Donna Brazile told those on the conference call that Weaver had agreed to help her “through this election process and beyond.” | AP Photo In private call, DNC flexes unity with Clinton camp and Sanders team

The man who led Bernie Sanders’ presidential campaign vowed Monday night during a conference call with DNC officials that Sanders was committed to traveling the country to campaign for Hillary Clinton and down-ballot Democratic candidates.

“This is not going to be an easy task and it’s going to take all of us rowing together,” Jeff Weaver said.


The private conference call – which included top Democratic National Committee officials including chief of staff Brandon Davis and state party leaders – was led by DNC interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile, who had met with Weaver and Sanders’ top campaign adviser Mark Longabaugh earlier in the day. According to DNC officials, the three discussed Sanders’ schedule as well as voter mobilization among former Sanders supporters.

Brazile told those on the conference call that Weaver had agreed to help her “through this election process and beyond.”

The call focused on a 50-state strategy for the November election to be implemented soon by members of Clinton’s campaign and Sanders’ former presidential team.

The close interactions between the interim DNC chairwoman and the Sanders campaign is in stark contrast to earlier in the presidential cycle when the campaign criticized now-former DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz as unfairly partial to Clinton.

“I know that sometimes in primaries there can be sharp elbows, and I hope I haven’t bumped into too many of you,” Weaver said on the call. “But as we go forward into the general election, I’m very happy to be working with members of the Clinton team in trying to get the secretary elected.”

Weaver noted that Sanders’ organization Our Revolution has raised nearly $300,000 for liberal Democratic down-ballot and congressional candidates.

Brazile thanked Weaver and the Sanders team for their leadership and organizing ability for up and down the ballot. The team has been “tremendous in reaching out, helping out, filling gaps,” she said.

Throughout the call, Brazile made a point of stressing her plans to strengthen Democratic state parties and down-ballot Democratic candidates. She said she’d begun fundraising for the DNC to help implement the 50-state strategy and that after Labor Day there would be another update with the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee.

Marlon Marshall, the Clinton campaign’s director of states, and Brazile highlighted red states around the country where they thought Democrats could make immediate inroads, including Georgia and North Carolina.

“We’re continuing to look at places where we can expand opportunities to vote,” Marshall said. “We’re working to expand early vote sites in some of these places like Florida and North Carolina. And we're starting our heavy push of recruitment of lawyers” to be at polling locations in battleground states.

Brazile stressed that the 50-state strategy will be key in down-ballot races.

“Those races are so important, the sheriff races — we want to try to put Democrats in those races,” Brazile said. “We know what's coming up in 2020. We know what's coming up in 2018. I believe in the 50-state strategy.”