Updated February 29 at 6:43 p.m.
If Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) continues to outperform a crowded field of presidential rivals, he could show up at this summer’s Democratic National Convention with a plurality of delegates — but not the majority he needs to claim the party’s nomination.
That’s prompted some nervous Democrats to consider how they might deny him the nomination and install an alternative, even if he’s favored by more voters. In interviews with 93 party officials this week, the New York Times found that many of them would be “willing to risk intraparty damage” to stop Sanders at the convention.
Several top Vermont Democrats, however, think that would be a bad idea.
“You know, we’ve got to keep our eye on the prize here, and the prize is beating Donald Trump,” U.S. Rep. Peter Welch (D-Vt.) told Seven Days. “If a candidate, including Bernie, clearly demonstrates the broadest support in the primary and then the convention outcome is different, I think that would be a challenge … for our success in November.”
Said state Rep. Mary Sullivan (D-Burlington): “I think it would be a big mistake.”
Welch and Sullivan are among Vermont’s eight “automatic” delegates to the convention — or “superdelegates,” as they are more commonly known. The eight include Vermont’s three members of Congress — Sanders, Welch and Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) — as well as former governor Howard Dean because he served as chair of the Democratic National Committee. They also include state party chair Terje Anderson, vice chair Tess Taylor and Vermont’s two representatives to the Democratic National Committee: Sullivan and former state representative Tim Jerman.
To date, four Vermont superdelegates have publicly endorsed their home-state senator: Sullivan, Welch, Leahy and Sanders himself. The rest have yet to make up their mind, though Jerman said he would “probably wind up supporting Bernie.”
Citing their roles as party leaders, Anderson and Taylor said they preferred to remain neutral for the time being. Anderson, however, is a longtime Sanders supporter and Taylor said she would likely back the person who won Vermont’s primary.
In addition to the superdelegates, the state also sends 16 pledged delegates to the convention. They are supposed to (but not required to) represent the preference of voters as expressed during next Tuesday’s presidential primary in Vermont. Those delegates are chosen at the state party’s convention in May and at a follow-up meeting in June.
Due to a rule change orchestrated by Sanders allies after the 2016 election, superdelegates are set to play a diminished role at this summer’s convention in Milwaukee. They will no longer be able to participate in the first round of balloting. But if no candidate emerges from the first round with a majority of the 3,979 pledged delegate votes, 771 superdelegates will be able to vote in the second and subsequent rounds of balloting until a candidate attains a majority.
That’s when a “stop Sanders” play could take place, with superdelegates coalescing around an alternative to the pledged delegate leader.
According to Jerman, it “could be a disaster to try to derail his candidacy” if Sanders holds a significant lead among pledged delegates. “I’m certainly not gonna join a movement whose only goal is to derail Bernie’s candidacy,” he said. But, Jerman added, there could be some circumstances in which he would consider defecting. “What if Bernie had another health event?” he asked.
In theory, Taylor said, there are times when it might make sense for superdelegates to diverge from the popular vote. “But in practice, I’d be very careful about how to use that kind of power,” she said.
Four years ago, as Sanders was trailing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in the pledged delegate count, he argued that superdelegates should hand him the nomination anyway. He has since changed his view. At a Democratic debate last week in Nevada, he said the person with the most pledged delegates should win the nomination no matter what — a position none of his rivals share.
Welch, who endorsed Sanders on the day he joined the race in February 2019, acknowledged that some superdelegates might face a difficult choice — but not him. “I mean, I support Bernie, so it’s easy for me,” he said. “It’s going to be a different decision for lots of other people who don’t.”
Leahy endorsed Clinton during the 2016 election and initially suggested he’d give his superdelegate vote to her. His campaign manager, Carolyn Dwyer, later said he would give it to the winner of Vermont’s popular vote: Sanders. This time around, Leahy joined Welch in endorsing their colleague on the day he joined the race.
