Congressmen Richard Neal and Jim McGovern, who represent Massachusetts’ 1st and 2nd Congressional Districts, respectively, have committed to misrepresenting their constituents as superdelegates in the Democratic National Convention, where the Democratic nominee for the presidency is ultimately determined.
Superdelegates should not be confused with earned delegates, which are distributed proportionally in each state according to the popular vote. There are more than 700 superdelegates who can vote for whomever they want at the convention. They include all of the Democratic members of the U.S. House and Senate.
These are people who have a duty to represent the will of their constituents. A majority of superdelegates from congressional districts across the nation have pledged their support for Hillary Clinton, without even considering who their constituents support.
This is the political establishment at work. They fundraise together and for each other. They think they owe each other and special interests who attend their fundraisers favors, rather than fidelity to their constituents.
This is one of the major reasons Bernie Sanders is running for president with the most individual donations in history. That’s how a campaign in a democracy of the people, by the people, and for the people should be funded.
It wasn’t just Neal and McGovern who pledged to misrepresent their respective districts at the national convention. If you look at the map of the Massachusetts primary results, which is available on the New York Times’ website for every state, the representatives of the 3rd, the 6th, and the 9th Congressional Districts have also pledged their support to Clinton.
That’s five out of the nine U.S. representatives from congressional districts in Massachusetts. Numerous other congressional districts across the nation are being misrepresented in the same way. For example, the voters in every district in Colorado, Vermont and New Hampshire chose Sanders.
The political revolution is more than about electing Sanders. It’s about electing people who adhere to their role as public servants in a representative democracy and demanding nothing less.
Michael Seward
Palmer