Bernie Sanders prepares to speak for a video to supporters at Polaris Mediaworks on June 16, in Burlington, Vermont. | Getty Liberal groups to Bernie and Hillary: Time to unify

BURLINGTON, Vt. — A coalition of high-profile liberal groups that supported both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders in the Democratic primary is coming together on Friday to urge a new period of unity while the party works to defeat Donald Trump.

The roughly 450-word open letter — signed by groups as varied as the 2 million-member, Clinton-supporting Service Employees International Union and the Sanders-backing Friends of the Earth — doesn’t mention Clinton, Sanders, or Trump by name, but its message is unmistakable.


“The stakes this November couldn’t be higher. Our nation must choose between the politics that seek to unite us and the politics of division and hate. The organizations we represent are committed to joining together to support candidates who commit to enact the policies and practice the politics required to secure the future of our country,” reads the missive, which lands just days after the final primary contest and hours after Sanders delivered a live-streamed speech to his supporters in which he didn’t concede but pledged to defeat Trump.

“We stand united against and will fight together against politicians who disguise their own lack of vision by manipulating racial and economic fears and who prioritize corporate interests and right-wing extremism over basic protections for all Americans."

The timing of the message is telling, as the group of over a dozen organizations banded together just as some — like MoveOn.org — that endorsed Sanders have publicly acknowledged that the primary is over, and that Clinton won. The presumptive nominee has started the process of trying to win over Sanders backers, aware that unifying the party will likely take time after a contentious primary.

And, explained SEIU president Mary Kay Henry, coming together to kick off the summer allows the groups to begin the season by galvanizing their memberships and volunteers.

“Our movement has made a huge contribution to shaping the political debate in the primary season, and given what’s at stake in the general, we think it’s time to unite like we never have before,” she said.

“It says an incredibly broad array of organizations, individuals, and movements are standing together to say we are ready to defeat hate in this upcoming election,” added Anna Galland, the executive director of MoveOn.org Civic Action of the move. “Our members voted overwhelmingly to endorse Bernie Sanders, we worked our hearts out on his behalf for the primary. But as of Wednesday we congratulated Secretary Clinton on her glass ceiling-shattering campaign. We’ve been crystal clear that we stand ready to defeat Donald Trump. That’s where we’re coming from."

“We’re standing together,” she said,” because it’s so crucial to make that message clear."

The other signatories include the Center for American Progress Action Fund, Color of Change, the Communications Workers of America — which backed Sanders but whose president this week urged the members to support Clinton in November — the National Council of La Raza, the National Gay and Lesbian Taskforce, Planned Parenthood Action Fund, Sierra Club, 350.org, United We Dream, and the Working Families Party.

“The horrific tragedy in Orlando once again reminds us that hate and violence threaten the core of who we are as a country. It reminds us that by joining together we have the power and the strength in numbers to combat hate and build a better future for our families and communities,” the letter reads.

“Our movements are not tethered to any particular candidate or party, and our vision doesn’t begin or end with any given election cycle. Our movements are demanding that all candidates address the reality of our times and respond by supporting our fights for justice on all fronts."

