Hill.TV host Krystal Ball is calling on the Democratic Party to rally behind Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) if he becomes the nominee, warning that the failure to do so would hurt the party in the long run.
“If Sanders is headed to winning a plurality or majority of delegates and you take it from him through superdelegates or rules changes or other dirty tactics, you will absolutely destroy the Democratic Party,” Ball, a Sanders supporter, said Tuesday.
“You will destroy the idealism and political engagement of the young people who overwhelming back Sanders and could reinvigorate the Democratic, so please resist the temptation to come in over the top,” she continued.
Sanders’s allies have expressed outrage over of the the Democratic National Committee’s initial appointments that will oversee the rules and party platform at the nomination convention later this year.
Sanders’s supporters have taken issue with two names in particular: former Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Hillary Clinton’s former campaign chairman John Podesta.
Sanders’s campaign unsuccessfully sought to have Frank removed from the Rules Committee in 2016 over his connections to Clinton’s campaign.
Podesta, meanwhile, is not trusted by many on the left following some hacked emails in 2016 showing him asking a Democratic strategist where to “stick the knife in” Sanders.
Ball’s comments come after a new poll in New Hampshire showed Sanders with a 15-point lead over former Vice President Joe Biden.
The latest American Research Group survey found the Vermont senator in first place at 28 percent support, followed by Biden at 13 percent.
Former South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg came in at 12 percent, with Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) trailing at 11 percent.
However, there is some uncertainty over how many undeclared voters will turn out for the Democratic primary on Election Day.
Six percent of Democratic and independent voters in New Hampshire said that they were undecided.
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