Most North Texas Democrats are backing Hillary Clinton at convention

It’s been a long wait.

After eight years of working to help Hillary Clinton claim the Democratic presidential nomination, Pam Durham said she can’t wait to see her efforts pay off.

“We need to finish the work we began in 2008,” said Durham, 63, a Fort Worth acupuncturist who heads this week to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia. “We’ve been working with Hillary for a long time.

“Now, it’s all where it’s supposed to be,” she said. “She’s just one of the best candidates who has ever run for president.”

Durham and more than 250 other Texans are ready to serve as delegates at the national convention, where supporters of Clinton and fellow presidential candidate Bernie Sanders — who recently endorsed the former first lady — will join together.

Clinton came close to claiming the nomination in 2008 but ultimately lost to Barack Obama, who went on to win the presidency.

Now she faces some of the same struggles Republican Donald Trump faces, as a number of those who support her opponent are reluctant to give her their vote in November.

Sanders, 74, a fiery Vermont senator, sparked a political revolution this year, reaching millions of people who have felt disenfranchised from politics. They became his so-called grassroots army, rallying behind his call, feeling the “Bern” and echoing his desire to make life better for all Americans.

But when he threw his support behind Clinton, after months of attacking her on the campaign trail, some supporters couldn’t follow his lead.

“I voted for Bernie in the primary but I won’t support Hillary,” said Kit Jones, 69, a licensed professional counselor and psychotherapist in Fort Worth. “She represents the 0.01 percent of super wealthy corporatists.”

But Jones, a delegate to the Democratic National Convention and a passionate opponent of the Trans-Pacific Partnership, said she won’t support Trump in November either.

“I just am not sure what the options are going to be,” she said, adding that she’s heading to the national convention with the hope of somehow still putting Sanders in the White House.

Political ‘heartbreak’

Durham and others know how Jones feels.

They were in her shoes eight years ago, desperately wanting Clinton to claim the presidential nomination but knowing that the numbers after a spirited primary election year were not in her favor.

“I have an understanding of where the Bernie people are right now,” said Jason Smith, 47, a Fort Worth attorney and Democratic delegate going to the convention to support Clinton. “I think the convention will be a place for them to get this [political] heartbreak out of their system.

“I think they will come out of the convention ready to defeat Trump,” he said. “In 2008, when Hillary pulled out, a lot of us weren’t ready to quit yet. But we went to the convention … and I think the process led to a lot more Obama supporters.”

Breton Hawkins, 18, a Mansfield student and first-time delegate, believes that many delegates will come around.

But it won’t be easy.

“There is a lot of bad blood, not between candidates, but supporters,” he said. “Bernie Sanders spoke to a youth generation that was at the time apathetic and uninvolved.

“He engaged youths and supported them, and I want to show my support for him, as a youth, because now it’s our turn to fight for him as he did for us.”

During the convention, Smith said, he hopes Sanders’ supporters and others see how qualified Clinton, a former senator and secretary of state, is for the White House.

And he hopes they see that Clinton and Sanders aren’t too far off supporting many of the same issues, from raising the minimum wage to investing in education and youth.

“Hillary and Bernie are reading from the same page,” Smith said. “It’s just a matter of their rhetoric and how they personally approach trying to accomplish things.

“I’m glad Bernie ran,” he said. “I think he left his mark on the Democratic Party for years to come.”

Raising money

Many heading to the convention are finding it a financial challenge.

Some have found others to donate hotel points to help pay for rooms at the Marriott Hotel Philadelphia Airport, where the Texas delegation will stay. Others are finding their own lodging at nearby bed-and-breakfasts to save money.

Many have started online funding efforts to pay at least part of the cost.

Jones, who has a GoFundMe.com page, is among them.

“The DNC says it’ll cost delegates Big Bucks $$ — An Arm, A Leg, and First-Born Child to Represent Y’all in Philly,” she wrote on her page. “So, Help a Gal Out, Please, with Whatever Donation You CAN Handle!”

Celia Morgan, 31, a legal assistant from Arlington, has set up her own online fundraising page through Fundly, hoping to raise $5,000 to help pay for her trip.

The Sanders supporter and president of Texas Young Democrats was a 2012 delegate in Charlotte, N.C., and can’t wait to get to Philadelphia this year.

Morgan said she knows it may be hard for some Sanders supporters to back support Clinton. But she said everyone needs to unite behind a common goal. “Defeating Donald Trump has got to be the first priority for Democrats.”

And she said it’s crucial to keep Sanders’ supporters involved in the party.

“There will be a lot of folks who haven’t been part of the party before, who Bernie Sanders brought to the party,” she said. “He awakened a sense of democracy in people who thought democracy had cast them out.”

‘Vital time’ for U.S.

Emma Allen is ready to see Clinton as the nominee.

A Fort Worth retiree, Allen, 66, served as a delegate in 2008 and 2012, supporting Obama.

Now she wants to see the first woman in history to win the presidential nomination and go on to serve as president.

“I feel she’s the most qualified person for the Democratic Party,” Allen said. “The platform she stands on is one I agree with.”

Austin Hall, 21, of Aledo, a first-time delegate, is ready to see Clinton claim the nomination as well.

He’s also trying to raise money for his trip through GoFundMe but believes he needs to be in Philadelphia no matter the cost.

“It is an extremely vital time for America,” he said. “I wanted to be a delegate because I wanted to be a part of building on the legacy and progress that President Obama has worked so hard to achieve.”

This story was originally published July 24, 2016 at 11:36 AM with the headline "Most North Texas Democrats are backing Hillary Clinton at convention."