By Representative Mandela Barnes
Democrats – the time has come. It’s time to unite behind Hillary Clinton.
Bernie Sanders was the clear winner of the Wisconsin Democratic primary. Wisconsinites made their support for his platform very plainly heard.
I respect the voters of this state. Your perspective is valuable and for that reason, I’ve done my best to stay out of the way as the nominating contest has played out.
I’m fully aware that elected officials can take the air out of the room in these discussions and it’s important to me that the will of our state’s voters is accurately reflected each time they go to the ballot box.
As Hillary Clinton said, “Senator Sanders, his campaign, and the vigorous debate that we’ve had about how to raise incomes, reduce inequality, increase upward mobility have been very good for the Democratic Party and for America.” I agree.
Senator Sanders has run a good campaign. And voters across the country have voiced their will: Hillary Clinton is going to be our party’s presidential nominee and by margins as definitive as we saw in our own primary. Her lead of 287 pledged delegates and more than 3 million more votes is decisive. As a party, we must unite behind Hillary Clinton and ensure that Donald Trump gets nowhere near the White House.
Sanders has said many times that he doesn’t want Donald Trump to be president and that he’ll do everything he can to make sure that doesn’t happen. More and more every day we learn from Donald Trump’s own words that he is unfit, unprepared, and too dangerous to be President of the United States. The stakes of this election are too high and I’m optimistic that Senator Sanders will do what Hillary Clinton did after a hard fought race with then Senator Obama in 2008 – join together to move forward in support of our next president.
At the Democratic Convention, Hillary Clinton gave a major speech where she not only endorsed Barack Obama but called on her supporters to work “as hard for Barack Obama as you have for me.” She suspended the traditional roll call vote and motioned that Barack Obama be nominated President by acclamation. Hillary said, “With eyes firmly fixed on the future, and in the spirit of unity with the goal of victory, with faith in our party and our country, let’s declare together with one voice right here, right now that Barack Obama is our candidate and he will be our president.”
The strength of character it took for Hillary Clinton to concede for the good of the Democratic Party demonstrates exactly why we must unite around her without delay.
We cannot let a reckless, bigoted, incoherent bully become the leader of the free world. Each day that our party remains divided, he has free rein to share ideas that go against everything that makes America great.
The stakes of this election could not be higher. We cannot afford to make Donald Trump our next president.
Our party is about breaking down barriers and delivering results that will make difference people’s lives. Hillary Clinton is a president who will do just that. It’s time to unite behind her.
