╌>

A 2016 hangover: Some Bernie Sanders supporters still upset

  

Category:  News & Politics

Via:  ender  •  5 years ago  •  36 comments

A 2016 hangover: Some Bernie Sanders supporters still upset

S E E D E D   C O N T E N T



IOWA CITY, Iowa — It was hard to miss Cheri Pichone's excitement about Bernie Sanders' second presidential run. She showed up to a recent Iowa rally decked out in Sanders gear, complete with a figurine of the Vermont senator and progressive icon.

But underneath her exuberance, the 36-year-old was still mad about the last Democratic primary, when Sanders' bid for the presidency fell short to Hillary Clinton.

"They cheated," she said, directing much of her anger at the Democratic National Committee. The party establishment, she lamented, was "actively working against us."

Pichone voted for Green Party candidate Jill Stein in 2016 and said she may vote for a third party again if Sanders doesn't clinch the nomination.

She's emblematic of a persistent group of Sanders supporters who won't let go of the slights — real and perceived — from the last campaign. The frustration is notable now that Sanders is a 2020 front-runner, raking in $18.2 million in the first quarter, downplaying concerns about DNC bias and highlighting his success in bringing the party around on liberal policies it once resisted.

Some establishment-aligned Democrats worry the party could lose in 2020 if lingering concerns about the last primary aren't put to bed.

"It has the potential to escalate, and it has the potential to help re-elect Donald Trump," said Mo Elleithee, a former spokesman for Clinton and the DNC.

The acrimony stems from a fiercely fought campaign and a sense among Sanders loyalists that party leaders privately favored Clinton. DNC leaders at the time scheduled fewer debates than Republicans and sometimes slated them for nights with low television viewership. Often opaque delegate allocation rules also contributed to a belief among some Sanders supporters that the primary was essentially rigged.

According to data from the Pew Research Center, the tension took a toll. About 81% of people who consistently supported Sanders during the primary season and were confirmed to have voted in the general election said they ultimately voted for Clinton, while 11% said they supported Stein or Libertarian nominee Gary Johnson, and 3% supported Trump.

In a closely contested election, those moves away from Clinton may have factored into the results.

Since the election, party leaders have sought to smooth things over with Sanders and his supporters. DNC Chairman Tom Perez is planning a robust debate schedule. The rules governing superdelegates — party insiders who overwhelmingly backed Clinton — have changed.

Sanders has publicly expressed confidence in the process this time around, but in terms that suggest he won't soon forget 2016.

"In 2016, I think I will not shock anybody to suggest that the DNC was not quite evenhanded," he said during a CNN town hall in February. "I think we have come a long way since then, and I fully expect to be treated quite as well as anybody else."

In an interview Friday, Sanders campaign manager Faiz Shakir echoed that optimism.

"If you're talking to anyone at the Democratic National Committee who's there now, I'm sure they will tell you that their relationship with the Bernie Sanders campaign is great and that we are operating in good faith and we are talking to each other on an almost daily basis," he said. "Anyone suggesting that there's any kind of friction there is living in the past. They are living with some grudges that they are holding onto from a bygone time."

Still, the campaign has made some moves that raise questions about whether resentments from 2016 will linger. Briahna Joy Gray, formerly a liberal journalist who voted for Stein, is Sanders' national press secretary. Nina Turner, who called the DNC "dictatorial and pompous" in 2017, is one of his national campaign chairs.

And some of Sanders' most loyal supporters in the crucial early voting states say they're not ready to fully move on.

Nicholas Shaw, a 39-year-old from Concord, New Hampshire, spent his recent birthday watching Sanders speak. Like Pichone, he said he wouldn't support the Democratic nominee if it's anyone other than Sanders.

"If they steal it from him again, I'll go independent or something other than that," he said. "The Democratic Party's on their last edge of me if they kind of try to screw him again."

Even in South Carolina, where Sanders lost momentum after a 47-point drubbing from Clinton, some supporters are still smarting over a process they believe was rigged.

"Lost might be a stretch," said Tom Amon, of Summerville, when asked how he felt about Sanders' ability to perform better in South Carolina than he did in the 2016 primary. "It was stolen from him."

___

Woodall reported from Manchester, New Hampshire, and Kinnard reported from North Charleston, South Carolina. Associated Press writer Juana Summers in Davenport, Iowa, contributed to this report.

By ALEXANDRA JAFFE, HUNTER WOODALL and MEG KINNARD, Associated Press


Tags

jrDiscussion - desc
[]
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1  seeder  Ender    5 years ago

Bernie supporters still butthurt. Can someone please explain to them that Bernie is not actually a Democrat...

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
1.2  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Ender @1    5 years ago

Please try to explain that to me as I'm aware he signed the Democratic pledge. 

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.2.1  seeder  Ender  replied to  Dean Moriarty @1.2    5 years ago

Did he change his affiliation...again....

He filed to run for re-election for the Senate in 2024 in Vermont as an independent.

From your link.

 
 
 
Dean Moriarty
Professor Quiet
1.2.2  Dean Moriarty  replied to  Ender @1.2.1    5 years ago

Doesn't matter this was in the pledge he just signed. 

"Last week, the Democratic National Committee introduced a “loyalty pledge” for presidential candidates to affirm and sign, including a line stating, “I am a Democrat.”"

So he signed a pledge claiming "I am a Democrat".  How can he be seen as anything other than the pledge he just signed? 

 
 
 
Ender
Professor Principal
1.2.3  seeder  Ender  replied to  Dean Moriarty @1.2.2    5 years ago

Honestly, I think pledges are idiotic. I would never sign one.

Bernie is just an opportunist. He is one of those people that will use what he can to advance himself.

I guarantee that if he doesn't get the nomination, his affiliation will quickly revert.

 
 
 
Buzz of the Orient
Professor Expert
3  Buzz of the Orient    5 years ago

He's bound to get the support of the Pro-Palestinian BDS supporters and Communists.

 
 
 
Rmando
Sophomore Silent
4  Rmando    5 years ago

Bernie is a figurehead of the socialist take over of the Democrat party- not that they needed much of a push in that direction anyway. I still find it hard to believe anybody would run him as the actual nominee considering they'd want more physical contrast to Trump.

 
 
 
JBB
Professor Principal
5  JBB    5 years ago

It is noteworthy that not even one Bernie supporter is here supporting Bernie. No, it is just far far far rightwing Trumpsters who are desperate that it is Bernie versus Trump in November of 2020..

News Flash - The goddamn gop does not get to pick the Democratic nominee.

Keep Wishing. Oh, just FYI, HRC got mllions more primary votes than Bernie...

 
 

Who is online

Vic Eldred


53 visitors