Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders is supporting the primary election opponent to Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
In a pre-taped interview, Bernie Sanders told CNN’s Jake Tapper that if he were elected president of the United States, he would also remove the Florida congresswoman from her position as DNC chair.
News broke on Saturday that Sanders would back Wasserman Schultz’s primary opponent:
Notable: In @CNNSotu interview airing tomorrow, @BernieSanders endorses @DWStweets's congressional primary opponent.
— Ed O'Keefe (@edokeefe) May 21, 2016
Sanders told host Jake Tapper on CNN’s State of the Union, “Well, clearly I favor her opponent. His views are much closer to mine than as Wasserman Schultz’s.” He continued, “In all due respect to the current chairperson, if elected president, she would not be reappointed to be chair of the DNC.”
Sanders supports challenger Tim Canova.
Wasserman Schultz responded on Saturday afternoon to the news of Sanders’s support for opponent Canova, asserting that she would remain neutral in the Democratic primary, according to CNN.
A great deal of debate has surrounded what Sanders might ask in exchange for supporting Hillary Clinton as the Democratic Party’s nominee for president of the United States. Some have pondered if he would seek a Clinton VP slot.
Sanders has drawn tens of thousands to campaign events across the country. Democrat supporters in Harry Reid’s own percent refused to switch sides to Clinton during the Nevada Democratic primary caucus, despite losing to Clinton. Sanders’s supporters, outside a Bill Clinton rally campaigning for Hillary, expressed their unwavering dedication to the socialist senator over Mrs. Clinton.
Sanders told CNN in early May that if, after fighting hard for the Democratic Party presidential nomination, he does not win, then, “we are going to fight as hard as we can on the floor of the Democratic convention to make sure that we have a progressive platform that the American people will support.”
Wasserman Schultz, an ardent Hillary Clinton for President supporter in 2008, is trying to project an image of unity amidst news of Sanders’s supporters’ outrage at a recent state party convention. Sanders drafted a letter in early May criticizing and warning Wasserman Schultz over the decision to select only three of 40 submitted Sanders supporters for committees at the DNC convention, none of which were appointed to the all-important Rules Committee, as outlined in the letter.
Follow Michelle Moons on Twitter @MichelleDiana.
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