At a campaign stop on Monday, Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders railed against the Democratic Party’s “rigged system” which favors the establishment candidate, Hillary Clinton.
“We have won 45 percent of pledged delegates, but only 7 percent of superdelegates,” Sanders reminded the crowd, proving the process “makes it hard for insurgent candidacies like ours to win.”
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz responded to Sanders’ rant on Bloomberg Politics’ “With All Due Respect," arguing that the senator is mistaken.
“Bernie Sanders is wrong because we have had these rules in place since 1984,” Wasserman Schultz said. “We have two types of delegates: we have the delegates that are pledged, that … represent voters based on the outcome, and then we have party leaders and other elected officials who have been in the trenches for a long time who have a role, appropriately so, in choosing our party’s nominee.”
“Because it’s never occurred that our party’s nominee has been selected by superdelegates.”
Schultz is unlikely to convince Sanders’ supporters she and the other party officials are not biased toward a Clinton nomination. Sanders only has 39 superdelegates to Clinton’s 520, despite his winning several primary contests. In other words, he and his supporters are right to be upset.
As for Democratic voters, they have made themselves clear: Sanders has a right to remain in the race.