Nevada Dems: Sanders fans may make convention violence

The Nevada State Democratic Party (NSDP) says Bernie Sanders’s supporters may stir up violence at the Democratic National Convention.

“We believe, unfortunately, that the tactics and behavior on display here in Nevada are harbingers of things to come as Democrats gather in Philadelphia in July for our national convention,” NSDP general counsel Bradley S. Schrager wrote in a letter to the Democratic National Committee (DNC).

{mosads}“We write to alert you to what we perceive as the Sanders campaign’s penchant for extra-parliamentary behavior – indeed, actual violence – in place of democratic conduct in a convention setting, and furthermore what we can only describe as their encouragement of, and complicity in, a very dangerous atmosphere that ended in chaos and physical threats to fellow Democrats.”

Schrager on Monday sent his letter to Jim Roosevelt and Lorraine Miller, the co-chairs of the DNC’s rules and bylaws committee.

Nevada’s Democratic convention this past Saturday erupted in bedlam, with Sanders’s supporters loudly demanding delegate rule changes and booing Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.). Democratic presidential front-runner Hillary Clinton edged out Sanders during the raucous event, picking up seven Nevada delegates to Sanders’s five.

She now boasts 20 total delegates in the Silver State, while Sanders’s count grows to 15 after their results in the state’s Democratic presidential caucuses, which Clinton won in February.

Schrager on Monday blamed the response from Sanders’s supporters in Nevada on their frustration over Clinton’s campaign outmaneuvering them there.

“The explosive situation arose in large part because a portion of the community of Sanders delegates arrived at the Nevada Democratic State Convention believing itself to be a vanguard intent upon sparking a street-fight rather than attending an orderly political party process,” he wrote.

Sanders’s campaign on Monday said it disowns any aggressive behavior from its supporters in Nevada last weekend.

“We do not condone violence or encourage violence or even threats of violence,” spokesman Michael Briggs told The Associated Press.

“[We] had no role in encouraging the activity that the party is complaining about. We have a First Amendment and we respect the rights of the people to make their voices heard.”

Clinton remains the Democratic front-runner nationwide, leading Sanders with 2,240 total delegates to his 1,473. At least 2,382 delegates are necessary to avoid a contested convention this summer.