Bernie Delegate Upset Over Use of Her Image in Hillary Tweet

Nida Allam, a Bernie Sanders supporters, speaks to the press about the Hillary Clinton campaign’s use of her image after Clinton won the nomination on Tuesday night. Yes, those are actresses Shailene Woodley and Rosario Dawson in the background | Photo: Dan McQuade

Emotions ran high Tuesday night when Democrats nominated Hillary Clinton for president. Clinton supporters were overjoyed at the historic nomination of the first woman at the top of a major-party ticket. Some cried. Bernie Sanders backers may have had tears in their eyes, too; their candidate officially wasn’t going to be president.

We made history. pic.twitter.com/TBvItE7oSa

— Hillary for America (@HFA) July 26, 2016

Just moments after her nomination, Hillary Clinton’s team posted this tweet of delegate Nida Allam with tears in her eyes with the message, “We made history.” Here’s the problem: Allam is a delegate for Bernie Sanders. She was crying over his loss.

“I’m here to represent Sen. Sanders, I’m here to represent all the people who voted for me and I feel like my voice hasn’t been heard,” she told reporters at a press conference yesterday evening. “I was misrepresented as a supporter of Hillary Clinton. … For her to take that picture of me, and trying to use that to get the Muslim vote is not right because that is a vote she has to earn.”

Al Jazeera reported earlier this week Muslims were torn over Hillary Clinton. “For Muslim-Americans, to vote for Trump is to do the unthinkable,” law prof Khaled Beydoun wrote. “On the other hand, casting a vote for Clinton means assuming the risks and perils of an expanded ‘war on terror’ at home and abroad.”

Allam, 22, said she wanted Clinton to speak “on the issues most Americans care about, like the Israel/Palestine conflict.” She added she “felt passionate about the Bernie Sanders campaign — they felt like family.”

She spoke after a press conference where Susan Sarandon, Danny Glover and others rallied in support of Sanders delegate Nina Turner, who they said had been unfairly treated by the DNC. Shailene Woodley and Rosario Dawson stood alongside Allam while she spoke. Woodley may have been the first person to tweet about the use of Allam’s image.

Follow @dhm on Twitter.