DNC members discuss rules change to stop Sanders at convention; rising anxiety over his momentum on the eve of voting

In recent DNC executive committee meeting talks, telephone calls and texts, 6 members have discussed the possibility of a policy reversal to ensure that so-called superdelegates can vote on the first ballot at the party’s national convention. This would increase the influence of DNC members, members of Congress and other top party officials, who now must wait until the 2nd ballot to have their say if the convention is contested. 

If, on the second ballot, superdelegates were to throw their support to someone else, tipping the scales, moderate Democrats fear the upheaval that would cause could weaken the eventual nominee.

Don Fowler, a former SC DNC chairman who opposed the DNC’s decision in 2018 to strip superdelegates of power in the nominating process. “But I want to be clear that I would not be a party to any effort to do that in the 2020 convention … It’s bad sportsmanship.”