Some Bernie Sanders delegates may walk out of the Democratic National Convention if Sanders doesn’t win the party’s presidential nomination during Tuesday’s roll call vote in Philadelphia. John Hendrick – a Sanders delegate from Madison – says he will “absolutely not” be one of them.
Wisconsin has 96 delegates to the DNC – 49 are expected to vote for Sanders and 47 for Clinton, but Clinton has about 400 more delegates than she needs to win the nomination.
“We have a lot of work to do, and people chose me to come to the convention,” Hendrick said. “In the 2nd Congressional District it was very competitive to come to the convention, so I’m going to work as hard as I can right through the end.”
Hendrick says he’s concerned the party platform hasn’t taken a strong enough stand against the Trans Pacific Partnership. “I don’t want us to be beat up on the trade issue, when all of our leaders and many of our delegates oppose the Trans Pacific Partnership.”
Michael Childers of Madeline Island – also a Clinton delegate – suspects Sanders supporters will evaluate Hillary Clinton and decide she is far more progressive than Donald Trump – but that may not happen this week. “It takes time. People have energy, enthusiasm, disappointment when a candidate loses. We’ve all been there.”
Childers says conventions are “a special time” and he suspects the party will ultimately unite.
Seventy-eight-year-old Gretchen Hoover of Madison backed Hillary Clinton in 2008 and she’s a first-time delegate to her party’s national convention this year. She says younger women – who are more likely to support Bernie Sanders – weren’t around when abortion was illegal or when women were denied entry to most professions.
“I love the young women, I love that they’re involved, they just haven’t been there for the fight. And those fights could happen again. We can’t let our guard down.” Hoover says Democrats are in the midst of an important “healing period” – but she also expects most Sanders supporters to eventually come to the conclusion that Clinton is a better choice than Donald Trump.