SPOKANE — Some Bernie Sanders supporters among the Washington delegation to the Democratic National Convention said Monday they are not yet ready to support the presidential bid of Hillary Clinton.
At a raucous meeting with his most loyal supporters, the Vermont senator implored his hundreds of delegates to defeat Donald Trump in November. Sanders said it was imperative to elect Clinton.
But Sandra Williams of Spokane said she not ready.
“It was obvious from the crowd that a large number of people were not happy with parts of (Sanders) speech,” Williams said, referring to boos when Sanders urged his supporters to vote for Clinton. “Other than this, he still inspired me.”
Williams is considering voting for Clinton.
“We’re all going to be doing a lot of soul-searching and talking this evening,” Williams said. “We’re going to be doing a lot of talking: talking and thinking about what is in the best interests of everyone.”
Sean Comfort, another Sanders delegate from Washington, also could not say he would support Clinton in November.
“I would say the Democratic Party has a lot to do in order to prove to the delegation that they value the same progressive values we are fighting for,” Comfort said. “We’re going to see what happens at the convention. We want to see what we can do to make this country a better place.”
Sanders was the overwhelming winner of Washington’s Democratic caucuses held in March. He ended up with 74 delegates, compared with 27 for Clinton. There were also 17 super-delegates. Clinton narrowly won the state’s non-binding presidential primary in June.
In other news from the Washington delegation in Philadelphia:
• Gov. Jay Inslee spoke at the delegation’s breakfast meeting.
• Ava Sharifi, an 18-year-old from Spokane, is the state’s youngest delegate to the convention. She is the daughter of Iranian immigrants who was born in the U.S. Sharifi is a Sanders delegate. The recent graduate of Lewis and Clark High School will attend the University of Washington next fall, where she said she plans to major in political science and law.
