The two main categories of superdelegates are incumbent Democratic officeholders (Governors, U.S. House, U.S. Senate) and a bunch of party apparatchiks. The latter are actually much more numerous than the better-known ones who can be readily primaried. From Wikipedia comes this breakdown of the 719 superdelegates:
Unpledged delegates represent about 15% of the overall convention votes (4,770 delegates, 4,766 votes) and come from several categories of prominent Democratic Party members:
* 438 elected members (with 434 votes) from the Democratic National Committee (including the chairs and vice-chairs of each state's Democratic Party)
* 20 distinguished party leaders (DPL), consisting of current and former presidents, current and former vice-presidents, former congressional leaders, and former DNC chairs
* 193 Democratic members of the United States House of Representatives (including non-voting delegates from DC and territories)
* 47 Democratic members of the United States Senate (including Washington, DC shadow senators)
* 21 Democratic governors (including territorial governors and the Mayor of the District of Columbia).
As compared with other Sanders supporters, I'm not as hostile to the superdelegate status of the elected officials. They've at least been
elected directly by the people and, as you point out, can be primaried.
It's the role of the party functionaries that's fundamentally undemocratic. Your state is a good example. It appears that, in Washington state, the voters in the primary in August will also choose precinct committee officers. Those PCOs will choose the members of the County organizations and Legislative District organizations, who will choose the members of the Washington State Democratic Central Committee, who will choose the state chair, vice chair, and DNC representatives. The foregoing is what I glean from
the state party's website.
Note how attenuated any popular input is. The PCO positions are on the ballot only where there's a contest which, I'm guessing, there often won't be. Even in a contest, it will be one that's attracted virtually no attention or media coverage, and the vast majority of rank-and-file voters will be suddenly confronted by two or more names that are completely unfamiliar to them. The party regulars will win uncontested seats and will win most of the contests just by having alerted their stalwarts in advance. Then the additional intervening levels of voting mean that the eventual superdelegates are even more removed from the popular vote.
That same web page says:
Want to get more involved in your local party and have a voice in how our party is run? Run to become a precinct committee officer. The deadline to file is Friday!
There's a link there that brings you to
more information about the PCO races, including this little gem:
Local Democratic Party organizations have the right to appoint PCOs to fill any seats left vacant - either because no one filed to run, or because the elected PCO has stepped down.
If you want to wade into this swamp, you have until May 20 to file to run for PCO. To the party's credit, that second link does at least have the information. Good luck to you and any other progressives who go for it!
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