California Democrats on Friday kicked off their three-day convention with a “raucous start” in Sacramento, where a wave of single-payer advocates demanded the party work towards a system that makes healthcare a human right.
The gathering comes amid growing momentum nationwide for a single-payer, or Medicare-for-All, healthcare system, and as the Republican’s widely scorned American Healthcare Act (AHCA) is days away from receiving its potentially problematic Congressional Budget Office (CBO) assessment.
In a evening rally and march that went from the capitol to the Sacramento Convention Center, a crowd of nurses and other healthcare activists urged support for SB562—the advancing Healthy California Act—which would create a universal health system for Californians, and could “send a message” and “be a catalyst for the nation.”
Of the fight for single payer, RoseAnn DeMoro, executive director of the California Nurses Association, which organized the action, thinks California Democrats “cannot be in denial anymore that this is a movement that can primary them.”
DeMoro, who is also executive director of National Nurses United (NNU), took to Twitter to capture speeches at the rally and images of the sign-carrying marchers:
Their message, however, was not warmly received by California Democratic Party chairman John Burton.
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In fact, he “had nothing but F-bombs and sarcasm for the protesters who disrupted the welcome reception of the California Democratic Convention Friday, calling for universal healthcare and chanting ‘Hey hey, ho ho, corporate Dems have got to go,'” Bay Area News Group reported.
Video captured and posted to Twitter by Politico reporter David Siders shows Burton telling them to “shut the fuck up or go outside.”
“Parade all you want, but unless we put it on the ballot or elect new Democrats you can walk up and down the street and people still aren’t going to have decent healthcare. So let’s get with it,” the LA Times reports Burton as also saying.
Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez, who this year beat the NNU-backed Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Minn.) for the post, also spoke at the podium. He tried to inject some levity into the situation, comparing it to Thanksgiving dinner with extended family. He appealed to party members to seek unity, saying: “Donald Trump has to go. And that is why we must work together as Democrats.”
The Sacramento Bee writes that “the throng advocating for a statewide publicly funded, universal health care system snaked down a staircase behind Perez, shouting down his calls for unity.”
As for the the outcome of the convention, Politico reports that it will “reverberate” nationwide:
Iowans are also hoping to underscore the importance of a universal healthcare system this weekend, with rallies in seven cities set to take place Saturday.
“It just shows how important it is for us to be putting out an alternate vision for what our future should be rather than just saying no all the time,” said Chris Schwartz, a community organizer with Americans for Democratic Action Iowa.
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