[rad-green] Progressives Warn Democratic Establishment Against Brokered Convention Shenanigans

*https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/25/progressives-warn-democratic-establishment-against-brokered-convention-shenanigans
<https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/02/25/progressives-warn-democratic-establishment-against-brokered-convention-shenanigans>Common
Dreams          February 25, 2020Progressives Warn Democratic Establishment
Against Brokered Convention Shenanigans*


*A brokered convention would involve party elites—super delegates—putting
their thumbs on the scale to determine the nominee. by Eoin Higgins, staff
writer*

[image: Democratic elites bandying about the idea of stealing the
nomination from Sanders in a brokered convention should think twice, say
progressives.]

*Democratic elites bandying about the idea of stealing the nomination from
Sanders in a brokered convention should think twice, say progressives.
(Photo: Preston Ehrler/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)*

Sen. Bernie Sanders at a *CNN* town hall event Monday night reiterated his
belief that the candidate for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination
with the the most delegates should be the party's standard bearer in the
general election, a view shared by progressives who worry establishment
leaders could use a brokered convention to find a more conservative nominee.

"If I or anybody else goes into the Democratic convention with a
substantial plurality, I believe that individual, me or anybody else,
should be the candidate of the Democratic Party," said Sanders.

Watch:

“If I or anybody else goes into the Democratic convention with a
substantial plurality ... that individual, me or anybody else, should be
the candidate of the Democratic Party,” says Bernie Sanders on how he’d
approach a brokered convention. #CNNTownHall
<https://twitter.com/hashtag/CNNTownHall?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>
https://t.co/t75TJVF0Hs pic.twitter.com/Osy7DFpGfw <https://t.co/Osy7DFpGfw>
— Cuomo Prime Time (@CuomoPrimeTime) February 25, 2020
<https://twitter.com/CuomoPrimeTime/status/1232133684976922625?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

The chance that no candidate enters the Milwaukee convention, set for July
13–16, 2020, without a majority of delegates remains high. Eight Democrats
are still vying for the nomination: Sanders, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.)
and Amy Klobuchar (Minn.), Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii), former Vice
President Joe. Biden, former South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg,
former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg, and billionaire Tom Steyer.

With South Carolina casting ballots February 29 and 14 states voting in the
Super Tuesday contests on March 3, it's likely the field will shrink in the
coming weeks.

Sanders has a delegate lead
<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/23/bernie-barrels-super-tuesday-delegate-117028>
after
winning contests in Iowa, New Hampshire, and Nevada and is the first
candidate in a contested primary to ever win the popular vote in the first
three states to vote. But that lead, thus far, has not translated into a
clear majority, despite February 22's overwhelming victory in the Nevada
caucuses. A strong showing across the country and in big states like
California and Texas on March 3 could bolster his convincing lead while not
delivering a technical majority.

New: Bernie Sanders is barreling toward Super Tuesday with momentum — and
on a path to potentially collect enough delegates by the middle of March
that no one else can catch up with him, say a growing number of Democratic
officials and operatives. https://t.co/d4AF4fpXFi
— Holly Otterbein (@hollyotterbein) February 24, 2020
<https://twitter.com/hollyotterbein/status/1231760664932364289?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw>

A brokered convention would involve party elites—super delegates—putting
their thumbs on the scale to determine the nominee. Super delegates cannot
vote in the first round, due to Sanders-coalition pressure from 2016, but
if no candidate has a majority of delegates at first, when state delegates
are "bound," or required to support who the voters chose, in subsequent
rounds both unbound state delegates and super delegates can vote for whom
they wish.

In *Jacobin* on February 21, Sam Lewis and Beth Huang made the case
<https://jacobinmag.com/2020/02/democratic-party-national-convention-superdelegates-sanders-debate>
for
progressives to use grassroots organizing to pressure party insiders to do
the right thing:

Sanders supporters should be preparing now for mass mobilizations to demand
that superdelegates respect the will of the voters, and should articulate
an explicit strategy to remove those who don't concede to that demand. We
can have the most impact by keeping our focus on the slight majority of
superdelegates who are national, state, or local elected officials who the
Sanders base can hold accountable through primary elections, and the dozens
who are labor leaders elected by their own members to represent their
interests.

Both Bloomberg and Warren
<https://twitter.com/AlytaDeLeon/status/1230533204135890944> surrogates
have made little secret about their candidates' path to the nomination
going through a brokered convention.

*Politico *reported
<https://www.politico.com/news/2020/02/20/bloomberg-brokered-convention-strategy-116407>
on
February 20 that Bloomberg's campaign was already working to snag delegates
from other candidates to stop Sanders on the convention floor.

On Monday, *Vanity Fair* published an interview with Bloomberg campaign
manager Kevin Sheekey in which Sheekey dismissed
<https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2020/02/bloombergs-campaign-manager-on-why-mike-is-still-the-democratic-savior>
any
blowback from Sanders supporters over Bloomberg taking the nomination in a
brokered convention over the Vermont senator.

"When it comes to Bernie followers, I don't really give a shit," said
Sheekey.

Sheekey added that the campaign hopes the party will "be in a position
where the convention wants to look elsewhere for someone who is stronger"
and then choose a candidate with less delegates and support than Sanders.

In an *MSNBC* segment Monday, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver fired
back
<https://www.realclearpolitics.com/video/2020/02/24/jeff_weaver_the_voters_have_spoken_if_a_candidate_enters_convention_with_plurality_of_delegates_.html>,
calling the argument by Bloomberg an indication the former mayor is "unfit
to serve." The argument would be the same no matter who is ahead in
delegates, said Weaver.

"If any of those other folks walk in with the plurality the voters have
spoken, and the voters should be heeded," Weaver told *MSNBC*.

Progressives have already began pushing back on suggestions that the
nomination would be taken from a Sanders campaign with a plurality, but not
majority, of delegates. A petition on *Action Network* calling
<https://actionnetwork.org/petitions/wedecide-petition-to-the-dnc-to-respect-democracy>
on
the party to respect the will of the voters has circulated in left-leaning
circles.

"The nominee must be chosen by the people—not unelected superdelegates in a
brokered convention," tweeted
<https://twitter.com/meaganmday/status/1230524113778724866> *Jacobin *writer
Meagan Day of the petition. "Most petitions are a waste of time, but a
well-timed one can impress upon its intended audience that their actions
will have consequences. Sign!"

The Democratic establishment is scared, Nathan J. Robinson wrote
<https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/25/bernie-sanders-democrats-brokered-convention>
for
the *Guardian* Tuesday, but that doesn't mean the party should commit
suicide by stealing the nomination.

"While we can see why they'd want to exploit existing processes however
they can, there's no reason we should let them," wrote Robinson. "Besides,
if a candidate *did* win through a brokered convention, it would be a
disaster for the Democrats in November."

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