Sen. Bernie Sanders Blasts Superdelegate System

Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., took aim at the Democratic Party’s superdelegate system, which contributed to Hillary Clinton gaining the Democratic nomination for president in 2016 instead of him.

"Right now, as you know, and when I ran, you had many, many superdelegates. Almost all of them ended up supporting Hillary Clinton… and I think there is a widespread understanding that just is not right. In fact, you had superdelegates voting for Clinton in states that I won pretty handsomely," Sanders said in a Wednesday interview with Washington Post Live.

Democratic National Committee chairman Tom Perez, along with members of the Clinton and Sanders teams, have formed what Sanders and Clinton call the Democratic Unity Reform committee to look at the issue, Sanders said.

The number of superdelegates should be cut “by about 70 percent,” Sanders said in the interview.

"Some people say we should eliminate them all, and I can certainly support that,” Sanders added.

Superdelegates are delegates to the Democratic convention that are unpledged—meaning they are not required to follow results from primaries and caucuses when they vote; pledged delegates are required to do so, The New York Times reported.

The influence of superdelegates caused tension between the Clinton and Sanders camp during the 2016 election, The Times reported.

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