Gabriel McArthur is heading from Denver to Philadelphia for the Democratic National Convention in July to serve as a delegate for Bernie Sanders. Screaming and shouting are a distinct possibility from the Sanders camp, he says.
McArthur and other Sanders supporters are approaching the gathering with the enthusiasm that has powered the effort from the start — holding garage sales, delivering pizza and raising money online to pay for their travel.
But their nerves are raw over the Democratic Party’s perceived slights against the insurgent candidate, and they are clinging to a bygone hope that Sanders can wrest the nomination from Hillary Clinton despite her overpowering lead in delegates.
As these super-fans chant “Bernie or bust,” Democratic officials grow increasingly worried about dissent, especially after a recent state convention in Nevada turned raucous.
Some of the Sanders backers who are going to the convention as delegates for him — and there are more than 1,400 total, and about 40 in Colorado — give party officials little reason for comfort.
“I don’t think we’re going to see a lot of violence, but we are going to see some screaming and shouting if the DNC doesn’t humanize itself,” said McArthur, 24, a delegate from the 7th Congressional District, which covers the western and northern parts of the Denver metro area. “A little civil disobedience is OK. It’s part of being an American.”
Sanders delegates, in more than a half dozen interviews, say that although violence is not their goal for Philadelphia, party unity isn’t their priority, either. They don’t think he has been treated fairly by the party establishment.
“Anything can happen,” said Jesica Marie Butler, 25, a Sanders delegate from Hawarden, Iowa, who volunteers for the campaign and is raising money on for her trip to Philadelphia. “This is a movement. This is a political revolution. It’s getting people involved in the process. We’re going to stick to it.”
Clinton needs only 90 more delegates to lock up the presidential nomination, a number she’s likely to reach June 7, the final major day of primary voting.
She leads Sanders by nearly 300 delegates won in primaries and caucuses, an advantage that grows when including superdelegates, who are party officials who can back any candidate. Most of them, by far, say they will support Clinton.
Still, Sanders has shown no interest in letting up, despite concerns of many Clinton supporters that he is undermining her as Republicans coalesce around Donald Trump. Many Sanders delegates don’t want him to give up, either.
Jo Ann Fujioka, a Sanders delegate from Denver, said she didn’t approve of the chaos in Nevada, where Sanders supporters shouted down speakers and, according to party officials, hurled chairs in protest. The state party chairwoman later received death threats and thousands of angry phone calls.
Fujioka said Sanders supporters are determined, but idealistic and optimistic.
“We should do whatever we can to get him nominated,” she said. “We are in it to win it — as Bernie is.”
Without acknowledging the reality that the nomination is essentially out of reach, the Sanders campaign has signaled it will agitate for changes in the party’s platform and procedures, which could also disrupt the convention.