“Super delegates will not vote unless there is a brokered convention,” Dwyer said Thursday in a written response to Seven Days‘ questions. “If super delegates do vote, [Leahy] assumes that he will be voting with the entire Vermont delegation, as he did in 2016. Right now he is looking forward to Senator Sanders winning the Vermont Primary on Town Meeting Day.”
Dean, who backed Clinton in 2016, said he plans to stay neutral for now, given his leadership role on a DNC project to improve the party’s data collection efforts. “I think it’s important for me not to put my thumb on the scale,” he said.
As for how he would vote in a brokered convention? “Speculation is something I try to avoid in public,” he said.
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“Four years ago, as Sanders was trailing former secretary of state Hillary Clinton in the pledged delegate count, he argued that superdelegates should hand him the nomination anyway.”
Not true. What Bernie Sanders did say in 2016 is that when he won the popular vote by a landslide in states like New Hampshire, maybe all the NH superdelegates should not be going to Hillary Clinton.
I would encourage (and will contact) superdelegates NOT to support Bernie Sanders even if he has more support over the other candidates.
He is NOT a democrat, and will do more harm than good – pure and simple.
Notice the quisling Dean, is as vacuous as ever!
Gov. Dean is right to hold off on supporting Sanders. That an actual Democrat doesn’t support Sanders’ extreme left-wing philosophy and isn’t willing to support an extreme left-wing non-Democrat for the nomination for our party of course spurs the Bernie Brigade to attack him. It’s so fun to listen to the Bernie Brigade attack anyone who doesn’t support their hero and then turn around and talk about how Democrats should unite and rally around their candidate. Good luck with that. I don’t see it happening.
I for one don’t see that replacing one narcissistic con man with another is a great option.
Sanders and his awful supporters wanted to blow up the Democratic Party and they have succeeded. If Trump wins another term we have Sanders and his supporters to thank.
I wouldn’t vote for the socialist if he was the last rat on earth. He was paid off in 2016 He wants Vt and the United States to be like Venezuela the country that Socialist Bernie Sanders said that Vermont could learn from. Yes, we can learn from, not let socialism take over our state or our Country. DON’T VOTE for SANDERS
When a politician tells you to stop acting on what you believe is correct and that you shouldn’t use the political tools available to you,…run away!
Bernie has taken so many different positions on superdelegates — whatever is in his interest at the moment — that it’s ridiculous.
So the Democrats should give equal status to an “Independent” whom they have allowed float in their punch bowl ? I guess that they are now reaping what they sowed .
I find it interesting that the Bernie trolls on here would side with an undemocratic system that says to the people, “We know better than you who should be our nominee.” Why even have a primary then? These are the same people who cried out against the electoral college in 2016 because Hillary Clinton lost to Trump even though she had more votes than him. You can’t have it both ways. I happen to believe that whoever receives the most votes wins. What a radical idea!
“I find it interesting that the Bernie trolls on here would side with an undemocratic system that says to the people, “We know better than you who should be our nominee.””
Oh, really? Since when does any organization have to let someone who has never been a member of that organization (and who for decades has done nothing but sh** on that organization) tell them how to run their organization? Since when does an outsider get to demand that the organization must change its rules to favor him? Since when does any organization even have to let someone who isn’t a member of that organization run for a position within that organization (i.e., its nominee)? Especially someone who wanted to “primary” President Obama in 2012 and who hardly supported the organization’s 2016 nominee?
When your in a game you have to play by the rules. The rules regarding how many delegates are needed to secure a nomination are set and have nothing to do with who has the most pledged delegates if that threshold is not met. Candidates and their supporters might complain; trying to somehow rework perceptions or find ways to take an unfair advantage, but this is akin to trying to work the refs. or taking a flop in basketball and usually does not succeed. It can make the one doing it look childish and/or petty and can backfire especially when you get to the general election. ( see Hilary in 2016).
Far better for candidates to stop whining, give it your best and play a clean game. The real prize is in November and the real winner needs to be not one particular individual but our country which is in desperate need of new leadership.
Vermont superdelegates — what a scary bunch!