The episode was symbolic of the Democratic presidential primary at large that has seen insurgent Sanders supporters attempt to wrest control from the more established Clinton delegation across the country.
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Merkley said the political movement and agenda started by Sanders – on ending big money in politics and other issues – was bigger than one person and would be stymied without a Democrat in the White House. “If we don’t work together and fight together to defeat that, then we’re going to have a serious problem”.
“The challenge that exists going into the general election is real”, she said.
“I hope we come out of here with a sense of unity”, said Danny Homan, a party vice president and president of AFSCME Iowa Council 61.
“People care and now know how to get involved, which is what Bernie wanted in the first place”, he said. The divisions in Tacoma in some ways mirrored a similar divide at the recent Republican state convention in Pasco, where many delegates were backers of Texas Sen.
They also passed their party platform Saturday and voted on various party charter amendments and resolutions.
Tempers flared during that debate, as one pro-Sanders speaker labeled Clinton a “war criminal”. Sixty-seven delegates were previously elected at the party’s May congressional caucuses.
“It’s preemptive. I say that the national convention hasn’t even been ended – or – hasn’t begun, and so to say something to go against the process, it negates the process all together”, said Gwartney told KING 5.
Democrats in Washington have traditionally used caucuses to allocate delegates to presidential candidates.
Those delegates, like 67 others already chosen at earlier caucus meetings, will be bound to vote based on the state’s caucus results, which overwhelmingly favored Sanders, an independent senator from Vermont. Clinton will have 27.
The question on many of their minds, however, was how many of these new participants would still be raising their hands for the party nominee after the dust settles at the national convention in July. In addition, 17 superdelegates, most of whom have already pledged their support to Clinton, will represent the state at the convention.
Ravens’ announcement was met by loud cheers when he told hundreds of people gathered at the state party convention that “it’s very clear that we’ve outgrown the precinct caucus process”. “We need to unite all Democrats because we’re all built on the same ideals and we have the same beliefs and values and passions”.
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Bernie Sanders entered their own caucuses to hear speeches for their at-large delegates, Missouri Democratic Party officials put up a blue partition between the two groups that spanned the whole floor of the Mathewson Exhibition Center in Sedalia. As such, those on the Sanders’ side of the room had a disproportionate control over the convention given the fact that Clinton won the state in the April 15 primary by roughly 1,500 votes in a close election. “I remember when people grieved when Hillary stepped down and Obama took over”.
