The competitiveness and closeness of the Democratic primary race makes it more riveting, and also means that the nomination now rests on which way the superdelegates swing. Superdelegates are the party’s political ‘insiders’ who make up about 20 per cent of the total delegate count and are free to make up their minds at the Democratic convention. Dhruva Jaishankar explains exactly why all eyes are now on the superdelegates

• What are superdelegates?

In the United States, superdelegate is a colloquial term for over 700 voting delegates at the Democratic National Convention who are not elected through state-level elections and not pledged to vote for a specific candidate. They constitute about one-fifth of the total delegates at the Convention. Formally called ‘unpledged party leader and elected official’ (PLEO) delegates, they are also frequently referred to as ‘automatic delegates’ or simply ‘unpledged delegates’. The superdelegate system was initiated following the 1980 presidential election, to allow the Democratic leadership to retain a greater say in determining the party’s nominee for president.

• Who are the superdelegates?

About half of the superdelegates are members of the Democratic National Committee (DNC). The other half include current and former elected leaders, including all Democratic members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, and all Democratic state governors. They also include all former Democratic presidents, vice-presidents, speakers and minority leaders of the House of Representatives, majority leaders of the Senate, and chairs of the DNC. They range from former presidents Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton, to 21-year-old university student (and DNC member) Jason Rae.

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