Gabbard Seeks to End Superdelegate System

WASHINGTON — Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) has launched an online petition supporting an end to superdelegates in the Democratic Party.

“The current system is designed to stand against grassroots activists and the will of the voters,” said Gabbard. “Whether you are a Bernie Sanders supporter or a Hillary Clinton supporter, we should all agree that unelected party officials and lobbyists should not have a say in who the presidential nominee of our party is.”

Rep. Tulsi Gabbard

In February, Gabbard resigned as vice chair of the Democratic National Committee and endorsed Sanders for president.

Before the March primary in Hawaii, which Sanders won, Gabbard appeared in a political ad in which she noted that Sanders had voted against the Iraq War and would “end the costly interventionist wars we’ve been engaging in for the past 15 years, and focus on investing in our own communities and rebuilding our own nation.”

She was the only member of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus and of the Hawaii congressional delegation not to support Clinton.

Sanders is an outspoken critic of the current nomination process, under which every Democratic governor and member of Congress and all elected members of the DNC are automatically superdelegates.