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Diversity in the delegates

This week, 4,765 delegates from 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia are arriving in Philadelphia. That's 4,765 life stories, and 4,765 sets of ideologies, priorities, hopes, and attitudes about what the Democratic National Convention should achieve.

In 2012, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and their families celebrated their nominations at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Unifying a diverse constituency will be a key aim of this year's convention in Philadelphia.
In 2012, President Obama, Vice President Biden, and their families celebrated their nominations at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, N.C. Unifying a diverse constituency will be a key aim of this year's convention in Philadelphia.Read moreCAROLYN KASTER / AP

This week, 4,765 delegates from 50 states, five territories, and the District of Columbia are arriving in Philadelphia.

That's 4,765 life stories, and 4,765 sets of ideologies, priorities, hopes, and attitudes about what the Democratic National Convention should achieve.

Delegates range in age from their teens to their 90s. They are gay and straight, and transgender. They span all races and ethnicities. They include members of Congress, governors, and party leaders, but also students, unemployed people, schoolteachers, mechanics, web developers, lawyers, and retirees.

For many, it's their first convention: They are political novices swept up by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders' progressive message, or Hillary Clinton supporters who have waited since 2008 for another chance to elect the first woman president.

Unifying that diverse constituency is a key goal of this week's convention. But given the vastly different routes that brought these delegates to Philadelphia, it's bound to be an unruly, perhaps uneasy, coalition.

For Mara Glubka, 62, a Sanders delegate from Richfield, Minn., being a Democrat is about standing up for the rights of transgender people. Glubka, a transwoman with three sons, was laid off from her job managing a chain of truck stops shortly after coming out three years ago. "For me, the laws that were starting to get passed around the country against transgender people is what got me up off the couch," Glubka said.

For Cindy Pollard, 59, of Newton, Iowa, top priorities are preserving same-sex marriage rights and advancing women's rights. The retired nurse, who is gay, canvassed tirelessly for Clinton in 2008 and again this year. She had been drawn to the candidate ever since Clinton was a first lady who was not the type to "have stayed home, baked cookies."

For Manny Rivera, 33, a Navy veteran from Bayamón, Puerto Rico, top of mind is that island's crushing economy. "When I heard Bernie Sanders' message, it just got into my core," Rivera said.

In particular, it was Sanders' stance on income inequality. Rivera, a computer help-desk worker, has held four jobs in three years. He tells of two delegates who, having despaired of making a living in Puerto Rico, bought one-way tickets to Philadelphia.

The 1,894 delegates pledged to Sanders, who endorsed Clinton recently, include some who are unsure party unity is for them.

Those are people like Luke Lundemo, 67, of Jackson, Miss.; and his son, Tao Weilundemo, 35; of Columbia, Mo. Lundemo, who runs a computer repair cooperative, turned the shop into a Sanders campaign office stocked with bumper stickers, yard signs, and pamphlets to host phone banks and watch parties. Weilundemo, a web developer and farmer, also took a leadership role organizing for Sanders. Both liked the candidate's independence from large donors.

"You feel like your political views are so far on the fringe as to be unimportant, and you've kind of been left behind," Weilundemo said. "But then you go to these meetings and realize there are a lot of people that feel the same way as you do, and it's exciting. It energized me, and my dad had the same experience in Mississippi that I did here."

But converting that energy into a force for the Democratic Party could be tricky. Weilundemo predicted many Sanders supporters won't vote in the fall.

Lundemo said for him, it was a tough call.

"Ten years ago, I decided I would just not vote for any candidates I didn't feel were free of corruption. I'm not convinced Hillary is free of corruption, so I don't think I can support her," he said.

Other first-time delegates for Sanders include Taz Tally, 65, a photographer and author from Homer, Alaska (top priority: campaign-finance reform); Charles Adkins, 18, a new high school graduate from Everett, Wash. (he's concerned with defeating the Trans-Pacific Partnership); and Adrian Sanchez, 35, an unemployed communications professional from Lincoln, Neb. (his top concerns are health care and decriminalizing drugs, such as the medicinal cannabis he said makes his Wilson's disease, a hereditary disorder, bearable).

A 'Sisterhood' and a selfie

But there are also thousands of loyal Clinton soldiers heading here - including a number of women who, in retirement, have become political activists.

There's Donna West, 59, of Las Vegas, a retired public employee who volunteered in Clinton's 2008 campaign and who has spent the last 15 months knocking on doors. She likes Clinton's attention to autism.

"Both of my grandsons are on the spectrum," West said. "When I met her, she promised she would fight for the boys. I told her we grandmothers have to stick together. She pulled me in for a hug and said, 'Yes, we do.' "

The contingent coming from Florida includes Cora Kostka, 73, a retired St. Petersburg administrative assistant who likes to campaign for Clinton in costume (she and her friends call themselves "the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuits"). It also counts Bongsoon Zubay, 75, a Korean American immigrant who headed a private school in Brooklyn before retiring to West Palm Beach. Zubay said when she saw Clinton as first lady working on health-care reform, she finally believed there would be a female president in her lifetime.

"This time I said to myself I'm not going to sit around, watch television, and make a comment, so I became an activist for Hillary," she said. "She's the smartest, the best-qualified."

Another novice: Elizabeth Hahn, 39, an English teacher and mother of five from Evans, Ga. She said her path to Philadelphia started when her 14-year-old daughter got to take a selfie with Clinton at a campaign stop.

"She was so excited about it," Hahn remembers, "and she looked at me and was like, 'Mom, you talk about things all the time - why aren't you doing anything?' "

So Hahn applied to be a delegate.

There are also many county- and state-level political operatives arriving from around the country.

Shay Cathey, 43, a senior policy adviser for the county of Dallas, Texas, and Jolan Jolivette, 24, a state-government employee in Lafayette, La., sit on the executive committee of their state's Democratic Party. Both supported President Obama in 2008 before pivoting to Clinton this cycle.

"My three little sons - the irony is, they've all grown up with an African American president, so they think that's the norm. I was trying to explain to them how difficult that was to achieve," Cathey said. "So saying to them that a girl can do this, they're like, 'Really?' Yes, a woman can do this."

Jan Roller, 61, a Cleveland lawyer, is returning for her second convention as a Clinton delegate. This time around, she says gun control and an end to police violence against African Americans are the most pressing issues. But, as whip for the Ohio delegation, her immediate task is bringing her party together. She thinks the best hope for that will come from the other party.

Roller said, "I think Donald Trump has given Sanders delegates an added reason to work hard for the Democratic ticket."

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