Editors's Note: This story has been updated to reflect the version that appeared in our weekly print edition.
A year ago, Athens County was feeling the Bern.
At one Athens for Bernie Sanders meeting in late August, about 70 students and community members convened to bolster support for the candidate. At the Ohio University Involvement Fair, more than 200 students signed up for Bobcats for Bernie Sanders. The group has attained more than 300 “likes” on Facebook, and had about 40 active members who attended meetings regularly, Stu Adams, president of the group said.
But with Sanders officially out of the running, that “bern” has become more of a low simmer — with former supporters divided as to whom the best alternative candidate would be.
“I think that when we all realized that Bernie Sanders was not going to get the nomination, we all had a decision to make,” Adams said.
For Adams, and most of the group’s former members, that decision was Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton.
“Personally it wasn’t much of a decision to support Hillary Clinton versus (Green Party nominee) Jill Stein,” he said. “When we talk about the idea of getting the things done that Bernie Sanders talked about, the only choice is Hillary Clinton.”
John Haseley, chair of the Athens County Democratic Party, said he’s optimistic the Clinton campaign will attract Sanders supporters — which would score her a hefty amount of votes in the November election. Sanders received twice the number of primary votes in Athens County as Hillary Clinton at 6,365 to 3,616.
“I know that there was a lot of speculation about what would happen after Bernie Sanders left the race. Would that mean that all of (his supporters) would leave with him?” Haseley said. “In Athens I can tell you that that has not happened.”
Though Sanders himself endorsed Clinton at the Democratic National Convention in July, some of his supporters were less willing to fall in line with the official nominee.
At one point, a group of Sanders supporters staged a walk-out at the convention hall, chanting “Show me what democracy looks like, this is what democracy looks like,” according to a TIME article.
Adams hasn’t done any active campaigning for Clinton, but one former Sanders supporter, Neil Ryan, who is interning with the Hillary Clinton campaign, helped organize a “Berners for Hillary” house party in Athens in July.
Adams said he publicized the event on his group’s Facebook page, but didn’t attend the event himself and didn’t try to persuade anyone to attend.
“I didn’t think I was in a position to tell anybody what to do,” he said. “Bernie Sanders supporters are very smart. They’re very informed. They all know the realities of the world and are able to decide what they want to do.”
But Adams said a significant number of the group’s former members have instead turned their sights on Stein.
Nate Wallace, founder of Athens for Bernie Sanders, has also thrown his support behind Stein. He said he had been planning to vote for her this election until Sanders began his campaign.
In June, Stein supporters began holding weekly meetings to organize support for the candidate. Wood said the first meeting had about 20 attendees — more than the first Sanders meeting.
“It’s kind of nice to see some of the big supporters for Bernie continue to fight under the Green banner,” Wallace said. “It’s good to see a lot of the young people are bucking the system for the third party candidate.”
He added he doesn’t think Stein is likely to win the election, but he said the meetings at least give people the opportunity to gather with politically like-minded people.
“These politicians are just kind of banners for ideals anyway,” he said.
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