Who's Winning The "Endorsement Race" Among Democrats

There was a huge brouhaha about endorsements (especially of super-delegates) in the 2016 race for the Democratic nomination. Bernie Sanders supporters thought it was unfair that most party officials and politicians supported Hillary Clinton over Sanders (even though those officials had the same right to support the candidate of their choice just like all other Democrats).

The Sanders supporters tried to claim that it was the super-delegates that unfairly nominated Clinton. It was a ridiculous and false argument. Even if no super-delegate votes had been counted, Clinton had a substantial lead over Sanders among other delegates, and would have been nominated anyway.

But in an effort to make their nominating system seem more fair, the Democratic Party changed their rules for the 2020 nomination. There are still super-delegates, but their votes will not be counted in the first round of voting at the national convention.

That does not mean the endorsement of party officials and politicians are no longer important. Many Democrats look to see who their favorite officials and politicians are supporting -- and if no one is nominated in the first round of voting, the super-delegates will have their votes counted in the second round.

So, while endorsements may not be as important as in the past, they do still have value. That brings up the question -- Who is winning the "endorsement race" so far?

The good folks at fivethirtyeight.com are keeping track of endorsements. And they have a point system to weigh the importance of those endorsements. They give:

10 points -- for former presidents, vice-presidents, and national party leaders
8 points -- for governors
6 points -- for U.S. Senators
5 points -- for former nominees, former national party leaders, and 2020 candidates who dropped out
3 points -- for U.S. Representatives and mayors of large cities
2 points -- for statewide elected officials and state legislative officials
1 point -- for other Democratic National Committee members

As you can see in the chart above, Cory Booker and Kamala Harris are leading with 55 points each. Amy Klobuchar is second with 44 points. Bernie Sanders is fourth with 21 points. And rounding out the top five is Joe Biden with 18 points (although that could quickly change if he officially enters the race).

The charts below show the party officials and politicians who have endorsed each candidate.