The Independent View: Democratic 2016 Super Delegate System

Here is a list showing the stated support for given candidates among the approximately 716 un-pledged delegates, known as "Super Delegates", who will cast a vote at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, to be held July 25–28 in Philadelphia. Unpledged delegates represent about a sixth of the overall delegate count, approximately 4,764, and come from several categories of prominent Democratic Party members:

- 20 Distinguished Party Leaders, current and former Presidents, Vice-Presidents, Congressional leaders, and DNC Chairs.

- 20 Democratic Governors, including Territorial Governors and the Mayor of the District of Columbia.

- 47 Democratic members of the United States Senate, including Washington, DC Shadow Senators.

- 193 Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives, including non-voting Delegates.

- 436 Elected members of the Democratic National Committee, including the Chairs and Vice-Chairs of each State's Democratic Party.

With the exception of the eight DNC members from the Democrats Abroad, who each receive a half-vote, all Super Delegates are entitled to one vote, including when a sitting official or Distinguished Party Leader is also a DNC member.

Candidate	PL	Gov	Sen	Rep	DNC	Total
Hillary Clinton	8	13	38	150	128	337
Bernie Sanders	1	0	1	2	6	10
Martin O'Malley	0	0	0	1	2	3
Uncommitted	11	7	8	40	300	366
Totals	20	20	47	193	436	716

Legend: PL=Party Leaders, Gov=Governors, Sen=Senators, Rep=Representatives, DNC=DNC Members, Total

Mark Halperin and Jennifer Epstein, at Bloomberg Politics, report that with Hillary Clinton’s campaign commitments from as many as 337 of the party’s 716 Super Delegates perhaps giving her an insurmountable lead in the race for the approximately 2,383 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

Could all of this support disappear? Sure. But it will hold as as long as Clinton keeps her large polling advantage; nor are party actors likely to panic while Clinton is leading in head-to-head trial ballots against each of the Republican candidates.

Regular delegates are allocated based on the results of primaries and caucuses; basically, to be selected, a delegate must already be supporting the candidate who wins those delegates. So politicians who want to remain neutral, or who support a losing candidate in their area, couldn't be delegates to the Convention.

Also remember that these delegates are only committed on the first round of voting at the convention. If no candidates has a majority, on the next and future rounds the delegates can support anyone whether they were selected by the voters or supported by the delegates.