Hillary Clinton has a formidable lead with superdelegates, the unelected delegates who are free to support any candidate at the national convention. In one recent count, the former secretary of state has already locked up 394 delegates and super delegates, to Sanders' 44. | AP Photo Sanders allies warns superdelegates to not 'thwart the will of the people'

An influential ally of Bernie Sanders is pressuring superdelegates to back whomever the voters choose, warning that the Democratic party will not tolerate those who "thwart the will of the people.”

Hillary Clinton has a formidable lead with superdelegates, the unelected delegates who are free to support any candidate at the national convention. In one recent count, the former secretary of state has already locked up 394 delegates and super delegates, to Sanders' 44.


In an apparent effort to blunt that momentum, MoveOn.Org Political Action — which has endorsed the Vermont senator — issued a petition Wednesday night calling on Democratic superdelegates to pledge to back who the voters and caucus-goers have selected in their states during the Democratic National Convention this summer.

“We will not allow Democratic Party insiders to determine the outcome of this election. Democratic voters will decide the party’s nominee,” Ilya Sheyman, who is the executive director, said in a statement. “There is of course no problem with superdelegates choosing to endorse whichever candidate they prefer, but when it comes time to select the party’s nominee at the Democratic Convention, superdelegates must stand with voters and honor the outcomes of primaries and caucuses held across the country. The party’s base simply will not tolerate any anti-democratic efforts by superdelegates to thwart the will of the people.”

The petition reads: “The race for the Democratic Party nomination should be decided by who gets the most votes, and not who has the most support from party insiders. That's why we're calling on all the Democratic superdelegates to pledge to back the will of the voters at the Democratic Party convention in Philadelphia.”

MoveOn.Org has pledged to track all the commitments from the superdelegates and target them with grassroots and local petitions to pressure them into keeping with their original commitments.

In a sign of how much sway the superdelegates are already having, Sanders and Clinton came in a tie in the delegate count in New Hampshire, even through the Vermont senator walloped Clinton by 22 percentage points. Because Clinton already has the support of 6 superdelegates in the state, both candidates ended up with 15 delegates there.