Just asked Biden if he's concerned w Bernie backers at DNC; said Ds should "show a little class" and let em be angry pic.twitter.com/1qgPM5AT3R
— Manu Raju (@mkraju) July 26, 2016
PHILADELPHIA — Vice President Biden on Tuesday brushed aside concerns that lingering animosity between supporters of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders could hurt Democrats’ chances of holding onto the White House in the fall.
{mosads}“I do not think there’s any fracture in the party,” Biden told a group of reporters on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center, according to the Daily Caller.
Pro-Sanders attendees booed, jeered and chanted the Vermont senator’s name inside the convention hall on Monday when several speakers mentioned Clinton, the party’s presumptive nominee.
“That’s normal, man,” the vice president replied on Tuesday when he was asked about the outbursts from Sanders backers.
“I wish we could put something on every Sanders delegate walking into a booth,” he added. “If we were able to find out, I’d bet you everything I have that hardly anyone is going to pull the lever for [Donald] Trump. Come on man. You kidding me?”
Democrats trotted out a star-studded lineup of speakers on the first night of the Democratic National Convention, including first lady Michelle Obama, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (Mass.) and Sanders himself, who tried to rally the party faithful around Clinton and bridge the deep divides in the party.
Sanders backers arrived in Philadelphia steaming mad over an email leak that showed Democratic National Committee (DNC) officials plotted to undermine the Vermont senator’s upstart presidential campaign.
“Like one of Bernie’s major supporters said last night: He didn’t lose or she didn’t win because of any email,” said Biden. “Come on, man.”
The incident led to the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but that didn’t stop chaos from breaking out on the convention’s first day.
Top Democrats are looking to Biden, who will speak on Wednesday evening, to help convince Sanders backers to get behind Clinton.
The vice president considered running against the former secretary of State before deciding against it last year. Throughout the primary, he praised Sanders on several occasions, comments that could build up his credibility with the senator’s supporters.
He expressed confidence that Sanders backers would go to the polls for Clinton.
“You know they’re going to show up,” Biden said.
“They worked really hard,” he added. “They did more to change the attitude in the party than anything that has happened in a long, long time. It’s all for the better.”