With the Democratic nomination all but cemented, supporters of both Hilary Clinton and Bernie Sanders are struggling to maintain the unity they professed earlier in the season. This is especially true in Western Massachusetts, which voted heavily for the underdog.

On the night of Massachusetts primary in March, the Holyoke Democratic Committee sponsored what was called a unity party at Brennan’s bar. The idea was to gather both Sanders and Clinton supporters to watch the returns – and prepare to work together in the general election.

Here’s what Sanders supporter Christine Alger said at the time: “We’re still all pretty liberal left wing democrats who can celebrate together no matter who wins”

But that was then. I called Alger last week at her job as director of the Holyoke Youth Task Force. She says those early vows of unity have not held as strongly as she might have hoped.

“I feel like ‘unity’ is kind of a strong word right now,” she says.

Alger says Clinton supporters have angered her camp by declaring victory before Sanders is officially out of the race. Even so, she says she’s still willing to vote along party lines in November — though just barely.

“I really want to vote for Sanders,” Alger says, “but at the end of the day, if Hilary is the only other name on the ballot besides Trump, I will vote for her.”

In the primary, Holyoke was almost evenly divided between Sanders and Clinton — with a slight edge for Clinton — though overall in Western Massachusetts, Sanders won 17,000 more votes.

Clinton supporter Ray Drewnowski chairs the Holyoke Democratic committee. He acknowledges the contentiousness of primary season, though he says the Holyoke Democrats have been mostly civil.

“I found, as a Clinton supporter, listening to the issues that the Sanders campaign has brought forward and to the people who are very committed to this movement is probably the most effective tool that I’ve found,” says Drewnowski.

The next most effective tool to get Democrats to vote for Clinton, he says, is reminding them who could win the presidency if they don’t.