From DNC leaked emails, protests and arrests, to mocking comedians and emotional Bernie Sanders supporters, the first day of the Democratic National Convention was rough. It remains to be seen if it will get better for presumptive nominee Hillary Clinton.
Sanders supporters expressed their dissatisfaction with boos and tears. Many were as much against Hillary as they were GOP nominee Donald Trump.
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“There’s a lot of division, on the issues, on the nomination,” California Sanders delegate Shawnee Badger told The Washington Post. Badger has been memorialized on Twitter for her emotional reaction to Bernie’s speech on Monday.
A crying Bernie delegate pic.twitter.com/KUTUM8wyR4
— Betsy Woodruff (@woodruffbets) July 26, 2016
“I know a lot of Bernie people are voicing their dissatisfaction with the party, party leaders, a lot of the people that have gone up to speak have been booed,” she continued.
Badger also denounced Hillary’s running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine, and called for someone more progressive. She said Kaine won’t excite young voters.
Instead of representing Monday’s theme of “United Together,” Sanders supporters had their own goals.
“We’re here to shout out all that we have,” said José Navarrete, a California delegate who was wearing a Robin Hood hat.
“The minute that Bernie endorsed Hillary is the minute that he lost us, completely,” he said. “Not in a sense of us supporting him, but in a sense of we understand you Bernie, we’re gonna part ways, we’re still gonna vote for you at the convention, but you started a political revolution and we’re going to continue, we’re going to go on with it, no matter what.”
Gilda Cobb-Hunter, an unbound superdelegate from South Carolina, said they should allow “Bernie Sanders delegates to get this out of their system now,” and then focus on winning in November.
PBS News Hour spoke with Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) who said he is “proud” to have supported Sanders and is now supporting Clinton and the Democratic Party platform.
“We have made the platform as progressive as it ever has been. We have made real progress,” he said. “And we have really started a grassroots movement here. And it’s time to make sure that we come behind Hillary Clinton to defeat Donald Trump.”
Ellison was optimistic that Sanders supporters will come around. He said “they’re adjusting… They have invested their heart and soul into Bernie’s campaign. But I believe that, with time, we will be very, very tight. I think we already have substantial unity.”
One only needs to look at the signs and listen to the shouting to doubt there is “substantial unity” within the party. Time will tell if Hillary receives any kind of post-convention bump in the polls, which Trump already has. In the meantime, however, polls show that many Sanders supporters would rather vote for a third-party candidate.
