The party “superdelegates” who could play a pivotal role in deciding the Democratic nominee for president are lining up behind Joe Biden now that his once-troubled campaign is winning in the primaries.
The superdelegates, who include party leaders and elected party officials, will have a say in deciding the nominee at the July Democratic National Convention if neither Biden nor Bernie Sanders is able to win a majority of pledged delegates during the primaries and caucuses.
Right now, the race is close.
Biden, the former vice president, beat rival Sanders, a socialist U.S. senator from Vermont, in 10 out of 14 Super Tuesday contests on March 3. Biden’s victories breathed new life into his campaign after losses in New Hampshire and Iowa caused him to sink in the polls.
Biden is now leading slightly in national polls and is poised to beat Sanders in key contests, including the Michigan primary on March 10 and the Florida primary on March 17.
But Sanders and Biden remain close in the delegate count, in part because Sanders will come out ahead in the critical California primary and win a majority of the state’s 415 delegates.
Biden, as of late last week, had garnered 591 pledged delegates, while Sanders trailed closely with 531 delegates.
Polls indicate that Sanders is leading Biden in Wisconsin and Washington and is statistically tied with him in Pennsylvania.
If neither candidate can win a majority, or 1,991 pledged delegates, the decision may rest with the superdelegates, an elite group of 771 members of the Democratic Party who are poised to favor Biden.
Every House and Senate Democrat is a superdelegate, as are Democratic governors, former presidents and vice presidents, and members of the Democratic National Committee.
Biden has already won the backing of 104 superdelegates, and more are lining up behind his candidacy every day.
Sanders is backed by just 25 superdelegates, and very few of them are recent pledges.
Superdelegates began coalescing around Biden after it became clear last week that he had beaten rivals to emerge as the centrist alternative to Sanders, whose support of Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and free college and college loan forgiveness left many Democratic lawmakers worried Sanders would not only lose to President Trump in November, but imperil down-ballot House and Senate races as well.
“Joe Biden has a strong, unwavering record of fighting for healthcare for all Americans, voting rights, civil rights, equality, as well as protecting crime victims and reducing gun violence,” Rep. Val Demings, a Florida Democrat, said last week.
Demings is among five dozen House Democrats backing Biden, and more are expected to endorse him in the coming days and weeks.
Sanders is backed by only 10 congressional Democrats, including influential Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont and House freshman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a rising star within the most liberal faction of the party.
Before his election to the Senate, Sanders served as a House member from 1991 to 2007.
House lawmakers said that while they admire Sanders and his passion for reform, he hasn’t developed a connection with many of them.
Sanders has often operated as an outsider in Congress, and his agenda, coupled with a gruff demeanor, has failed to appeal to many House or Senate Democrats.
Biden, in contrast, is a familiar and friendly party figure, having served in the Senate for decades and then as a liaison to Congress for President Barack Obama, who tended to keep lawmakers at an arm’s length.
“Joe Biden is the happy warrior,” Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat and staunch Biden supporter, said.
Democrats who won GOP seats in 2018 are particularly wary of Sanders at the top of the ticket because his agenda won’t sell in their districts.
“I’m not endorsing anyone, except anyone but Bernie,” Rep. Donna Shalala, a Florida Democrat who won in a swing district in 2018, said.
Rep. Peter Welch, a Vermont Democrat who endorsed Sanders more than a year ago, said Sanders remains in a position to win.
“There is just a really long way to go,” he told the Washington Examiner. “There is clearly a progressive lane and a moderate lane. And that’s a fair-and-square competition within the party, about where the majority of the party will be for the nominee.”
Welch isn’t worried about a party fight over the nomination.
“The existential challenge for us is to beat Trump,” Welch said. “And that will glue us together when the nominee emerges.”
