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Wednesday, March 27, 2024 | Back issues
Courthouse News Service Courthouse News Service

Sanders Fans Say Clinton|Must Work to Earn Their Votes

PHILADELPHIA (CN) — With Hillary Clinton just hours away from officially accepting the Democratic party nomination for president, she still has work to do to reach out to supporters of Bernie Sanders still not sold on her message.

One of the most noticeable subplots of the Democratic National Convention has been the uneasiness some of Sanders' supporters have felt in embracing the Democratic nominee.

Sanders ran a spirited and surprisingly competitive campaign against Clinton in the primary season but fell short of earning the nomination.

Though they were able to win a number of policy points on the party's platform, some Sanders supporters have vocally voiced their displeasure about the way the election went, especially in the wake of the release of a set of DNC emails that seem to show the party throwing its weight behind Clinton.

Sanders supporters at the Wells Fargo Center have donned florescent green shirts for Clinton's speech that read "Enough is Enough," a sign of their displeasure with the way the party handled the primary election.

Some of the delegates would like to hear Clinton reach out to the Sanders supporters in her speech Thursday night and assure them they will not be forgotten going forward.

"I would like to hear her put something out to the young Bernie supporters to give them some hope that she is going to include them in her campaign," Pennsylvania delegate Kathleen Hendricks told Courthouse News.

Though Hendricks has not fully backed Clinton yet, she said she would if there was some dialogue between the nominee and Sanders' supporters to show Clinton hears them.

Some who have already gotten behind Clinton say she has an obligation to win over the 13 million people who cast votes for the Vermont senator.

There are some delegates who have ruled out voting for Clinton altogether, but both Clinton and Sanders delegates say the strongest anti-Hillary voices represent a very small number of Sanders backers.

Then there are those in the Sanders delegation that sit somewhere in the middle, between backing Clinton and crossing her off their list entirely.

They hope for a sign from the campaign that their concerns are being heard, but demand action rather than simple promises.

"We've heard unity speech after unity speech and we feel like that's a lot of talk and not a lot of action," Kentucky delegate Jessica Wells told Courthouse News.

South Carolina delegate Randy Ra Shad Frazier-Gaines said there is nothing he could hear from Clinton Thursday night that would put him firmly behind her in November, saying he will vote for the person who earns it.

His biggest concern is winning changes to the way future elections go, saying the revelation of the DNC emails hurt his confidence in Clinton and the campaign and might have soured some first-time voters on the party.

Even though Sanders endorsed Clinton and has repeatedly urged his supporters during convention week to do the same, Frazier-Gaines said his fellow delegates will not just fall in line because their preferred candidate told them to.

"No one can just snap their fingers and tell me to do something," Frazier-Gaines said. "And that's 13 million people."

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