The Democratic National Committee’s (DNC) chairwoman and the party’s left-wing presidential contender are sparring in the media over how welcoming the party should be toward independent voters.
Heading into the Indiana primary on Tuesday, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) made the case that all party elections should be held as open contests. Primaries in the Hoosier state and nineteen others allow voters who identify as independents to participate in the Democrats’ nominating process.
Sanders once again finds himself pitted against DNC Chairwoman Rep. Debbie Wasserman-Schultz (D-Fla.), who on Monday called for an entirely closed primary system.
“I think Debbie has got it backwards,” he told MSNBC Tuesday morning.
“The world has changed,” the senator said. “More and more people are independents, and I think it makes no sense for the Democrats to say to those people, ‘You can’t help us.'”
He went on to say future electoral success hinges on opening the party up to those who don’t identify with either major political faction.
“For Democrats to do well in a national election they’re going to need a lot of independents, and I would not think it’s a good idea to push those people away.”
Speaking to MSNBC on Monday, Rep. Wasserman-Schultz made the opposite argument.
Stressing that she was giving a personal opinion and not speaking in her capacity as DNC chair, Wasserman-Schultz stated: “I believe that the party’s nominee should be chosen … by members of the party.”
Relations between the Sanders campaign and the DNC have been frosty from the onset. Wasserman-Schultz, co-chair of Hillary Clinton’s 2008 presidential campaign, was accused of being deferential to the Clinton camp by restricting the number of debates between the candidates.
The fractious relationship almost led the two parties to court after the DNC blocked the Sanders campaign’s access to party voter information. The party had said there were unauthorized breaches of Clinton campaign data by a Sanders’ staffer, who later was fired. Eventually, the DNC restored the Sanders campaign’s access to their files.
According to state-by-state exit polling, Sanders fares better than Clinton among independent-minded voters: a stat that bolstered prior pundit-defying Sanders victories in states with open contests, like Michigan and Wisconsin.
In New York, on the other hand, which had a closed primary, more than 3 million unaffiliated voters were barred from the polls in an election that Clinton won by roughly a quarter-million votes.
Despite a string of losses over the last two weeks, which have mostly shut the door on his chances of winning the Democratic nomination, Sanders is promising to stay in the race, and even fight for the ticket during a contested Democratic convention in July.
A majority of Democrats support the senator’s commitment to stick with it all the way through the primary calendar. An NBC News-Survey Money poll released Tuesday found that 57 percent of Dems believe Sanders should stay in the race.
Help us Prepare for Trump’s Day One
Trump is busy getting ready for Day One of his presidency – but so is Truthout.
Trump has made it no secret that he is planning a demolition-style attack on both specific communities and democracy as a whole, beginning on his first day in office. With over 25 executive orders and directives queued up for January 20, he’s promised to “launch the largest deportation program in American history,” roll back anti-discrimination protections for transgender students, and implement a “drill, drill, drill” approach to ramp up oil and gas extraction.
Organizations like Truthout are also being threatened by legislation like HR 9495, the “nonprofit killer bill” that would allow the Treasury Secretary to declare any nonprofit a “terrorist-supporting organization” and strip its tax-exempt status without due process. Progressive media like Truthout that has courageously focused on reporting on Israel’s genocide in Gaza are in the bill’s crosshairs.
As journalists, we have a responsibility to look at hard realities and communicate them to you. We hope that you, like us, can use this information to prepare for what’s to come.
And if you feel uncertain about what to do in the face of a second Trump administration, we invite you to be an indispensable part of Truthout’s preparations.
In addition to covering the widespread onslaught of draconian policy, we’re shoring up our resources for what might come next for progressive media: bad-faith lawsuits from far-right ghouls, legislation that seeks to strip us of our ability to receive tax-deductible donations, and further throttling of our reach on social media platforms owned by Trump’s sycophants.
We’re preparing right now for Trump’s Day One: building a brave coalition of movement media; reaching out to the activists, academics, and thinkers we trust to shine a light on the inner workings of authoritarianism; and planning to use journalism as a tool to equip movements to protect the people, lands, and principles most vulnerable to Trump’s destruction.
We urgently need your help to prepare. As you know, our December fundraiser is our most important of the year and will determine the scale of work we’ll be able to do in 2025. We’ve set two goals: to raise $145,000 in one-time donations and to add 1489 new monthly donors by midnight on December 31.
Today, we’re asking all of our readers to start a monthly donation or make a one-time donation – as a commitment to stand with us on day one of Trump’s presidency, and every day after that, as we produce journalism that combats authoritarianism, censorship, injustice, and misinformation. You’re an essential part of our future – please join the movement by making a tax-deductible donation today.
If you have the means to make a substantial gift, please dig deep during this critical time!
With gratitude and resolve,
Maya, Negin, Saima, and Ziggy