PORT TOWNSEND — Since the first time he cast a presidential vote in 1976, Jeff Engels has pulled the lever “for people who made me hold my nose,” but that isn’t true this year.
Engels, 58, has committed his time and energy to U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont as the Democratic nominee for president.
“He’s the real deal,” said Engels, a Port Townsend resident.
“He’s a friend of the working class and really understands the plight of America, with outsourced jobs, a lack of medical care and a [lack of a] fair minimum wage.”
Engels was chosen to represent the 6th Congressional District at the Democratic National Convention, set July 25-28 in Philadelphia.
He is one of three people from the North Olympic Peninsula elected May 21 at the 6th Congressional District Democratic caucus in Suquamish.
Jessica Hernandez of Port Angeles will be a Bernie Sanders delegate, while Julie Johnson of Neah Bay will be a Hillary Clinton delegate, Clallam County Democrats announced.
They were chosen by delegates representing Democratic precinct caucuses in Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap, Grays Harbor and Pierce counties, officials said.
The 6th District covers the Olympic and Kitsap peninsulas and most of Tacoma.
No delegates from Clallam or Jefferson counties were chosen at the state Republican Convention in Pasco on May 20-21 to go the national convention in Cleveland on July 18-21.
Clinton currently leads in the delegate count, but Engels said the game is not over.
Contested convention
“We’re going to a contested convention where it is unlikely that either candidate will have enough delegates to win on the first ballot,” he said.
“We’re going at it from two sides, inside [the convention hall] and outside,” he said.
Engels is a full-time employee of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union Workers Foundation, which has endorsed Sanders.
“I am going as a representative of two groups: the union and the people of Jefferson County,” he said.
Engels said he isn’t a “Bernie or Bust” delegate that would not support any other candidate; he is waiting to see how things play out.
“We are going to try to move the platform and get some results,” he said. “We are going to negotiate certain things with the Clinton campaign, which needs us more than we need them.”
Engels said the trip “could be the culmination of a lifetime of political involvement,” which includes involvement in the 1999 protests against the World Trade Organization and the Occupy movement.
Engels is sponsoring a GoFundMe campaign intended to raise a portion of the expenses needed to make the trip.
As of Saturday, the campaign had raised $540 toward a $2,000 goal, less than half of the needed $4,500.
Engels said he’d make up the remainder out of his own pocket.
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Jefferson County Editor Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or cbermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
Reporter Rob Ollikainen contributed to this report.
