Progressive activist says Democratic establishment wants to keep nomination from Sanders

Progressive activist Nomiki Konst said Monday that the Democratic establishment is fighting to keep the nomination away from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).

But Konst told Hill.TV that she still thinks Sanders will end up with the nomination.

“I think that this campaign is a hard fight against the establishment, and they’re clinging and doing everything they can to prevent him from taking the nomination,” she said. 

Biden won 10 out of 14 states to vote last week on Super Tuesday, a much better than expected performance.

Biden was seen as partly benefitting after moderate rivals South Bend, Ind., Mayor Pete Buttigieg and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) dropped out of the race before Super Tuesday, with both endorsing the former vice president. 

Konst also noted a potential scenario in which former Vice President Joe Biden takes the plurality of delegates, prompting Sanders to suspend his campaign “for the sake of the party, for the sake of unity, for the sake of being able to defeat Donald Trump.” 

“By suspending his campaign, he doesn’t necessarily suspend his delegates,” she said.

Konst said Sanders’s delegates sitting on committees could help advocate for “a stronger, more progressive platform” during the Democratic convention.

“It’s not just about committees it’s about keeping that pressure on the presidential nominee well past the convention,” she said.

“But I think at the end of the day having a floor fight is not any — it’s really not how we want to go and defeat Donald Trump,” she added. “We want to have a party that’s strong and unified I guess.”

Biden currently leads Sanders in the delegate count by 664 to 573. A candidate would need 1,991 delegates to clinch the nomination. 


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