Why this die-hard Bernie Sanders supporter says Biden 'hasn't earned her vote yet'

'I'm putting in one more week of hope'

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Jennifer Lewis-Kelly is ready for a revolution — and she’s putting in the work to make one happen.

The 42-year-old Missouri Democrat says she grew up in a conservative family with an evangelical baptist background and is a former Republican, becoming engaged in politics at a young age when she first saw Bob Dole speak in St Louis.

“My parents are still huge Trump supporters and follow the QAnon like it’s a religion,” she says. “It’s really concerning, but, you know, to each their own.”

Perhaps that’s what makes it fun (and arguably somewhat easier) for Lewis-Kelly to serve as a victory captain for Bernie Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primaries. She says the job has her canvassing trailer parks and traveling across states to lead teams on what the Vermont senator’s campaign calls “Bernie journeys,” in which canvassers trek to specific regions to knock on doors and spread the word — or, as it's known colloquially, the bern.

Lewis-Kelly had her own personal revolution several years ago when she realized what she calls her “truth.” The minister identifies as a member of the LGBT community, and, after a journey in self-acceptance, came out of the closet to her church in 2014. She was quickly voted out.

Having been kicked out of the church, Lewis-Kelly said she was $150,000 in student loan debt and had no career, as well as a 10-year-old daughter.

“I was pregnant in seminary, and nobody seemed to have a problem with that,” she says with a laugh. “You don’t have a problem with me being an unwed mother, but yeah, I’m gay.”

(Courtesy of Jennifer Lewis-Kelly (Courtesy of Jennifer Lewis-Kelly)

Lewis-Kelly says she had to pull herself together, and eventually went back to school to receive a degree. She’s now a paralegal, and is taking advantage of her company’s tuition reimbursement program while working towards her MBA.

Though she voted for Barack Obama twice and initially supported Hillary Clinton in the 2016 Democratic primaries, Lewis-Kelly says she has lost faith in the Democratic establishment over the years. It all began with the passage of Obamacare, when a public option was negotiated off the table.

“I don’t think any of us were able to blink and that’s how fast it was taken off,” she recalls.

She now feels “betrayed” by the party, Lewis-Kelly says, citing various decisions its leaders made over the years that she strongly opposes.

“It was supposed to be better than this, and it’s not,” she says. “We bailed out the banks, and I lost my house to a foreclosure … I will never forget that.”

After doing some research and exploring Sanders’ candidacy during his first presidential bid, Lewis-Kelly says she became a die-hard supporter of the liberal senator. She began phone-banking for his campaign, and was devastated when he lost the primaries in 2016, saying she couldn’t “consciously” vote for Clinton against Donald Trump. Instead, Lewis-Kelly withheld her vote.

This time around, Lewis-Kelly says she’s equipped with a good job, some more time on her hands and additional resources to help Sanders on his path to the White House. He stands for everything she’s passionate about, from protecting the environment, to achieving universal healthcare and valuing human rights.

“I have a little bit more freedom to help out the campaign,” she says, adding that her daughter comes canvassing from time to time. When the going gets tough, Lewis-Kelly says her daughter has started signing Taylor Swift songs to help them power through the day.

But she’s worried she might soon face the same devastation she felt in 2016. Her concern comes after former Vice President Joe Biden’s victory in the Missouri primaries this week, and his sweeping wins during Super Tuesday and the primaries after.

“I’m putting in at least one more week’s worth of hope and optimism on this,” she says. “We’ll see what happens.

With the debates coming up on Sunday night and several crucial states set to vote in the coming months, Lewis-Kelly says there could still be a chance for Sanders to secure the Democratic nomination. She admits, however, that path has narrowed after the once-historically diverse field of candidates winnowed to the two oldest men in the race, with virtually all of the moderate leading candidates throwing their support behind Biden in a matter of weeks.

“Half of us Berners think he has to go hard on Biden, and the other half thinks he should play along and get along,” Lewis-Kelly says about the upcoming debates.

At the end of our conversation, I ask her if she will once again withhold her vote if Sanders doesn’t win the Democratic nomination. She says she plans to vote, though she would not support Biden under any circumstances.

Her vote wouldn’t go to Trump either, Lewis-Kelly says adamantly, adding that she rejects the president and his agenda.

But then, after denouncing Trump, she pauses.

“I’ll tell you what: I want to take that back,” she says. “Biden has to earn my vote, he has not yet earned my vote. If he can talk about how he’s going to bring in the youth vote and focus on climate change, if he’s going to talk about Medicare-for-All … I will consider the vote, but he’s got to earn it from me first."

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