WASHINGTON — Democrats offered Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders an opportunity to help shape the party platform at their convention, The Washington Post reports.
The move is a concession to bring down tensions between the Sanders campaign and Democratic Party leadership who, he alleges, supports Hillary Clinton.
As a result of an agreement worked out between both camps, Democrats gave Sanders the ability to choose almost as many members for the platform-writing committee as Clinton, the likely Democratic nominee, the party announced on Monday.
Sanders, who ran in the Democratic primary after years of being an independent, put forward pro-Palestinian activist James Zogby, environmentalist Bill McKibben, Minnesota Democratic Rep. [crscore]Keith Ellison[/crscore] and two others, to be platform committee members.
Clinton will choose six members and DNC Chairwoman [crscore]Debbie Wasserman Schultz[/crscore] will select four for the platform writing committee, according to the Post.
“We believe that we will have the representation on the platform drafting committee to create a Democratic platform that reflects the views of millions of our supporters who want the party to address the needs of working families in this country and not just Wall Street, the drug companies, the fossil fuel industry and other powerful special interests,” Sanders said in a statement.
The Vermont senator announced he is supporting DNC Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz’s primary challenger Sunday and said he will replace her as DNC chair if he is elected.
“If the Democrats come out of their convention united, it might not be because of Debbie Wasserman Schultz, but in spite of her efforts,” he told CNN’s Jake Tapper Sunday.
Congressional Democrats, however, appear to be growing tired of Sanders staying in the race, despite his recent primary victories.
Washington state Democratic Rep. [crscore]Jim McDermott[/crscore], a longtime Clinton supporter, believes Sanders should drop out. “Bernie would be better off he stepped back — be a professional, but right now he still thinks he can win, and that’s unfortunate,” he told The Daily Caller Monday.
Senate Minority Leader [crscore]Harry Reid[/crscore] told MSNBC he sees Sanders returning to the Senate soon.
“He’s coming back to the Senate. I think that he has the ability to be a tremendously more powerful senator in our caucus than he was,” he said in an interview that aired Saturday. “He was no patsy to begin with. But he can be something much more than what he was.”
“Well I think at a certain point, I would hope sooner rather than later, Sen. Sanders would make an assessment based on two things. No. 1, Donald Trump cannot be the president of the United States and No. 2, Donald Trump has a strategic advantage having consolidated his vote and its time for Democrats to consolidate ours,” New York Democratic Rep. [crscore]Steve Israel[/crscore] explained to TheDC.