Sanders made clear when he endorsed Clinton earlier this month that he is focused on beating Republican nominee Donald Trump. And Clinton is hoping that the 13 million voters who backed Sanders in the primaries will heed his advice. Polls indicate she’s in a stronger position to unify the party than Obama was heading into the conventions eight years ago.
But not everyone is on board, and she needs that unity: Clinton’s unfavorables are high and she has a bruising campaign against an unorthodox candidate ahead.
Some Sanders backers are already on board. Rocky Fernandez, a Hayward resident who works for a state senator, said he has seen ups and downs over his 16 years in politics and is happy Sanders made it as far as he did. Fernandez is in Philadelphia as a Sanders delegate as well.
"It's always nicer to be with a candidate that won," he said. "But what was great about this election is that Senator Sanders proved big and bold ideas have an important place in our party, and I am hoping after President Clinton’s presidency to have someone who looks at what Sanders accomplished with small-dollar fundraising, and can do even better."
Fernandez says he will be talking to fellow Sanders delegates this week about how they can make long-term changes to the Democratic Party.
But Fernandez also wants to make sure they leave Philadelphia ready to explain why Clinton would be a good president -- not just focusing on beating Republican nominee Donald Trump.
“Democrats win the campaigns based on hope and we lose the ones based on fear. So I think we could spend a lot of time talking about Trump, but I do also believe that especially young activists want to go out and vote for something, not just against something," he said.
Oakland congresswoman Barbara Lee is also optimistic that Sanders backers will support Clinton -- particularly the young people who have been a cornerstone of his campaign.
Lee recalls her first Democratic convention in 1972, which she attended to support Shirley Chisholm, the first black woman to run for a major party’s presidential nomination. Lee says she wasn’t even registered to vote before Chisholm ran -- and has been involved in politics ever since. But she said the prospect of a Trump presidency may be exactly what is needed to spur Sanders supporters to jump on the Clinton bandwagon.
"Let’s hope also young voters understand their future is at stake -- a Donald Trump presidency, several appointees to the Supreme Court, how scary can that get?" she said.
Alex De Ocampo, a Clinton delegate from Los Angeles, said he remembers watching Clinton throw her support behind President Obama eight years ago. It was sad, he said, but he backed Obama.
"When you realize and compare and contrast Sen. Sanders and Secretary Clinton’s records -- there are so much similarities, there is so much that unites us than divides us in policies and ideas and leadership," he said.
The party is counting on those similarities as it convenes its convention today.
