Name: Will Bernie Sanders’ backers get behind Biden? Key endorsement vote will be a sign
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Will Bernie Sanders’ backers get behind Biden? Key endorsement vote will be a sign

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Joe Biden will find out Thursday if he wins the endorsement of the liberal online hub MoveOn, a sign — if he gets it — that he is inching closer to winning over progressive voters who remain skeptical about him.It’s not a given that Biden will receive the two-thirds vote he needs to win the backing of MoveOn, which has 13 million people on its mailing list. Four years ago, MoveOn chose to launch a “United Against Hate” campaign against Donald Trump rather than ask its members to endorse Hillary Clinton, after more than three-fourths of them voted to back Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary. The organization didn’t endorse in this year’s Democratic primary because no candidate could corral the necessary support.The endorsement would measure something different than polls, where Biden has opened up a nine-point lead nationally over Trump, according to the compilation of major surveys. It would measure enthusiasm for the nominee to be.Clinton couldn’t win that enthusiasm four years ago, when she and Sanders battled all the way to the convention. Then, 1 in 10 Sanders primary voters — 1.5 million people — backed Trump in the general election, according to a Tufts University study.“If he gets it, it’s a good sign that the wing of the party that wasn’t behind the moderate candidate (Biden) is consolidating around him,” said Alan Minsky, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America, which backed Sanders in the primary. “If he doesn’t get it, it’s a sign that progressives want to see more.”Winning the endorsement of a major liberal organization like MoveOn is key for Biden because it is full of politically engaged people who do the grunt work of campaigning. And it would be a turning point for the former vice president, who opposes such top progressive priorities as single-payer national health care and the Green New Deal environmental proposal.Some progressives also remain wary of Biden because of his record during four decades in the Senate. They haven’t forgotten his conduct as Senate Judiciary Committee chair during the 1991 Supreme Court nomination hearing of Clarence Thomas, when Thomas’ former federal agency colleague Anita Hill accused him of sexually harassing her. Biden allowed committee members to trash Hill during their questioning and refused to call witnesses who were prepared to back up her story.More on PoliticsSome progressives won’t forgive him for his leadership of a 1994 crime bill toughening sentences for many federal offenses. New Jersey Sen. Cory Booker called his fellow Democrat the during the primary campaign.But those criticisms have been muted since Biden won enough support to secure the nomination and his rivals endorsed him. For many Democrats, defeating Trump trumps ideological purity.“Many people are in the mind-set now of voting for Joe Biden,” said Adam Green, co-founder of the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, which endorsed Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren during the campaign. “The big variable now is how energized they will be to donate and volunteer for his campaign and defend him from attacks.”Still, many Democrats remain unenthusiastic about Biden. found that while Biden led Trump by double digits, 60% of his backers said their support was more of a vote against Trump. Only 27% of Trump’s supporters said their support was more about opposing Biden.That enthusiasm gap — which is particularly pronounced among younger voters — is a troubling sign for Biden four months from election day.“We know that young people want Trump gone,” said Ben Wessel, executive director of NextGen America, which has done extensive polling about the Biden enthusiasm gap among younger voters. “But being anti-Trump is not enough. We need to show that Biden can get us much closer to having the country that we want and need.”MoveOn political director Chris Torres told The Chronicle that he was “more confident” Biden would win the organization’s support than he was a few months ago.About Our Newsroom“We think our members are in a place that they are so committed to defeating Trump that we feel positive about it,” he said.But he and other progressive leaders suggested ways that Biden could win over more progressive voters, regardless of what happens Thursday:Pick a progressive vice president: Biden said he will choose a woman and announce his pick by Aug. 1. On Tuesday, members of Progressive Democrats and RootsAction, another progressive organization that supported Sanders, urged Biden in to pick Warren. They cited her leadership “on issues from the Green New Deal to fighting corporate greed and corruption — issues that excite the progressive voters you’ll need to win the White House.”The two organizations, which together represent 1.2 million activists, wrote the letter after Warren was the top vice presidential choice of 52% of its members. The runner-up, California Sen. Kamala Harris, received 18%.Be open to progressive policy goals: Nobody expects Biden to suddenly embrace Medicare for All, which he says would be far too expensive. But progressive leaders do expect him to be open to their ideas. Green said he appreciated how Biden has embraced one of Warren’s and Sanders’ signature policies — debt-free college — after the primary ended.Include progressives on the team: Progressives like Fremont Rep. Ro Khanna, a national co-chair of Sanders’ presidential campaign, applauded the unity team that Sanders and Biden formed to move closer on policy plans. Others liked that Khanna, Oakland Rep. Barbara Lee, and former Obama administration official and current Los Angeles County Supervisor Hilda Solis of the California Democratic Party delegation to the national convention. It was seen as an olive branch to supporters of Sanders, who won the California primary.“Personnel is policy. Who you surround yourself with is indicative of the direction you’re going,” said MoveOn’s Torres. “Progressives want to see more of who Biden is surrounding himself with.”Joe Garofoli is The San Francisco Chronicle’s senior political writer. Email: Twitter:About Our Newsroom

Joe Biden will find out Thursday if he wins the endorsement of the liberal online hub MoveOn, a sign — if he gets it — that he is inching closer to winning over progressive voters who remain skeptical about him.It’s not a given that Biden will receive the two-thirds vote he needs to win the backing of MoveOn, which has 13 million people on its mailing list. Four years ago, MoveOn chose to launch a “United Against Hate” campaign against Donald Trump rather than ask its members to endorse Hillary Clinton, after more than three-fourths of them voted to back Sen. Bernie Sanders in the primary....

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Will Bernie Sanders’ backers get behind Biden? Key endorsement vote will be a sign

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