Marty Walsh says Bernie Sanders ‘has a big opportunity’ with Monday night speech
Marty Walsh says Bernie Sanders has a chance to be the anti-Ted Cruz, so to speak, and unite Democrats with his speech Monday night at the Democratic National Convention.
In a New York Times interview Monday, the Boston mayor referred to Cruz’s pointed non-endorsement of his party’s nominee, Donald Trump, during the Texas senator’s Republican convention speech in Cleveland.
“Tonight, Senator Sanders has a big opportunity to do what Senator Cruz didn’t do, and unite the party,” Walsh said during a Facebook Live interview with Times reporter Carl Pulse.
https://www.facebook.com/nytimes/videos/10150856063734999/
Unlike Cruz—whose intra-party snub garnered him boos and rebukes from fellow Republicans—Sanders has pledged to support (and campaign for) his party’s presumptive nominee, Hillary Clinton.
Walsh, who endorsed Clinton last November, said the Vermont senator’s speech would be important following the “hotly contested” Democratic primary.
“Now it’s about moving forward, the next step,” Walsh said. He later added that Sanders’s speech Monday night would help his supporters feel more “comfortable” voting for Clinton.
In a speech Monday, Sanders urged his delegates to join him in working to elect Clinton. The plea was met with boos from many of the Sanders supporters in the audience
“I understand the issues that a lot of Bernie Sanders supporters are supporting,” said the mayor. “They’re going to get those issue addressed under a Clinton White House. They’re not going to get those issues addressed under a Trump White House.”
Walsh, who is scheduled to speak earlier Monday night, plans to focus his remarks on “second chances,” his personal recovery from alcoholism, and how Boston can serve as a progressive model for the country.
Despite the thousands of anti-Clinton protesters on the streets of Philadelphia, Walsh said Sanders supporters should understand that not supporting the Democratic nominee would hurt their cause.
“I think that, as a matter of fact, a Trump White House would probably set a lot of different progressive issues back generations,” he said. “And I think that’s what’s at stake in this election for a lot of Bernie Sanders voters.”
Walsh was also asked about whether there was “disappointment” in Massachusetts, after Clinton opted to go with Virginia Sen. Tim Kaine as her running mate, rather than Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a favorite among progressives.
The mayor said he’s happy that Warren will continue representing Massachusetts in the Senate for at least a little longer.
“People love Elizabeth Warren and love what she stands for,” Walsh said, adding that he’d like to see the first-term senator build up some seniority on Capitol Hill.
“One of the things that’s lacking in the Senate right now is seniority,” he said. “There’s a big void there because there’s so little seniority. And I think that’s probably part of the reason why a lot of bills aren’t moving through the process.”
Both Warren and Sanders will speak during prime-time slots Monday, the Democratic convention’s opening night, in an appeal to progressives and party unity.
As the Associated Press reports, some of Democrats’ momentum headed into the convention was “sapped” by the resignation of DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz, after leaked emails suggested that party officials favored Clinton during the primary.
During the interview Monday, Walsh also criticized Trump and the Republicans for not presenting a vision for the country during their convention last week in Cleveland and largely dismissed the Republican nominee’s dominant primary win in Massachusetts.
“He did well in Massachusetts, but the vote was very low on the Republican side,” Walsh said, noting that Gov. Charlie Baker, among other Republicans, are not supporting Trump’s candidacy. Only “a handful” of elected officials from Massachusetts attended the GOP convention, Walsh said.
“I don’t see the undergrowth of strength,” he said. “Certainly not what Senator Sanders had. Senator Sanders had some real strength in Massachusetts.”
Despite losing the Democratic primary in Massachusetts to Clinton, Sanders received nearly twice as many votes as Trump did in the Bay State.
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