Unity is a dirty word for some Bernie Sanders supporters.
PHILADELPHIA — They’ve followed Bernie Sanders for more than a year, from the college campuses of Iowa to the dusty fields of California, but as the Democratic National Convention began Monday, the army of loyalists the Vermont senator amassed during his insurgent campaign for president broke loose from his grasp.
Sanders delegates marched in Philadelphia, with some accusing Hillary Clinton of stealing the Democratic nomination and echoing Republican taunts to “lock her up.”
And at a rally to thank supporters, Sanders was booed when he suggested the best chance to further their movement was to cast a ballot for Clinton and her designated running mate, Sen. Tim Kaine.
Polls show most Sanders supporters plan to vote for Clinton in November, and even some of the leading protesters insist that they don’t want Donald Trump to win the White House.
The cacophony of outrage that marked the first day of the Democratic convention, however, underscored the entrenched resistance to Clinton among left-wing activists.
The noisy protests, which threatened to overshadow Sanders’ own longsought speech at the convention, also revealed that he may no longer be the pied piper of a political movement that he transformed from a fringe campaign into a juggernaut.
The protests may have been the inevitable conclusion to a candidacy that for months stoked supporters’ belief that the process was rigged against them. When Sanders and his top lieutenants now ask his delegates to respect the outcome of that process, many reject the idea.
Symone Sanders, the former spokeswoman for the Sanders campaign, tried to beat back concerns about the primary process with a message on Twitter.
“No one stole this election,” she wrote. “We lost. It’s a hard reality for some.”
Sanders tried to tamp any outbursts within the convention hall, sending a text to delegates saying, “I ask you as a personal courtesy to me to not engage in any kind of protest on the floor.”
But as the convention session began, some weren’t willing to heed Sanders’ call for civility, chanting his name and booing the mention of Clinton.
Many Sanders activists are convinced that one aspect or another of the primary was rigged against their candidate, an outgrowth of complaints from the candidate himself, that the Democratic Party was biased against him and voting rules prevented his supporters from casting ballots in his favor.
Their anger was rekindled in recent days by leaked internal Democratic Party emails that showed party officials writing disrespectfully about Sanders and discussing ways to slow his progress, rather than remaining neutral.