Oklahoma’s Democratic delegates are gathering in Philadelphia amid concern over leaked emails that show members of the Democratic National Committee favored Hillary Clinton over her rival, Bernie Sanders. Committee chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz announced she would resign over the emails at the conclusion of this week’s convention.
Alera Henson, a Sanders delegate from Tulsa, says Wasserman Schultz’s decision to leave the post eased the concerns of her fellow Sanders supporters, but only momentarily.
“It didn’t last very long because she was immediately picked up as honorary chair for Hillary’s campaign, which we thought was a pretty blatant slap in the face,” Henson said.
Henson says many Sanders supporters had been accused of paranoia for the past few months because they claimed the DNC had preferred Clinton all along. Those same supporters now feel vindicated.
“I wish I was more surprised than I was,” Henson said. “It was something that I think we all sort of suspected, that there was at least a finger on the scale.”
Former state Sen. Kenneth Corn, a Clinton delegate from Anadarko, says the DNC should remain neutral in the primary process but he doesn’t think Sanders’ supporters have a legitimate complaint.
“I really don’t think that anything that was done tipped the scale in favor of Secretary of Clinton, but I do think the very appearance is something that we should all be concerned about, and that’s why I think you saw party leaders move fairly quickly to ask Debbie Wasserman Schultz to step down,” Corn said.
Corn says Sanders ran an outstanding campaign, and the Vermont Senator has many of the same views as Clinton. But in the end, primary and caucus voters choose Clinton.
Alera Henson, the Sanders delegate, sees it differently.
“If this is something we had known about months ago, or even a year ago when this all kicked off, maybe we would be looking at nominating Bernie this week,” Henson said.
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