Hillary Clinton

June 18, 2016
An Open Letter to our Democratic Colleagues and Party Leaders
To: Secretary Hillary Clinton
Senator Bernie Sanders
Hon. Debbie Wasserman-Shultz, Chair, DNC
Hon. Nancy Pelosi, House Democratic Leader
Senator Harry Reid, Senate Democratic Leader

To Whom It May Concern:

The Democratic Members of the Congressional Black Caucus recently voted unanimously to oppose any
suggestion or idea to eliminate the category of Unpledged Delegate to the Democratic National
Convention (aka Super Delegates) and the creation of uniform open primaries in all states.
The Democratic Party benefits from the current system of unpledged delegates to the National
Convention by virtue of rules that allow members of the House and Senate to be seated as a delegate
without the burdensome necessity of competing against constituents for the honor of representing the
state during the nominating process.

The origin of the unpledged delegate selection process authored by Congressman James E. Clyburn, DSC
is attached to this letter. It accurately chronicles the use of the unpledged delegate system and sets
out with particularity the reasons why this system was enacted many years ago. The system of allowing
members of Congress to serve as unpledged delegates has worked quite well. There is no need to
succumb to the pressure of a few individuals to make this change. We oppose any change to the
current delegate selection process for members of Congress.

The CBC is opposed to any state nominating system that would allow independent or Republican voters
to participate in a Democratic Primary. The Democratic Party primary is the process used by the party to
allow political aspirants to compete for their party’s nomination. Allowing independent or Republican
voters to participate in the Democratic primary would dilute minority voting strength in many districts
across the country.

Finally, the members of the Congressional Black Caucus respectfully request that we be included in any
discussion that will change the system of unpledged delegates. In addition, we should be included in
any discussion that would seek to change the nominating rules to open primaries. These are significant
issues that directly affects our ability to effectively participate in the political process.

Thank you.

Sincerely,
G.K. Butterfield
G. K. Butterfield, Chairman
Democratic Caucus of the Congressional Black Caucus