Sanders got smoked in Washington, D.C.’s Democratic primary tonight, but that’s beside the point—Hillary Clinton was already going to be the Democratic Party’s nominee for president. Still, Sanders has sway over the party and its future because he commands a large and loyal bloc of voters that Clinton will need to defeat Donald Trump. It’s long been assumed that Sanders would use his political capital to enact changes in the Democratic Party’s platform and nomination process. And on Tuesday night, we got a taste of what those demands would be.
According to Reuters, “Sanders’s demands for reforms to the nominating process included same-day voter registration; adequate resources to timely count ballots; elimination of closed nominating contests, in which a voter must be registered as a Democrat or Republican to participate; and doing away with superdelegates, who are unelected but pledge support to a candidate.” Sanders has repeatedly argued that these issues corrupt the nominating process, but it’s unclear if Sanders is demanding that Clinton make policy concessions as well. The two are scheduled to meet to discuss the future of the campaign, however, so more information should emerge later in the week.