PHILADELPHIA — Bernie Sanders plans to be in the Wells Fargo Arena Thursday night cheering on his former rival Hillary Clinton when she accepts the Democratic presidential nomination.

But don’t expect his die-hard supporters to be applauding too.


A number of Sanders delegates who have trekked to this week’s festivities from across the country told POLITICO that they just can’t do it. A few even promised protests, cat calls, and unfurled banners to display their disdain for a candidate and a political party that they think rigged the primary process from the get-go.

“When you cheat and lie and steal to get something, is there anything you can say to make it right?” asked Jonathan Holt, a 53-year-old Sanders delegate and teacher’s aide from Lake County, California, who participated in Tuesday night’s convention walkout and expects additional disruptions.

The Clinton campaign is working overtime trying to tamp down more Sanders-inspired uprisings on the closing night of the Democratic convention. Like they have all week, her aides are working directly with the Vermont senator’s staff in a plea for calm. They’ve dispatched like-minded surrogates including Howard Dean to different breakfast delegations across Philadelphia urging Sanders’ supporters to keep pushing their issues without walking away from a general election ticket that will need ample turnout to beat Donald Trump.

The ongoing outreach appeared to work Wednesday night: There were a minimum of disruptions during vice presidential running mate Tim Kaine's speech despite promises of unrest beforehand.

The campaign is hoping to have earned some goodwill after President Barack Obama and Kaine both paid tribute to what Sanders accomplished in 2016. “If you agree that there’s too much inequality in our economy and too much money in our politics, we all need to be as vocal and as organized and as persistent as Bernie Sanders supporters have been during this election,” the president said. “We all need to get out and vote for Democrats up and down the ticket, and then hold them accountable until they get the job done. That's right — feel the Bern!”

Several Sanders delegates interviewed in the hours after Obama’s speech said they respected what the president was trying to say and what he had accomplished in his two terms. But they nonetheless questioned the president’s motivations at a time when Clinton is desperate to stop a surging Trump campaign and while their list of grievances against the Democratic Party keeps growing.

On top of the leaked Democratic National Committee emails showing outgoing Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz was putting her thumb on the scale for Clinton, they see a series of events during this week’s convention as proof their candidate is still being silenced. While Clinton may have won the nomination, they still don’t understand why Monday’s opening benediction to start the convention didn’t include a mention of Sanders. On Tuesday, Sanders delegates from Iowa said they didn’t get adequate representation to speak about their candidate during the roll-call vote despite nearly winning this year’s caucuses. Most recently, Sanders delegates from California complained that their credentials were revoked after unfurling banners on the convention floor Wednesday, while their Florida counterparts reported having their arena seats filled by Clinton backers whenever they left to go to the bathroom.

“It’s lip service,” said Joey Aszterbaum, a 41-year-old social services worker and Sanders delegate from Hemet, California. He’s been posting pictures on Facebook from inside the convention arena showing disruptions, including a section of Sanders backers displaying “No TPP” posters and an "Election Fraud #Wikileaks" banner that was hung moments after the lights were cut off above the Oregon delegation after it started an anti-war chant.

Clinton is almost guaranteed to follow Obama and Kaine in paying tribute to Sanders and what he accomplished during the primaries. But the senators’ delegates want way more than that, and many of their requests are unlikely to be met.

“She can acknowledge the fact Bernie didn’t have a fair fight. She can acknowledge what has come out about the DNC that we’ve been aware of the entire time,” said Christina Ocampo, a Sanders delegate from Highland, California, who was busy Thursday distributing hundreds of neon green Sanders T-shirts to delegates that said, “Enough is enough.”

While Clinton has embraced some of Sanders’ policies on college tuition, criminal justice and even hints of where he’d go on trade, the senator’s supporters would rather see a total cut-and-paste from the policy page of berniesanders.com.

“Say ‘No TPP!’ Say those words,” said Ricky Ly, a 31-year-old civil engineer from Orlando, Florida, and Sanders delegate floor whip.

Sue Phillips, a 58-year old Sanders delegate and registered nurse from San Diego, said she didn’t think Clinton could say much to win her over now. More than anything, she wants space.

“It’s kind of like a bad breakup, right? Oh, we’re going to break up, but you should date. You’ve got to give people time. There’s a grieving process,” she said.

Sarah Coutu, a Sanders delegate and small-business owner from Pensacola, Florida, said there was only one thing that would satisfy her from Clinton’s speech: Surrendering the nomination.

“She’d have to say, ‘You know what? I’ve decided that for the greater of goods I’m going to be honest for a change and I’m handing this to Bernie Sanders,” Coutu said.

Clinton’s surrogates say they’re not giving up on winning over Sanders supporters and they see Thursday’s speech as a chance to reach beyond the delegates who may be out of reach.

“I wouldn’t say a lost cause. Every night is progress,” Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe told POLITICO. “Bernie ran a great campaign. I’ve come to a lot of conventions with losing candidates. I get it. It’s not easy. It’s hard. But you go through that process and I think the process is well underway to get roaring to help us against Trump.”