Group backing Sanders to reassess strategy

With the decision last week by Sen. Bernie Sanders to endorse the candidacy of Joe Biden, members of Our Revolution of Northwest Ohio will need to re-evaluate a voting strategy the group planned to follow to the Ohio primary and the Democrat’s presidential convention in Milwaukee, says Dennis Slotnick, a spokesman for the group.
When Sanders announced he was suspending his campaign, Slotnick, a Genoa resident, issued a statement encouraging members of the group to stay focused on the Ohio primary election and support Sen. Sanders, noting the senator hadn’t actually dropped out of the campaign.
“In a suspended campaign, the pledged delegates that have been earned and those yet to be earned will still be with Bernie Sanders when he comes to Milwaukee (convention), still fighting for Medicare for all, ending corporate personhood, a Green New Deal, ending corporate bailouts, and workers’ rights,” the statement, dated April 8, said. “We are promoting Ohio mail-in absentee ballots and encourage everyone to vote by mail if they haven’t already done so. Despite the coronavirus pandemic, our democracy must not be one of the fatalities.”
Prior to Sanders suspending his campaign, members of Our Revolution of Northwest Ohio had scheduled GOtv canvassing and other events supporting the senator the weekend before the original Ohio primary.
Last week, Slotnick said the group will discuss Sanders’ endorsement of Biden at its meeting on April 19.
“We haven’t heard anything from the campaign about pledged delegates,” he said. “We’re not sure who’s making the decisions.”
Even heading to the convention with, say, 25 percent of the delegates, would have given Sanders some leverage to press for changes to party rules and the platform, Slotnick reasons.
“The rules of the Democrat Party changed before because of Bernie,” he said.
Meanwhile, the group remains focused on issues such as health care. The pandemic has exposed problems with the current system, Slotnick said, and a state-wide conference call is set for April 23 to discuss what changes to the system are needed. Representatives of National Nurses United, the Single Payer Action Network, the Black Caucus of the Ohio legislature and other organizations have been invited to participate in the call.
Our Revolution of Northwest of Ohio hosted a forum in February at the Sanger Branch Library in Toledo attended by 72 people. Slotnick said the featured speaker, Dr. John Ross, a retired physician, “enumerated brilliantly” how a single-payer system is feasible.
Slotnick said he was surprised by the number of those in attendance who said they’ve foregone seeking medical care due to co-pays or other up-front costs.
“Almost every hand went up,” he said. “The financial barriers are there regardless of income.”
The group is also endorsing Xavier Carrigan for the Ohio’s 5th Congressional District seat and Nancy Larson for the Ohio House of Representatives 47th district seat. Carrigan is in a three-way race in the Democratic primary with Gene Redinger and Nick Rubando while Larson is unopposed in the Democratic primar