CHICAGO—Democrats resolved one of the thorniest internal rifts of the 2016 campaign by reducing the clout of party insiders and elected officials in picking its next presidential nominee.
Democratic National Committee members voted Saturday to strip from so-called superdelegates—a group that includes DNC members, federal lawmakers, governors and past presidents and party chairmen—the right to vote on the first presidential ballot at the party’s national convention.
The committee adopted the new rules by acclamation after a procedural measure to advance the rules passed with 75% of the vote.
The superdelegate issue became a cause célèbre for supporters of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders during his 2016 presidential campaign.
In 2016, the vast majority of the party’s superdelegates backed Hillary Clinton, helping her boost an insurmountable delegate lead ahead of the 2016 national convention. Sanders and his supporters argued the arrangement favored establishment candidates against insurgent outsiders with popular support.
There were 716 superdelegates in 2016, about 15% of the party convention’s 4,700 delegates.
An expanded version of this report appears on WSJ.com
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