Some Bernie Sanders supporters not swayed by his endorsement of Hillary Clinton

Some local supporters of Bernie Sanders aren't ready to support Hillary Clinton for president, even if Sanders himself does.

The independent Vermont senator, who won about three-fourths of Washington state’s delegates to the Democratic National Convention, formally endorsed Clinton on Tuesday, saying her election is necessary to defeat presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump.

“To have all of the work we have done in elevating our progressive ideals be dashed away by a complete Republican takeover of Washington — a takeover headed by a candidate that demonizes Latinos, Muslims, women, African Americans, veterans, and others — would be unthinkable,” Sanders said in an email to supporters.

“... At this moment, our country, our values, and our common vision for a transformed America, are best served by the defeat of Donald Trump and the election of Hillary Clinton,” he wrote.

But some of Sanders’ ardent supporters in Washington state weren’t ready Tuesday to throw their support behind Clinton, the former secretary of state who has amassed enough delegates to clinch the Democratic nomination.

“I don’t subscribe to falling in line with the Democratic push for her to be the nominee,” said Scott Berry of Olympia, one of the founding members of the grass-roots group Washington for Bernie Sanders.

Berry, who owns a web development company, said he might vote for a third-party candidate such as the Green Party’s Jill Stein, though he hasn’t settled on that yet.

“I think it boils down to the need to draw a line in the sand and say enough is enough,” Berry, 36, wrote in an email. “We can’t support the lesser of two evils forever; you are still electing evil.”

Danyell Dahn, 41, said she was disappointed to hear Sanders had endorsed Clinton. “My thought literally was, ‘Ew,’ ” said Dahn, a high school teacher from Forks who supported Sanders at Washington’s caucuses.

Dahn said she disagrees with Clinton’s support of “neoliberal trade policies,” as well as Clinton’s foreign policy positions, describing her as a “warhawk.”

“It really made it so now Jill Stein gets my throwaway vote, because there’s no way I can vote for either of the other two,” Dahn said, referring to Clinton and Trump.

Others worried Sanders’ endorsement of Clinton sends the wrong message that the progressive movement he led is over.

“By him endorsing Hillary, it can sound like, ‘oh, our work is done,’ and it’s not at all. It’s definitely just beginning,” said Gina Voladora, a single mom from Bremerton.

Sanders, a self-proclaimed Democratic socialist, has railed against economic policies he says are rigged against poor and middle-class Americans. He has advocated changes such as making public colleges and universities free, raising the federal minimum wage and breaking up the country’s largest banks.

Some aspects of Sanders’ proposals — including raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour and making public colleges tuition-free for families making under $125,000 a year — have either been adopted by Clinton’s campaign or included in the Democratic Party’s draft platform, which is to be ratified at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia July 25-28.

In an email Tuesday, the Clinton campaign urged Democrats to come together before the Republican Party’s national convention in Cleveland next week, when GOP delegates are expected to formally choose Trump as their nominee.

“Today, I am so honored that Senator Sanders is joining me on the campaign trail and is ready to take on Trump and the GOP,” Clinton wrote to supporters.

“...This is the last week we can pull together and show how unified we are before Trump and the Republicans come after us — and the values we hold dear — in Cleveland.”

Other Sanders supporters said they remained undecided Tuesday about whether they’d rally around Clinton, and would make a decision closer to the election —but that Sanders endorsing Clinton could play a role in their decision.

“I would say that his endorsement and talking to my family and friends are going to go a long way in deciding my vote,” said Jennifer Chamberlin, a founder of the grass-roots group Kitsap Loves Bernie, who hasn’t decided yet how she’ll vote.

Regardless of who is the Democratic nominee, Sanders’ supporters can continue influencing the Democratic Party going forward by remaining engaged locally, said Patrick Belt, a 33-year-old Sanders supporter from Gig Harbor who is serving as a Democratic precinct committee officer for the first time.

“Part of Bernie’s platform has been that it’s not about him, it’s about all of us,” Belt said. “We’re supposed to get involved and make change from the ground up.

“The benefit of this is people did get involved, and hopefully they stay involved.”

This story was originally published July 12, 2016 at 5:50 PM with the headline "Some Bernie Sanders supporters not swayed by his endorsement of Hillary Clinton."