Could intra-party turmoil sabotage the Democrats' turnout operation?

Rifts within democratic party could spoil turnout.

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last updated 17 May 2016

The Democratic Party's grand plan to defeat Donald Trump could be upended by a rift forming within the party. The New York Times reports that "the two pillars of the Democratic coalition," labor unions and environmentalists, are currently at odds over a recent joint effort by some parts of the labor movement and wealthy environmentalist Tom Steyer to raise $50 million as part of a voter turnout operation. The split in the movement puts the fundraising efforts at risk, which in turn could negatively affect the effort to turn out Hillary Clinton voters in the fall.

While both factions can likely get behind tens of millions of dollars being raised for the Democrats, construction unions are leery about partnering up with climate-change activists. Steyer has previously opposed oil and gas projects, like the Keystone XL oil pipeline, which have the potential to create lots of jobs in the construction industry. In a letter sent out Monday, presidents of the nation's seven biggest construction unions threatened to boycott the get-out-the-vote effort.