PHILADELPHIA — California Rep. Barbara Lee is hosting a “Unity Reception” bringing together delegates from both sides on Tuesday afternoon, multiple sources confirm to BuzzFeed News.
Lee, who has passed out the invitations to operatives, high-profile delegates, and VIPs herself, is stressing the need for sides to come together on the second day of a convention notable thus far more for its dysfunction than togetherness.
Lee, sources close to her say, was taken aback by the reception she got at the California delegation breakfast.
Lee, a liberal stalwart seen as squarely in the same progressive wing as Bernie Sanders, received a less than warm welcome by rowdy members of the California delegation. Multiple outlets reported cheers of “Bernie! Bernie!” as she spoke, while others noted that there were jeers and even some boos.
Those are the likely the same Bernie supporters who wanted to see an endorsement from Lee, who withheld her support from either candidate. She was, however, careful to distinguish that a February endorsement of Clinton was from the CBC political action committee and not the CBC.
Lee has invited the Castro brothers, as well as Sanders hardliners Danny Glover and Rep. Raúl Grijalva (one of the first Bernie hardliners to endorse Clinton), and Ben Jealous, according to a source familiar with the planning for the gathering.