In a stinging rebuke to Democratic leaders hoping to unite the Party, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Saturday he wants Democratic National Committee chair Debbie Wasserman Schultz to lose to her primary opponent in Florida. A loss could effectively end her chairmanship of the DNC.
Asked by CNN whether he prefers Wasserman Schultz or her primary opponent, Tim Canova, Sanders left no doubt about his desire to see the DNC chair defeated.
“Well, clearly, I favor her opponent,” Sanders told CNN. “His views are much closer to mine than as to Wasserman Shultz’s.”
Sanders added that he would not reappoint Wasserman Schultz as DNC chair should he win the White House.
Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver has previously accused the DNC chair of “throwing shade on the Sanders campaign since the very beginning,” meaning she wanted to see Sanders lose.
The Sanders campaign’s desire to get rid of Wasserman Schultz increases the odds of a tulmult at the Democratic convention in July. Sanders has called for a political revolution, and he may spark a revolt in the Democratic Party even if he loses the nomination to Hillary Clinton.
Wasserman Schultz took the high road. “Even though Senator Sanders has endorsed my opponent, I remain, as I have been from the beginning, neutral in the presidential Democratic primary,” she said, according to CNN. “I look forward to working together with him for Democratic victories in the fall.”
