Ray Buckley said there "absolutely" had to be some kind of reform to the superdelegate system, but refrained from saying whether that meant reducing their power or cutting them from the Democratic primary process altogether. | AP Photo DNC candidates defer to unity commission on eliminating superdelegates

All three candidates for Democratic National Committee chair on Saturday said they would lean heavily on the conclusion of a special committee concerning whether Democratic superdelegates should be eliminated.

Rep. Keith Ellison, South Carolina Democratic Party chairman Jaime Harrison, and New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley all said they would defer to the Democratic "unity commission" made up of former supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders and former party presidential nominee Hillary Clinton over the question of whether to eliminate or reform the superdelegate system.


The three candidates were asked about superdelegates at a forum hosted by the Ohio Democratic Party in Columbus.

"Let me tell you, there’s a unity commission that has been established and I believe that if we establish a commission to come up with a plan, we should listen to that commission," said Ellison, who was asked the question first. "I’ll tell you what I’m absolutely committed to: that the superdelegates must follow the vote of their state and their district. Look, you don’t want a situation where politicians don’t show up at the DNC convention and don’t act. That’s not that good of an idea. You want them to be involved. But you also want them to represent the majority will of the places they represent and I’m committed to that."

Harrison said he agreed with Ellison.

"I think, one, we have to allow the unity commission to work its will and it's made up of folks that are both the Sanders and Clinton campaigns," Harrison said. "But in addition I do believe, particularly as it relates to chairs and vice chairs of the party, they need to represent the will of their electorate and that’s what we do in South Carolina and I think other states did that as well."

New York Assemblyman Michael Blake, also at the forum and running for DNC vice chair, said he agreed with Harrison and Ellison but cautioned about a system that did not include superdelegates at all. He said that if Republicans had had superdelegates, President-elect Donald Trump probably wouldn't have won the Republican primary.

"There needs to be changes, no doubt about it. Think about on the other side, that if there would have been a superdelegate process, probably less a likelihood of Trump getting the nomination," Blake said. "Sometimes we just have to figure out how to make the system better and what I want to make sure is regardless of what’s happening here, we’ll take the recommendations of the unity commission. Well let’s make sure, let’s figure out how to improve the process first rather than dramatically change it. Because what we don’t want to do as Democrats is dramatically change things and hurt ourselves in the long run."

Buckley, weighing in last, said there "absolutely" had to be some kind of reform to the superdelegate system but he, like the others, refrained from saying whether that meant reducing their power or cutting them from the Democratic primary process altogether.

"The last eight years I’ve been a member of the Rules & Bylaws committee at the DNC and I’ve worked on this issue unsuccessfully but I believe there is a real grassroots support for change in this thing," Buckley said. "I think it’s one piece of the reforms that we do bring real radical reforms to how we do business at the DNC that allow the people out there to trust the DNC once again."

During the 2016 Democratic presidential primary, the superdelegate system was a target of widespread criticism, especially from supporters of Sanders, who trailed Clinton dramatically in superdelegate support. During the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, the Sanders and Clinton camps agreed to establish a "unity commission" to review reforming the superdelegate process, potentially to motivate them to more closely align their support with the results of their respective caucuses and primaries.