What’s next for Bernie supporters in New York?

Unlike a sizable contingent of Bernie Sanders supporters at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia, George Albro was in a good mood roughly an hour before Hillary Clinton was set to take the stage as the first female presidential nominee in U.S. history.

Sitting on the floor of the Wells Fargo Center with the rest of the New York delegation, Albro, a secretary-treasurer for the United Auto Workers Local 2325 and an organizer for the NY Labor for Bernie coalition, still proudly wears his affection for Sanders on his sleeve – literally, in the form of the Day-Glo green T-shirts that easily identified Bernie supporters at the convention. But he’s also made peace with the fact that Sanders has effectively forced Clinton and the Democratic Party to pay attention to – and even adopt – parts of his platform in their to mission to defeat Donald Trump in November.

When I stole Albro away from the convention floor on Thursday night for a brief interview in the arena concourse, he was beaming as he discussed what Sanders accomplished despite falling short of the Democratic nomination.

“We started NY Labor for Bernie when he was at 3 percent in the polls,” Albro said. “We were thinking he was going to raise some important issues and maybe get a little play, and he became the issue.”

The following is an edited transcript of my conversation with Albro on the grueling primary campaign, the overlap between Clinton and Sanders, and his efforts to carry on the spirit of Sanders’ campaign for future elections in New York.

Was there a point in the campaign that you thought, this guy has a real shot?

The scope of the win in New Hampshire was big. I was up there for about a week. When he won Michigan, which was a real diverse, industrial state. That shocked everyone. We thought he had a real chance. He won 22 states and he barely lost a number of others. He had the entire Democratic Party establishment against him, all the superdelegates.

In my view, he actually won the (national) debate. Basically 80 percent of the platform committee document we were very happy with. He made Secretary Clinton not only a better candidate, but a candidate who has a better chance of winning because his campaign forced her to adopt more progressive stances on a number of issues.

Did you come to the convention expecting Bernie to officially concede, or were you hoping there might be a last-ditch effort at a floor fight?

I think some of the less-experienced Bernie delegates maybe thought that he could throw a Hail Mary pass or that something would happen here. I knew. I mean he endorsed her a couple of weeks ago, and he was 1,000 delegates down. I fully expected Hillary to win and that he was going to endorse her. He showed so much courage and class in doing that, especially when he made the motion for acclimation, knowing he would alienate a lot of his supporters. There’s an old saying, “It’s easier to talk reality to your enemies than it is to your friends.” But he’s such a principled guy, political considerations come second.

I was at the debate at the Navy Yard when he made the astonishingly radical statement that Palestinians should be treated with respect. He knew, and in reality it did, cost him a lot of votes in the Jewish community. Especially in New York and Connecticut. But that was the right thing to do and a lot of people agree with him. I was never more proud at this convention of his role as a unifier. He put the country over his political interests by recognizing that Trump is such a danger and Hillary could really beat Trump.

When you say you agree with 80 percent of the party platform – what’s the 20 percent that you’re not crazy about?

We would have liked stronger language against the (Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement), specifically a pledge not to vote on it during the lame duck Congress. The language that passed was anti-TPP, but not as strong. The health care language, he got Secretary Clinton to agree to far better language than she campaigned on, but didn’t go as far as we would have liked. But generally the platform is a phenomenal doctrine. I was on the rules committee, it’s not as well known as the platform, but in essence they’re more important. The platform is a guide for Democrats, it’s not binding. No one has to abide by that. It’s important as a guide for party principles, but the rules determine how the elections are run in the future, and are binding. The main rule that the Clinton people finally agreed with sets forth the process by which two-thirds of the superdelegates will be eliminated, and that deals with more open elections. Reforming caucus procedures so that they’re more transparent is a great victory for democracy.

Tell me about the group that you’ve started in New York to advance progressive issues. Is this still in the beginning stages, and what is the ultimate goal of the group?

We actually formed an informal organization in New York because we had to petition to get all the delegates on the ballot in 27 congressional districts to get Bernie on the ballot. To do that, we had to have a network in all those districts. We ended up coming together, having conference calls and forming a network of Bernie supporters around the state – Buffalo, Syracuse, Rochester, Albany, New York City. Working together, we got 85,000 signatures – more than Hillary Clinton got. We realized that Bernie’s call to continue the revolution, which is as important to him running as his candidacy, meant that just to disband with the end of his campaign would really be defeating the purpose of his campaign. We’ve had preliminary meetings about forming a new political organization in New York state. The core would be people who supported Bernie throughout the state, but we are no longer just Bernie supporters. We have a lot in common with the Hillary supporters – they’re our fellow unionists, our neighbors, they’re progressives, we think we can attract them. Our initial goal would be focusing on campaign financing and even more of a passionate issue for us is reforming the electoral process of New York. New York is a poster child of undemocratic elections. We are among the bottom five states in voter registration, voter turnout. We are one of 10 states that don’t have early voting, we have no online registration. But the biggest shame of our system is that to vote for president in the primary, you have to be a registered Democrat six months prior to the election. The usual rule is 11 months. Since 42 percent of registered voters nationwide are in no party, they are the largest group of voters. In this recent primary we had for Congress, turnout was under 10 percent. That is a complete disgrace, and there are many bills in the Legislature to change that. But the first order of business is to kick Republicans out of power in the state Senate. Not that the Democrats are going to be so accepting of everything we propose, but at least we have a shot with the Democrats. The Republicans will block everything.

Obviously the Working Families Party was also a very prominent Bernie Sanders supporter as well. Does your organization have some overlap with what they’re doing in the state?

I think it’s complementary. I’m a founder of the WFP, a current officer. The WFP is a very progressive org that brings together progressive unions and community groups to support issues and then candidates. They’ve done tremendous work, especially in the New York City Council in getting progressives elected. The thing that the WFP is not is a mass organization of voters. What we need to complement the WFP’s expertise at staffing and diverse coalition is a mass organization throughout the state that can influence who wins primaries. Among all the groups that we’re working with – about 13 so far and still expanding – we probably have a list of about 30,000 or 40,000 activists. We would have a real force to do this lobbying I was talking about. And in two years during statewide elections we could be a real force. We are still in the organizational phase. We are hoping to have a big announcement for the press right after Labor Day and we’re going to hit the ground running and get involved in a couple of important races, including Zephyr Teachout’s.

What do you say to the Bernie supporters who feel so disenfranchised by the process that they want to sit out this election or vote for a candidate other than Hillary Clinton?

It’s positive and negative. The young folks were really the engine of the Bernie movement; they have the ideals. Young people tend to see the world in black and white, good and evil, not a process. They want revolution today, and that’s a good thing.

On the other hand, being young, they’re not familiar with the process. It is an age thing. Although not totally, there is more impatience with young folks than older folks are more familiar with the process. I think 85 percent of the people who voted for Bernie will vote for Hillary. They see, although they have issues with her record, particularly her war record, Donald Trump is a real danger to this country. Maybe the young people don’t see that. I always say you should go to a Donald Trump rally and look at the face of fascism and tell us what you think. I will work for Hillary, among others. In New York it’s not so much an issue, maybe some drop-off with people voting for the Green Party, but I worry there won’t be much people working for her, as much as they would have if someone like Elizabeth Warren was on the ticket.

But as the president pointed out last night, this is really an existential issue. It’s a threat to our country.