A pair of Hillary Clinton supporters swapped emails in March worrying whether Democratic congressional candidate Zephyr Teachout might act like what one termed “a pain in the ass” by supporting Bernie Sanders just as the progressive Vermont senator was coming on strong in his presidential primary bid, according to an email string including in the Wikileaks hack of Clinton campaign chair John Podesta.

The twist ending: Teachout had already endorsed Sanders three months earlier.

The discussion of events in the 19th Congressional District race comes in an exchange between attorney Koethi Zan, a member of the Town of Ghent’s Democratic apparatus and an accomplished thriller author, and Neera Tanden, president and CEO of the Center for American Progress. (The exchange begins as a larger conversation about the 20th reunion of their Yale Law School class.)

“Is terry teachout running in your CD?,” asked Tanden, mistaking the author of “Corruption in America” for the Wall Street Journal drama critic and Duke Ellington biographer.

“Zephyr. Yes. Big problem,” Zan replied before appearing to allude to Zephyr Teachout’s primary opponent Will Yandik. “But I got mad at our guy bc he has weak political instincts. I set him up with great connections (not just donors but real strategists) and he failed to follow up etc. Zephyr is going to lose big time here. Our guy would have won but he has no path to win the primary. Ugh. I could go on and on. See I am learning politics from the ground level up. Haha.”

“I need Zephyr to not be a pain in the ass to Hillary,” Tenden wrote back. “Do you think she would endorse Bernie? Do you have her contact info?”

Zan’s response:

I don’t have it but maybe you should put [U.S. Sen.Kirsten] Gillibrand on the case. Gillibrand would not endorse my guy who is homegrown for the district bc she won’t go against a woman (even though I hear she is not a fan of Zephyr). Zephyr would be out of her mind happy to get attention from Gillibrand bc she is very popular here. I bet Z won’t endorse Bernie at this point bc she sees the writing on the wall and it would be crucial to have Hillary support her here in the general if Z indeed wins the primary. But also bc it’s so contentious here: Dems are really split between Bernie and Hillary and it gets nasty. Zephyr would be insane to come out in favor of one or the other at this point in the race. Also here she has to paint herself as a moderate not a progressive bc she can’t win without some crossover. Down ticket voting is her only hope for a win against [Republican candidate John] Faso so she can’t afford to alienate Hillary. But then, people do dumb things all the time.

Tanden forwarded this exchange to Podesta, introducing it to him thusly: “On zephyr teachout, the woman who primaried [Gov. Andrew] cuomo and is giant hero to liberals in ny. From my dem activist/leader friend on the ground. Zephyr is now running for congress in Hudson NY. Kirsten would be best to call.”

Podesta responded, “Who is best to go at this?”

“Talked to Kirsten’s chief,” responded campaign manager Robby Mook, who then proceeded to bring this whole thing to an end with the equivalent of a sad trombone: “Looks like she’s already expressed support for Bernie … but he thinks they can keep her from being too vocal. I asked Shriock to do the same.” (Stephanie Schriock is the president of the pro-Democratic advocacy group Emily’s List.)

Mook’s message included a link to Teachout’s December 2015 Huffington Post piece headlined “Bernie Sanders for President: 10 Reasons,” which notes in the second paragraph “I am proud to endorse Bernie Sanders for President of the United States.”

Gillibrand endorsed Teachout at the end of March, and Clinton won a commanding victory in April’s fiercely fought New York primary.

After the June congressional primary — where, as Zan predicted, Teachout destroyed Yandik — Sanders formally endorsed Clinton, and Teachout announced she was supporting the presumptive Democratic nominee. Republicans, including Faso, have charged Teachout with hypocrisy by pointing back to a November 2015 piece for the Huffington Post that argued Clinton has “four big corruption problems” — all related to big-money donations and fees accepted by her, her campaign or her family foundation.

Sanders has continued to support Teachout, and appeared with her at a large rally last month in New Paltz.

Teachout’s campaign declined to comment about the exchange. Zan and Tanden did not immediately respond to emails seeking comment.

Update: Tanden did not respond, but a spokesperson for the Center for American Progress noted that the Podesta hack has been linked by FBI officials to Russian intelligence: