Prior to California’s primary election, several news outlets reported that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has “clinched” the Democratic nomination, though Senator Bernie Sanders remained in the conversation amongst voters as they went to the polls on June 7.
“Even though it looks like Hillary has it, I like Bernie Sanders,” said Irwin Zucker, an 89-year-old Beverly Hills resident. “He’s creating sincere conversation in an election that otherwise would be easy to ignore.”
Haley Albert, a student at Northeastern University, urged primary voters not to take Clinton’s clinching of the nomination at face-value.
“For me, Bernie has been invigorating; the pressure he puts on Clinton and the fight he leads for all different kinds of people is necessary,” she said. “It’s far from over.”
Since February, the Democratic party has undergone an internal split between Clinton and Sanders. Despite recently reported numbers indicating Clinton had enough pledged delegates along with the promise of super delegates, to become the Democratic presidential candidate in the fall, Sanders and his supporters say they will seek a “contested national convention.”
As a Jew, Zucker finds Sanders’ “innate Judaism” to be good for the election.
“Sanders keeps many Jewish interests alive by simply being at the table,” he said. “And outside of being Jewish, he’s a good man, and a good challenger.”
Rabbi Sarah Bassin of Temple Emanuel said that Sanders’ Judaism is not his main appeal to Jewish voters.
“Most Jews voting for Sanders aren’t voting for him solely because he’s Jewish. We Jews feel secure, and are able to talk about his policies rather than his Jewish identity, which hasn’t been a detriment to his overall popularity,” Bassin said.
Rabbi Jonathan Aaron, also of Temple Emanuel, also said he appreciates the conversations the Sanders-Clinton race has helped to cultivate in the past few months, relating the democratic nature of this specific political instance to the ideals of the Talmud.
“In the Talmud, there is a majority and a minority, and both parties listen and adapt to each other until it’s time to make a decision,” Aaron said. “The presence of these two candidates has stimulated so many conversations pertaining to different ideas and goals, and it’s activating the public in a good way.”
Aaron, who seeks to avoid intertwining faith and politics, hopes to see that, once the conversations are concluded, the “minority” will be able to support and enhance what the “majority” has decided.
“At Emanuel, we put all aspects of a conversation out there, and allow for discussion to make and back the best possible decision. I’d like to see the political scene adopt some Talmudic ideals and honor the real democratic process that this primary election has displayed,” he said.
After the reports from the AP of Clinton’s delegate count, Dan Schnur, director of the Jesse M. Unruh Institute of Politics at USC, said he believes the time for the Sanders minority to concede has come, as the “contentious conversations are no longer productive.”
“In most normal elections, this kind of interparty division can create difficulty for the nominee in the general election…but this isn’t a normal election,” Schnur said. “It’s a continued and ongoing fight with Sanders, and where this used to strengthen Clinton as a candidate, now it’s merely a distraction.”
Schnur said he believes Sanders has inspired a more “whole primary election,” and that he and his supporters could be of service to Clinton’s general election campaign.
“There’s no question that Sanders candidacy has provided energy and enthusiasm,” he said. “He excited a lot of people to participate, but now he has to decide when it makes sense to encourage those same people to stand behind her, both for the sake of her candidacy and for the party. It’s not whether Bernie supports her, it’s when. And the more he waits, the more difficult it will be for the Democratic party to focus on defeating Trump.”
Nevertheless, Sanders’ supporters remained unwavering as California voters continued to go to the polls.
“It sort of feels like I’m throwing my vote away,” Zucker said. “But if my vote means that Bernie can keep pressuring Hillary to be thinking about Israel and the economy, even to be a better candidate, then that’s how I’ll vote.”
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