Hillary Clinton will pick six members of the drafting committee at the Democratic National Convention, Bernie Sanders will pick five, and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will appoint four. | AP Photo DNC agrees to give Sanders greater influence over party platform

Bernie Sanders will be able to claim more sway over the convention in July after the Democratic National Committee partially gave in to his demand for more control over the committee that writes the party's platform.

While DNC rules allow the chair to pick all 15 members of the national convention drafting committee, the organization struck a deal with the two campaigns so that Hillary Clinton will pick six members, Sanders will pick five, and DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz will appoint four, party officials confirmed.


It's short of what Sanders lobbied for — he wrote to Wasserman Schultz suggesting that each campaign pick seven members and that the final member be picked jointly by both campaigns — it's still progress for Sanders, who has had an especially rocky relationship with Wasserman Schultz.

His campaign recently accused the DNC chairwoman of actively trying to undermine his presidential bid from the get-go, while Wasserman Schultz has given Sanders grief for the chaos caused by his supporters at the Nevada state convention earlier this month.

The concession will give Sanders a greater say over the party's platform in July, which will give him a chance to inject his progressive policies in a more lasting way.

Consultations between the DNC and the two campaigns were finalized last week and Wasserman Schultz began calling appointees over the weekend, a Democratic party official with knowledge of the process told POLITICO.

The appointments to the drafting committee are being made from lists of about a dozen suggested by each campaign.

Rep. Elijah Cummings will serve as chairman of the committee and Andrew Grossman, former director of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, will serve as platform executive director, the convention committee said Monday.

Sanders' picks for the committee were: Arab-American Institute President James Zogby; Cornel West; Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison; Deborah Parker, an activist on Native American rights; and Bill McKibben, an activist on environmental issues.

"We believe that we will have the representation on the platform drafting committee to create a Democratic platform that reflects the views of millions of our supporters who want the party to address the needs of working families in this country and not just Wall Street, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry and other powerful special interests," Sanders said in a statement.

Clinton named Center for American Progress president Neera Tanden, former State Department official Wendy Sherman, Rep. Luis Gutierrez, former White House Energy and Climate Change Policy director Carol Browner, Ohio state Rep. Alicia Reece, and the American Federation of State, County, and Municipal Employees union's Paul Booth.

The committee also includes two non-voting members, one from each campaign. The Sanders team picked policy adviser Warren Gunnels alongside Maya Harris, who serves as senior policy adviser for Clinton.

