PHILADELPHIA — Sen. Bernie Sanders will put the Democratic National Convention’s “united together” theme to the test Monday night when he takes the stage in Philadelphia and calls on people not to give up on his “revolution.”
Convention organizers hoped to quell unrest from the pro-Sanders liberal faction of their wing with a speakers list that includes major political luminaries of the Left. The lineup features Sen. Cory Booker, D-N.J., first lady Michelle Obama and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
“I think it will be a unifying night,” Democratic strategist Christopher Hahn told the Washington Examiner. “Bernie is speaking and I am confident he will be fully supportive of the ticket.”
The party’s left wing, however, is furious over leaked Democratic National Committee emails that suggest officials favored Hillary Clinton in the hotly contested primary. And that group of voters appears to be in no mood to be unified.
They are also dissatisfied with Clinton’s choice of Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., a pro-life moderate with Wall Street ties, as her running mate rather than selecting Warren or another liberal choice.
They chanted “We want Bernie!” after Sanders said in an address to hundreds of supporters Monday afternoon that he planned to support Clinton in an effort to defeat GOP nominee Donald Trump.
The Democrats have not vetted the speech Sanders will deliver tonight as the final speaker of the evening, but his spokesman, Michael Briggs, said Sanders, “will make it clear that Hillary Clinton is by far superior to Donald Trump on every major issue from economics and healthcare to education and the environment.”
Briggs, however, said the speech would also “send a message to the convention and to the 13 million voters who supported him that they have begun a political revolution to transform America and that the revolution – Our Revolution – continues.”
Democrats put together a convention lineup that they hoped would quell the internal unrest and instead depict a unified party that stands in contrast to the GOP, where delegates for and against Trump clashed in Cleveland last week. Additional speaker Monday night that will appeal to liberal Democrats include Rep. Joe Kennedy, D-Mass., Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-Ore., members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka.
But the unity theme has been overshadowed by conflict.
Earlier in the day, DNC’s ousted Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla., was booed off the stage by pro-Sanders protesters at a breakfast appearance before the Florida delegation.
Wasserman Schultz, despite agreeing to step aside, had planned gavel in the convention at 3 p.m. Monday. She was nowhere to be seen, however, when a group of female House lawmakers, led by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., appeared for a sound check on the convention stage.
Two hours before the convention began, Wasserman Schultz announced she would not gavel in the session, no doubt convinced by party elders her appearance would bring shouts of protest from the convention floor.
“I think with Debbie not speaking and Bernie speaking, that’s going to calm things down a bit,” Florida delegate and Clinton supporter Phil Giorno told the Examiner.
While DNC officials readied the stage for the opening of the convention, Sanders rallied with his supporters in Philadelphia by reminding them of his strength as a primary candidate against her.
“We won 23 Democratic primaries and caucus contests and we won over 1,800 pledged delegates,” Sanders said. “Welcome to Philadelphia!”
Sanders said his liberal movement was in no way ending but is gearing up for the future by supporting more than 100 candidates for offices across the United States.
“This campaign has been a fantastic beginning and from today onward we will continue the fight,” Sanders told supporters.
