Bernie Sanders' subtle warning to the Democratic Party

At the debate, Sanders laid down a marker for a contested convention

Democratic candidates.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Mario Tama/Getty Images, art is me/iStock, sergio34/iStock)

"Should the person with the most delegates at the end of this primary season be the nominee, even if they are short of a majority?"

That was the final question to the panelists at the Democratic debate in Las Vegas, and it was a very appropriate one — as appropriate as the question asked of the Republican candidates in 2016 about whether they would support whoever the nominee was in the general election. Only one candidate in 2016 refused to say yes — Donald Trump. Bernie Sanders was the outlier last night as well — he was the only candidate this time to say yes — and it matters for the same reason.

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Noah Millman

Noah Millman is a screenwriter and filmmaker, a political columnist and a critic. From 2012 through 2017 he was a senior editor and featured blogger at The American Conservative. His work has also appeared in The New York Times Book Review, Politico, USA Today, The New Republic, The Weekly Standard, Foreign Policy, Modern Age, First Things, and the Jewish Review of Books, among other publications. Noah lives in Brooklyn with his wife and son.