WATCH: Do DC Lobbyists Have A Bigger Vote Than You?

image
Author: Ben Swann
Created: 23 Mar, 2016
Updated: 16 Oct, 2022
2 min read
Reality Check: Dem Super-delegates Include Registered Lobbyists!Reality Check: Dem Super-delegates Include Registered Lobbyists!Posted by Ben Swann on Tuesday, March 22, 2016

A week ago I told you about the Democratic Party’s superdelegate problem. And that problem may be worse than we first thought.

Could registered lobbyists have a bigger vote in the process than you do?

This is a Reality Check you won’t see anywhere else.

Hillary Clinton continues to hold a delegate lead in her race for the Democratic nomination against Sen. Bernie Sanders. After Super Tuesday, the pledged delegates look like this: Clinton has 1,139 and Sanders has 825.

But as I’ve shown you, when you add in the superdelegates to the mix, the numbers change dramatically. Clinton, in that case, has 1,606 delegates and Sanders only has 851.

There are a total of 717 superdelegates. They make up about a third of all the 2,383 delegates needed to win the Democratic nomination.

Superdelegates are not bound to the will of any voters. They vote according to their own personal preference. The idea is to protect the party from grassroots activists.

And if you don’t believe that, then listen to what the Democratic National Committee Chair Debbie Wasermann Schultz told CNN’s Jake Tapper about superdelegates (also called unpledged delegates):

“…unpledged delegates exist to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don’t have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists…”

IVP Donate

So again, there are 717 superdelegates in total. Like democratic governors, members of Congress, and well-connected democratic state legislators, 463 of those superdelegates are not former or current elected officials. Many of them are party insiders who have spent years working for the party and making large donations.

But it turns out that an analysis by ABC News has found that 67 of those superdelegates—nearly 10 percent—are actually former or current lobbyists. And:

“41 lobbyist superdelegates—almost six in 10 of all lobbyist superdelegates—have already committed to supporting Clinton. A third haven’t yet revealed a preference. Two have stated that they are supporting Bernie Sanders.”

So what you need to know is that the Democratic Party is trying to play down the lobbyist influence, saying that 85 percent of all delegates are selected by the will of the voters. The real question is, why allow even one lobbyist to have a say? Because the truth is, politics is dirty. Politics is about money and power and influence. But another truth—today is a new day and generations of voters are fed up with the same old politics. They want to remake politics in America, and clearly that means remaking our current party system.

Editor's note: This segment of Ben Swann's "Reality Check" was transcribed on Truth in Media on March 23, 2016.

Latest articles

A judge's gavel.
Super PAC Spending Tops $49 Million in Most Expensive State Judicial Election in History
According to Buying Time 2025 election spending data as of March 26, 2025, more than $81.4 million has been spent on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race between Dane County Circuit Court Judge Susan Crawford and Waukesha County Circuit Court Judge Brad Schimel, making it the most expensive state judicial election in US history. ...
27 Mar, 2025
-
4 min read
Man holding his head sitting at a table.
Landmark Legislation Introduced to Address Mental Health Crisis Among Correctional Officers
On the second anniversary of Federal Correctional Officer Blake Schwarz’s death by suicide, an Iowa congresswoman has reintroduced a significant bill aimed at combating the ongoing mental health crisis among correctional officers....
26 Mar, 2025
-
2 min read
American institutions.
Chuck Todd: When It Comes to Public Mistrust in Institutions, The Parties Just Don't Get It
Last week, the national election reform group Open Primaries held a Zoom conversation with former Meet the Press moderator Chuck Todd to discuss voters' growing mistrust in American institutions. It was part of the group's ongoing Primary Buzz Discussion Series. ...
26 Mar, 2025
-
3 min read