“Those who want to eat lunch at the White House next year, they run the other way when being approached,” said Solomon when pressed on a potential alternative. “We’re working on it.”

Such a challenge to the ticket almost certainly would fail, given the predominance of support for Clinton, who has a numerical lock on the nomination.

There also were strong indications that at least some Sanders supporters — though not thrilled with Clinton or Kaine — do not support the idea of a public party split with the ticket when Democrats are in the spotlight.

“I’m running to level the playing field in the 2nd Congressional District, and there is a real need to level the playing field in the DNC,” said Sanders delegate Shaun Brown, who faces Del. Scott Taylor, R-Virginia Beach, in the November election. “We have to bring everybody together.”

Brown said that while Sanders inspired her to run, she is impressed with Kaine’s résumé and government experience and is “very proud he’s on our ticket. I think we can work with him,” she said.