Actress Rosario Dawson ripped the Democratic National Committee and its chairman Debbie Wasserman Schultz while introducing Bernie Sanders at a rally in San Diego Tuesday night, telling the thousands of raucous attendees that the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign has been an unqualified success in spite of the DNC’s clear preference for frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
“You’re here because you’re talking to each other,” the Daredevil actress told a fired-up crowd at the San Diego Convention Center, “not because you’re being encouraged by the DNC, not because you’re being encouraged by the media, but because you’re talking to each other.”
The 36-year-old actress, who serves as chairwoman of the Latino voter outreach organization VotoLatino, warned attendees of the significance of the 2016 election: “If Bernie doesn’t take this all the way, if we don’t help him, net neutrality will be pushed back upon.”
But Dawson said the most important thing for Sanders supporters to focus on as the contentious election season moves forward is getting the Vermont senator’s message out while avoiding interference from the DNC, its so-called “superdelegates,” and the party’s polarizing chairwoman, Debbie Wasserman Schultz.
“Deborah Wasserman Schultz said the reason superdelegates exist is specifically to push back against grassroots organizing,” she told the crowd, apparently referencing comments the chairwoman made in a February interview with CNN. Rally attendees appeared to boo loudly at the mention of Wasserman Schultz’s name.
“So we need you now more than ever. We need to you to spread the message and talk about our future,” the actress added to enthusiastic applause. “The youth has been on the right side of history on every issue.”
Later on, Dawson opined on Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, describing him as a “Ralph Nader”-type figure and saying that “as an independent, he’s doing a service to the Democrat Party right now.”
“The Democratic Party, we haven’t left them, they’ve left us,” she added.
Sanders’ campaign has feuded with the DNC in recent months, perhaps most memorably in December when a high-ranking Sanders campaign official was accused of accessing confidential voter information from Hillary Clinton’s campaign.
The DNC blocked Sanders’ access to a critical voter information database, and the Vermont senator’s campaign promptly responded by suing the party. In announcing the lawsuit, Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver accused the DNC of attempting to “attack the heart and soul of our campaign.”
Earlier this week, a federal judge gave the Sanders campaign a three-day window to show just cause for the lawsuit, or else face its dismissal.
The same month, Breitbart News exclusively reported that the Clinton campaign had quietly made cash transfers to the DNC to fund the party’s efforts in the South ahead of the “Super Tuesday” SEC primaries. And last month, rising Democrat star Rep. Tulsi Gabbard resigned her position as vice chairwoman of the party to formally endorse Sanders, so as to avoid a public conflict of interest with the DNC.
Dawson wrapped up her nearly ten-minute speech Tuesday night by telling rally attendees that Sanders’ campaign represents a true “future to believe in.”
“It is not a dream. It is a vision to believe in, and it is worth going for with all of our might,” the actress said.
.@BernieSanders just Castro-ed @rosariodawson https://t.co/kJ52pvqjXP
— POLITICO (@politico) March 23, 2016
The rally in San Diego came on the heels of two more wins for Sanders in the Utah and Idaho Democratic primaries earlier Tuesday. Clinton won Arizona, and holds a commanding delegate lead over Sanders when the Democrats’ roughly 712 superdelegates — nearly all of whom are voting for Clinton — are factored in.
Sanders has drawn more progressive-minded celebrities to appear with him at his campaign events. Model-actress Emily Ratajkowski introduced the candidate at a University of New Hampshire rally in February, while actress Susan Sarandon handled introductory remarks at a Sanders event in Iowa in June.
Actors Sarah Silverman and Danny Glover have also introduced the candidate at campaign events.
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