By Canadian Press

A noisy minority walks out, as Sanders fans debate: Stay with the Democrats, or go?

Jul 26, 2016 | 1:05 AM

PHILADELPHIA — A noisy minority walked out on Hillary Clinton’s moment of triumph, exiting the arena for a sit-in as the Democratic party completed the roll call that formally nominated her as its presidential nominee Tuesday.

Many ignored the protest, rolling their eyes at its dramatic gestures. Demonstrators taped their mouths to suggest their voices had been silenced. They disputed results showing their man Sen. Bernie Sanders lost by a clear and considerable margin.

Some argued.

One delegate did some quick math about the scope of the protests: there were 1,900 Sanders delegates in the arena, not counting the many thousands of others looking on, and he figured there were certainly less than 190 outside.

”These are the people saying, ‘We are the 99 per cent,”’ said Ryan Turner, a Sanders supporter who remained inside. 

Stay Ahead of the Curve with Kamloops' Trusted Property Manager - Rohit Kumar

May 20, 2025

Question of the Week

Will this Canada Day carry more importance for you, in light of annexation and 51st state rhetoric from the U.S. President?

Jun 27, 2025

Sound Off

SOUND OFF: No, a PET/CT scanner is not an option

Jun 26, 2025

”I think you are now the one per cent.”

Another man described how he’d shouted at fellow Sanders supporters the previous night. He said he lost his patience when he was jeered for standing to applaud Elizabeth Warren, one of the country’s most progressive lawmakers. He shouted back: “No! I’ve had to listen to your (crap) all evening.’”

This discussion matters.

It reflects a key dilemma facing Sanders supporters. Now that they’ve managed to get a hand on the steering wheel of one of the world’s most powerful political vehicles, do they abandon it and jump out — or keep trying to guide it?

Sanders himself appears to hope for the latter. He brought the convention to its feet when he called off the roll-call vote Tuesday, in a symbolic show of unity that officially made Clinton the first female nominee of a major U.S. political party.

Some of his supporters had other symbolic gestures in mind. They’d been text-messaging each other to plan a walkout. So the display of party unity after the roll call lasted barely a minute, before scores streamed out and briefly occupied the media tent.

A Kentucky delegate stumbled into the protest and joined in. Christian Duque said the party was biased against his candidate, as revealed by stolen emails. The U.S. government says it suspects they were stolen by Russia, perhaps in an effort to assist Donald Trump.

Duque said people already felt cheated by a lack of TV debates; debates scheduled at odd hours; the lack of media coverage of Sanders; and the rush to anoint Clinton as a winner before the primaries were over.

He said he felt like he prostituted himself by voting Democrat in 2000, and didn’t want to feel that again. That’s why he’s considering voting Green, or writing Sanders’ name into the ballot.

If that means Trump becomes president, he said, there would still be a point: “To make a statement — that American democracy where people voted for the lesser of two evils is over.” 

Most responded otherwise. The internal dissent inside the convention hall quieted down Tuesday. Speakers were no longer being heckled — including Sanders, who was jeered on Monday but not Tuesday for his decision to back Clinton.

Many have invested in this campaign.

From his perch up in the last row of the nosebleeds Monday, Haakon Thorsen reflected on what the insurrectionist faction managed to accomplish this year. The North Carolina man had joined as a volunteer, canvassed in several states, and wound up on the national platform committee.

He recalled platform negotiations that ran until one and two o’clock in the morning. In Orlando earlier this month, the Clinton and Sanders sides worked out what many here call the most progressive platform in party history.

The Sanders people got planks for a $15 minimum wage; opposition to the Keystone XL pipeline; free tuition at in-state public colleges; public health care expanded to people 55 and over; and a reinstatement of the old Glass-Steagall Act’s limits separating commercial and investment banks.

They didn’t get a ban on oil fracking, just possible limits. They fell short on single-payer health care. Same with a carbon tax; they achieved instead a more nebulous commitment to carbon pricing. On the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade deal, Clinton allies held firm against full-fledged opposition: “They said it was going to be offensive to President Obama. We couldn’t get everything we wanted.”

What they did achieve was a partial takeover of the Democratic party.

One major change spurred by Sanders will see the power of superdelegates severely reduced. In the next election, the weight of party officials in picking a nominee will drop — likely from the current 15 per cent of delegates, to five per cent.

That means the grassroots will have more clout than it has since the superdelegate system was created in 1984. The system was set up to keep the rank-and-file lefties from putting up candidates like George McGovern — who’d lost 49 states in a historic slaughter.

Some are weighing their options.

John Knight participated in the walkout. He doesn’t want Trump as president. But he said he’ll be watching the nominee’s words and actions: “I always reserve the right to make my decision.”

Alexander Panetta, The Canadian Press