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Senator Harry Reid spoke Tuesday about the behavior of Sanders supporters at Nevada’s Democratic convention over the weekend. Credit Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
Raising the prospect of lasting fissures in the Democratic Party, Senator Bernie Sanders rebuffed mounting pressure on Tuesday to rein in his supporters after they disrupted a weekend Democratic convention in Nevada, throwing chairs and later threatening the state party chairwoman in a fight over delegates. The uproar comes as Hillary Clinton is struggling to turn her and the party’s attention to the general election.
Mr. Sanders’s supporters showed no sign of backing down on Tuesday. In interviews, several threatened to disrupt the party’s convention in Philadelphia in July with protests and nonviolent disobedience over a nominating system that they say has treated Mr. Sanders unfairly. In emails, on social media and on websites, his supporters have traded advice about protest tactics and legal services in case of mass arrests.
Alarmed by the unrest in Nevada on Saturday, Senator Harry Reid, the majority leader, said that he spoke with Mr. Sanders for 10 minutes on Tuesday and that the Vermont senator faced a “test of leadership” over the behavior of his supporters. Mr. Reid, who represents Nevada, said he had urged Mr. Sanders to “do the right thing.”
But Mr. Sanders showed no sign of backing down, releasing a statement that, while condemning physical violence, accused the Democratic leadership in Nevada of using “its power to prevent a fair and transparent process from taking place.”
The fight over the awarding of the state’s delegates underscored the determination of Mr. Sanders’s supporters to undermine Mrs. Clinton’s all-but-certain march to the nomination.
Mrs. Clinton spent Monday campaigning in Kentucky, showing how the battle against Mr. Sanders continues to distract her campaign even as she turns her fire on Donald J. Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee. And leading Democrats have become increasingly vocal about the need to unify the party for the general election — while being careful not to anger Mr. Sanders by urging him to quit the race.
Senator Barbara Boxer of California said she had reached out to Mr. Sanders about the need for unity.
“I have placed a couple of calls to Bernie,” Ms. Boxer said. “He’s my friend. He’s been my friend for many, many, many years, and I haven’t heard back from Bernie, and I would hope that Bernie will be a leader and make sure that everybody understands what is at stake. And what is at stake is the future of our nation. Nothing less.”
Ms. Boxer, who was in Nevada for the convention on Saturday as Sanders supporters erupted in anger, called what she witnessed ”terrible.”
“We just can’t have a repeat of that in Philadelphia because it’s distressing,” Ms. Boxer said. “I have a message to the Bernie people who are planning to be disobedient because the system is rigged. Here is the thing: They should support the Democratic candidate who got the most votes. They should support the Democratic candidate who got the most delegates. There is nothing to protest.”
But Sanders supporters remained defiant, raising the possibility of unrest on the streets outside the convention.
“You are going to see a variety of tactics,” said Elizabeth Arnold, 32, a former staff member for the Sanders campaign in Philadelphia who said she planned to demonstrate. “I personally don’t like being arrested. But it’s essential that we speak our minds and assert our First Amendment rights. Our system is terribly flawed and terribly unjust — so very just actions often end in arrests.”
Ms. Arnold, who helped found EDGE, an environmental justice group based in Philadelphia, said she did not condone violence and hoped that people would find a way to voice concerns peacefully. But she said that Mrs. Clinton and other Democratic leaders attending the convention “should worry about what is going to happen.”
Nina Turner, a prominent surrogate for Mr. Sanders, said that she had seen several emails from people planning acts of civil disobedience, and that talk of dissent in the Republican ranks over Mr. Trump masked the searing divisions among Democrats.
“People are talking about the Republicans having a brokered convention. I think we are sleeping on the Democrats,” Ms. Turner said. “And if Democrats believe that that’s not going to happen, they are just sadly mistaken. They have blinders on.”
“It is going to be progressives who will disrupt,” she said. “And when I say disrupt, I don’t mean in a violent or a terrible way, but I just mean upset the apple cart.”
April Mellody, a spokeswoman for the Democratic National Convention, said in a statement that the convention’s security team would work with the Philadelphia police and the Secret Service “to ensure the safety and security of all of our delegates and participants.”
After the meeting of Nevada Democrats on Saturday ended in mayhem when many potential Sanders delegates were deemed ineligible, Roberta Lange, the state party chairwoman, said she had received death threats against her and her family after Sanders supporters spread her cellphone number online.
“The Sanders campaign helped incite everything that happened,” she said. “Instead of attacking me, they should be publicly apologizing to me for the part that they played. I’m really disappointed. It makes me feel like it is not being taken seriously.”
On Tuesday, the Nevada State Democratic Party issued a formal complaint to the Democratic National Committee in response to the behavior of Mr. Sanders’s supporters.
Representative Debbie Wasserman Schultz of Florida, the national party chairwoman, also expressed her concern Tuesday.
“We will be reaching out to the leadership of both of our campaigns to ask them to stand with the Democratic Party in denouncing and taking steps to prevent the type of behavior on display over the weekend in Las Vegas,” she said.
But the protest effort enjoys some institutional support. RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of National Nurses United, a union that has endorsed Mr. Sanders and that has been busing its members across the country to campaign for him, also said her group planned to take part in demonstrations at the convention.
“We will be a significant force inside and a significant force outside,” she said. “The focus is going to be how disenfranchised the voters felt during this election by the D.N.C.”
Source: msnbc.com
