1:00 PM UTC

Jonathan Bernstein is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering politics. A former professor of political science at the University of Texas at San Antonio, he wrote A Plain Blog About Politics.

Standing against the supers.
Photographer: Alex Wong/Getty Images

Provide news feedback or report an error

Site feedback:

Take our Survey

Leading Democrats from Tim Kaine to Bernie Sanders are waging a war against superdelegates as part of the Democratic presidential nomination process. But ditching them would be a gigantic self-inflicted error.

The case for the supers is stronger than ever in the era of celebrity candidates and foreign interference in elections, regardless of what the populists and good government folks believe. In fact, the supers are part of a solution to all kinds of potential breakdowns in the modern nomination system. Democrats would be foolish to throw them away.