There were posters and slogans and signs. There were handouts and printouts and mailers. There were buttons.
Jade Hamilton had all of them.
The 23-year-old Fayette County resident spent $1,000 to campaign to be a delegate to the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.
"If we're going to do it, let's do it big," Hamilton said.
The West Virginia Democratic Convention began Friday, and will end this afternoon after West Virginia's 29 pledged delegates to the Democratic National Convention are chosen. The event brought prominent state Democrats, like U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin and Democratic gubernatorial candidate Jim Justice, along with Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton supporters from across the state.
Hamilton supports Clinton; her aunt, Debbie Hamilton, supports Sanders. They were two of the more than 1,000 delegates to the state convention.
"There's a lot that I respect and admire about Hillary," Debbie Hamilton said, dancing as she said it. "I'm not 'Hill No', but I'm not 'Hill Yes' yet either."
The Hamiltons come from a family of Democrats. Jade was wearing her grandmother's donkey pin.
"My granny was an actual delegate for Carter, Dukakis and McGovern," Jade Hamilton said.
To follow in her grandmother's footsteps, Jade Hamilton used a Beatles song to stress party unity - "Come together, right now, over Trump."
That message was echoed by Talley Sergent, the West Virginia State Director of the Clinton campaign.
After Sue Thorn, a 2012 candidate for congress in District 1, gave a speech about the issues that led to Sanders' 15 point victory in the state, Sergent stressed party unity.
"We must continue to move forward with a clear focus on the future," Sergent said.
She added that a united party was the only way to defeat Trump.
"I'm asking you to come together and help our friends and neighbors see that there's only one choice this election," Sergent said.
Not everyone in the audience applauded. That's because not everyone is on board with party unity.
Denise Henderson, who volunteered for the Sanders campaign by knocking on 2,000 doors, calling potential voters and attending two Sanders rallies, said that voting for Clinton would be difficult to stomach.
"Her goal is to get elected," Henderson said. "Bernie's goal is to make America better."
Henderson said that she was going to follow Sanders' lead throughout the remainder of the campaign, and has not given up hope that he will win. She said she doesn't think that he would endorse Clinton.
Others disagreed.
"We will come out of [the national] convention unanimous in our support of Hillary," said Richard Dulee, a delegate for Bernie Sanders from Monroe County who is running for delegate to the national convention.
"Every election is a choice between people who have problems," Dulee said.
But he said that the choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was easy, calling Trump a racist, among other complaints.
Shane Assadzandi, who was wearing an American flag blazer covered with buttons and was campaigning to be a delegate to the national convention, agreed that he "absolutely, positively" didn't want Trump to be president.
But he said that it didn't really matter who he voted for in the national race.
"Unfortunately, Trump will win West Virginia," Assadzandi said. "I think the people of West Virginia can freely vote their conscience knowing that they won't have any impact on Trump winning the White House."
Assadzandi, who was relying on "old-fashioned campaigning" by handing out buttons and printouts, said that the focus should shift to the other races in West Virginia instead.
"That was always our plan from day one, and that hasn't changed," he said.
The Sanders campaign has also talked about bringing more progressive values to the Democratic Party.
"In my mind, he's been out for a little while," said Charles Town resident Joshua Vance. "but he's been doing what he can to push the progressive ideas with the platform."
The Sanders campaign was pushing a more progressive platform on the state level as well. The committee in charge of creating the party's platform met for more than three hours going over suggestions from the Sanders campaign.
That platform will be voted on by the delegates today.
"They were good changes that we all agree with," said state Democratic Chairwoman Belinda Biafore.
Reach Daniel Desrochers at
dan.desrochers@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-4886 or follow
@drdesrochers on Twitter.