THROW IN THE TOWEL

Top Bernie Supporters: Unite the Party

“It’s just not going to happen.”

Two top Capitol Hill supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders are urging party unity after Hillary Clinton received the requisite number of delegates to become the Democratic nominee. “This is the moment we need to start bringing parts of the party together so they can go into the convention with locked arms and go out of the convention unified into the general election,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-OR), Sanders’s lone backer in the upper chamber, adding that he would not urge Sanders to attempt to persuade superdelegates to switch their votes ahead of the convention. “At some point, when we’re trying to flip 400 superdelegates, and it’s not gaining traction, I think you have to come to the conclusion that it’s just not going to happen,” said Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-AZ), another Sanders supporter. “You just move into a different direction. And that different direction is that we begin to try to integrate the party.”