One Man’s Path from “Berner” to Hillary Clinton Supporter

“Bern or Bust” has been the rallying cry for some disenfranchised Bernie Sanders supporters after the upstart candidate lost against Hillary Clinton in the Democrat primary.

But that wasn’t the path for Seth Cockfield, a Brooklyn “Berner” who came to support Clinton after a summer of feeling disappointed that his candidate didn’t make it to the presidential race.

“When put into a position like this,” he said, “Donald Trump has made me not only support, but excited to vote for Hillary Clinton.” But it wasn’t just a contrast that led him to vote for Clinton.

In the April primary, about 37 percent of Democrat Party voters in NYC chose Sanders, according to the New York Times. Nationally, Sanders won about 43 percent of the popular vote. No one knows for sure whether these supporters have turned away from the Democrat Party, either choosing to vote for Trump, a third-party candidate or to not vote at all. The ideal option for the Democrats is a story like Cockfield’s, who became comfortable with Clinton after she moved toward Sanders’ more progressive platform.

Cockfield, 37, lives in East Williamsburg and describes himself as a “hard-core” Sanders supporter. From New Orleans, he settled in Texas after Hurricane Katrina, and moved to Brooklyn four years ago for the arts community, he said. He works as a bike courier, performs stand-up comedy and writes.

A self-described “common-sense progressive,” Cockfield has been following Sanders for years. “I never skip a vote, no matter what,” he said, “but Bernie made me more excited to vote in the primary then I think I’ve ever been.” He joined Bushwick Berners to volunteer on the phone bank, and switched his registration from Independent to Democrat to vote for Sanders in the primary, he said.

Cockfield said Bernie would have been a positive influence on government and passionate about progressive causes. After Sanders lost, Cockfield thought, “I really, really don’t want to have to vote for Hillary Clinton,” he recalled, while walking to his local polling station on Tuesday morning.

Over the summer, Cockfield began researching Clinton more and found her to a “boring functionary,” not an “evil warlord.” Then she shifted left, he said, and began supporting policies important to him: raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, campaign finance reform and tackling income inequality. “She’s going with the wind of the country,” Cockfield said. “Because that’s what democracy is.”

Cockfield said he doesn’t believe the Democrat National Convention rigged the primary, like some critics accuse. Instead, he said the emails released by WikiLeaks pulled back the curtain on a party that planned to elect Clinton and did not expect Sanders to be a serious candidate.

“Urgency,” is what Cockfield felt when he filled in the circle for Clinton, he said afterward outside his polling station on Conselyea Street and Manhattan Avenue.

“I’m not one of those wide-eyed liberals who’s like, this is the beginning of a new and wonderful utopian era of togetherness or whatever,” Cockfield said. While the specific policies of each candidate mattered, he felt that voting for a liberal platform was a no-brainer against Trump. It came down to more a shift of emotion, than a shift in analysis, he said.

“Bernie losing was like being thrown off a ship,” Cockfield said. “And then either you swim and vote for Clinton or you let yourself drown because you don’t feel any hope and vote for Trump. So I felt like I had to swim.”