Boos and jeers: DNC roiled by emails, chairwoman
PHILADELPHIA, PA (KTRK) -- Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation as DNC chair wasn't enough to appease her home state delegation.
She was booed and interrupted repeatedly after hacked emails reveal what appears to be a systemic effort within the DNC to help Secretary Hillary Clinton while hurting Senator Bernie Sanders.
This came as convention organizers were putting the final touches on the opening night of the four-day pep rally; surely a distraction Texas democrats hope does not detract from their message moving into the general election.
"After this week, we'll be beyond that and we'll be looking at the bigger prize which is the White House, 2016," said Carl Davis, a delegate from Houston. "We're going to leave this convention on a very high note, unified. We came into this convention with a few bumps, but by the time we leave this weekend, we're going to be all energized and excited about victory in November."
VIDEO: New email scandal threatens Democratic Party unity
Debbie Wasserman Schultz's resignation as DNC chair wasn't enough to appease her home state delegation.
She was booed and interrupted repeatedly after hacked emails reveal what appears to be a systemic effort within the DNC to help Secretary Hillary Clinton while hurting Senator Bernie Sanders.
This came as convention organizers were putting the final touches on the opening night of the four-day pep rally; surely a distraction Texas democrats hope does not detract from their message moving into the general election.
"After this week, we'll be beyond that and we'll be looking at the bigger prize which is the White House, 2016," said Carl Davis, a delegate from Houston. "We're going to leave this convention on a very high note, unified. We came into this convention with a few bumps, but by the time we leave this weekend, we're going to be all energized and excited about victory in November."
VIDEO: Wasserman Schultz goes from favored to on the outs
"It's totally a distraction," said another Houstonian in Philadelphia for the convention. "I think it is so coincidental, the timing of this. To me that takes away any kind of credibility on this issue. "
There are delegates, however, who still support Sanders. They tell us the leaks only confirm what they already suspected.
"It's something we already knew," said Laura Dominguez. "It's not something. It's not unexpected. We knew about it the whole time. "
"We're starting to see some actual proof that it wasn't quite fair in the primaries from the very beginning," added Alec Mondello, wearing a Bernie Sanders shirt adorned with buttons as he spoke with Eyewitness News. "I think it's going to make the convention a little more interesting because of that. "
Secretary Clinton was campaigning in North Carolina today. Sanders is already in Philadelphia.
He attended a rally with delegates and promised to keep fighting for reforms.
VIDEO: Bill and Chelsea Clinton to pitch in at DNC
"As I think all of you know," he said to uproarious applause, "Debbie Wasserman Schultz resigned yesterday as chairman of the DNC." He challenged his supporters to keep up their work. "How do we build on our successes? How do we continue the political revolution? " he asked.
What is clear is that what is supposed to be a week of celebration, bridge-building, and motivation is not any of those things just yet.
Tasked with rallying the troops from the Lone Star State is Texas Democrat party chair, Gilberto Hinojosa.
"We need to have everybody on board in this election," he told Eyewitness News. "It's going to be a hard election. I mean, the republicans are going all out to win the presidency because they know that everything is at stake. And we need to do the same thing. So we need to set aside whatever differences we had in this primary election, come together, and elect Hillary and Tim Kaine to be President and Vice President of the United States."
Others don't seem as concerned about the apparent rift. State Senator Rodney Ellis, from Houston, believes everything will gel.
"We're democrats," he said. "We always make it interesting. But at the end of the day I think most people realize there is so much at stake in terms of who runs this country. "
This is just day one. The purpose of a four-day convention is to find that unity once the race has ended. The Republicans struggled to reach that united front when Ted Cruz took the stage and did not endorse Donald Trump. Democrats are looking to avoid a similarly muddy optic leaving Philadelphia. They have 96 hours to do it.
