‘You could actually hear the glass ceiling breaking’: voices of the Democratic National Convention

Eric Bauman, 57, Los Angeles County Democratic chairman

Eric Bauman (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

“That was the most incredible and intense speech I've ever heard Michelle Obama give…. When she talked about Hillary Clinton and breaking that glass ceiling, you could actually hear the glass breaking.”

Vicke Kepling, 50, college teacher from Springfield, Mo.

Vicke Kepling (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

On the ouster of Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Debbie Wasserman Schultz: “I got one word: Cheater. They're using [Schultz] as a scapegoat. It wasn't just her. It was Hillary too ... DNC should be talking about the election fraud.”

Victoria Bard, 50, a delegate from Longmont, Colo.

Victoria Bard (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

“I am a Bernie Sanders national delegate. Which is what I will do the entire convention.

“Sen. Sanders votes his values. He has consistently been voting the people. There is no other candidate we have had in my lifetime that I could vote for, as opposed to choosing the lesser of two evils.”

Julie Perry, 51, labor representative for National Nurses United from Kansas

Julie Perry (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

“We were selected as Sanders delegates, and we plan to leave as Sanders delegates.”

Ann Richardson, 62, a lawyer from Sacramento

Ann Richardson (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

“We got the right to vote after men did. And now we've waited long enough to elect a woman.”

This convention is “a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.”

Sandy Pina, 69, of Murrieta, Calif.

Sandy Pina (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

Pina says Sanders supporters are throwing “a tantrum” that distracts from efforts to defeat Donald Trump.

“It's like a bad divorce. Who's going to get the kids and the dogs?”

Benjamin Becker, 32, consumer advocate from San Francisco

Benjamin Becker (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

“Unrealistically, I’d like Hillary Clinton to step down so we can have an actual chance of winning in November.”

Georgina McDonald, Army reservist from Wheaton, Ill.

(Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

“I am out here to support Sanders because he is the only candidate that's telling the truth.”

Only one thing might change her mind: “If [Clinton] made him her vice president, that's the only way I would shift gears.”

Gilda Cobb-Hunter, 63, chair of the DNC Southern Caucus in South Carolina

Gilda Cobb-Hunter, right (Colleen Shalby / Los Angeles Times)

(Test)

A superdelegate, Cobb-Hunter says democracy is messy, but differences between voters make for a stronger final product.

“I'd rather they get it all out of their system here, rather than waiting and letting it fester,” she said, sitting with Nebraska state Sen. Tanya Cook, left.