The police have been called multiple times now on supporters of Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) over a series of protests targeting officials in the Democratic Party. A video posted online Wednesday shows one of these protests by self-styled “Berners,” who showed up late Friday night with a bullhorn and a flashlight at the house of the chair of Nevada’s Democratic Party to issue warnings against conspiring to undermine Sanders in next day’s caucuses.
In the video, which was initially live-streamed on her personal Facebook page and has since been posted on Twitter, Maria Estrada, a Los Angeles-based “Berner,” stands outside the home of William McCurdy, chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, at around 11 p.m. Friday night and makes a series of declarations through a bullhorn while shining her flashlight on the house. Another “Berner” films the protest, which, as Politico notes, is one of “at least three” such protests targeting individuals in recent days.
“William McCurdy, Chair of the Nevada Democratic Party, I want to make sure that you understand why we’re here!” Estrada declares. “I want to make sure that you know that we do not want to see the 2016 election.”
“I want assurances there isn’t going to be any shenanigans going on tomorrow!” she insists. “The Democratic Party does not control what happens. The will of the people is what controls what happens.”
A clip of the live-streamed protest was posted on Twitter by a Politico contributor:
Scoop w/ @hollyotterbein
NV Dem party chair & CA SoS called the police this wknd after svrl Bernie supporters came to their homes w/ bullhorns late at night to warn abt elections/2016
They FB live’d it
Jeff Weaver condemned the tacticshttps://t.co/BxJPlm9Zn2 pic.twitter.com/xAnyVcKzO7— Alex Thompson (@AlxThomp) February 27, 2020
According to Politico, McCurdy, along with a member of the state Assembly, confronted the Bernie supporters about an hour after they arrived and told them they had “crossed a line.”
“If any bullshit happens tomorrow the only person who crossed the line is you,” Estrada responded.
The North Las Vegas police department told Politico that McCurdy eventually called them over the disturbance, but the protesters were gone by the time they arrived.
“At least three other times in recent days, Estrada led a group of Sanders supporters who gathered late at night outside the homes of Democratic Party officials and California lawmakers, including those of Secretary of State Alex Padilla and state Democratic Party Chairman Rusty Hicks,” Politico reported Wednesday. “Police were called at least twice.”
In a message to Politico on Facebook, Estrada defended her and her fellow Bernie supporters’ actions, saying, “Protesting is our right — whether they called the police or not is irrelevant.”
Estrada ran for office in California in 2018 and got relatively close to upsetting the Democratic California Assembly speaker, and she is running again this year, Politico notes.
Despite the Bernie supporters paranoia about the Democratic Party thwarting Sanders in the Nevada caucuses, the socialist senator went on to win the state easily on Saturday, securing 47% of the vote and 24 of the state’s 36 delegates, adding to his growing momentum in the early primary contests.
Former frontrunner Joe Biden came in a distant second in Nevada, earning just 20% of the vote and 9 delegates. Third was former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg, who gained 14% and 3 delegates. In fourth was Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who, like Biden, once led the Democratic contest in the polls, but received zero delegates and after getting just under 10% of the vote.
Sanders is currently the clear front-runner in both the national polls (Sanders 29%, Biden 18%, Michael Bloomberg 14%, Warren 12%, Buttigieg 10%) and the delegate count (Sanders 45, Buttigieg 25, Biden 15, Warren 8, Amy Klobuchar 7).