Political activist Ralph Nader said Monday Democrat superdelegates are Hillary Clinton's "cronies."
During a Facebook Live interview with
The Hill, Nader blasted the Democrat party's presidential nomination process.
"If he had an open primary, he'd have beaten her," Nader said of Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders. "It should be open to all voters. And that helped her; that gave her a big advantage.
"The Democrats years ago didn't want an insurgency like Bernie Sanders, so they rigged it. They're called superdelegates. They're members of Congress, they're Democratic governors, they're party hacks. ... Hillary's cronies, mostly."
Nader appeared on the presidential ballot four times as a Green Party (1996, 2000), and Independent (2004, 2008) candidate. He said Sanders has too much to lose if he were to switch and run as an Independent candidate for president.
"He is a Democrat, let's face it," Nader said. "He has a committee chair in the Senate, he has a status in the Senate. He doesn't want to jeopardize that."
Sanders has
frequently complained about the superdelegates that are part of the Democrat party's nomination process for president, but at this point in the campaign season, he needs those votes to help make up a sizable deficit (2,240 delegate votes to 1,473). Clinton needs to reach 2,383 votes in order to clinch the nomination.