DES MOINES, Iowa — Jherron Sutton and Ifetayo Olutosin held up their cell phones, posing for selfies with the blue Bernie for President stickers they’d just pressed on their chest.

At an event in Grinnell, a college town that is home to roughly 9,000 people, the two women — both 19-year-olds in their second year of college — said they weren’t sure whether or not they’d ultimately support Sanders, the Vermont senator running for the Democratic nomination. But, they added, they wanted to check him out for themselves.

"I’ve seen his name everywhere, social media and in the news. I hear what people are saying about him as far as what he believes, but I want to hear for myself what he has to say and give him a chance," Sutton told Mashable.

Olutosin agreed, saying she was intrigued by Sanders’ plan to axe tuition for the nearly seven million undergraduate students at four-year public colleges and universities.

"We just turned the legal age to be able to vote," she said. "Just seeing the campaign up close and personal and being able to actually take part in it…is exciting."

The two young women are part of a constituency that has already flocked to support Sanders: young voters. But they’re also part of another constituency that has been less quick to warm to Sanders: black voters.

The event was Sanders’ first of a three day swing through the Hawkeye State over Labor Day weekend. His support has surged here as it has in states across the country. The most recent polling, released by Quinnipiac University on Thursday, showed Sanders leading Clinton for the first time among Iowa Democrats. Sanders took 41 percent compared with 40 percent for Clinton.

A section of Sanders speech here, to an overwhelmingly white crowd, explicitly spoke to racial injustices in the United States, including a rallying cry to "end all forms of institutional racism."

"When we talk about making America the kind of nation we want it to become, we must understand that we still have a long way to go in terms of racial justice,” he said. “Our goal must be to end all forms of institutional racism and make major reforms in our broken criminal justice system."

Later in the speech, Sanders listed off the names of Sandra Bland, Michael Brown, Eric Garner, Rekia Boyd, all unarmed black women and men killed by police or who died in police custody.

"As president of the United States, let me be very clear in telling you that no one will fight harder to end racism and reform our broken criminal justice system than I will," he said to applause.

Image: Charlie Neibergall/Associated Press

Whether Sanders can win support among black voters will show whether or not he will draw votes away from Hillary Clinton, perhaps even taking the Democratic nomination, or be simply a thorn in her side with a following largely made up of the most liberal white segment of the Democratic party.

Blacks make up 3.3% of Iowa’s population, compared with 13% for the nation according to U.S. Census data. While they are not a large part of the Democratic electorate there, black voters are a crucial block of Democratic primary voters in South Carolina.

Sanders told Des Moines Register staffers that "we have a lot of work in front of us …to the African American community and, by the way, the Latino community and we are in the process of doing that."

But Sanders also said he was at a disadvantage with black voters compared to Hillary Clinton.

"I am running against an unnamed candidate — you may know who she is — whose husband, who I will also not mention, but was a former president of the United States, was very popular with the African-American community. Period. And certainly that popularity will benefit Hillary Clinton." Sanders though has been increasing his outreach to black voters and speaking out on issues of race relations, income inequality and police brutality since activists affiliated with the Black Lives Matter movement have disrupted several of his campaign events, including seizing control of a Sanders event in Seattle that was celebrating the anniversary of Social Security and Medicare.

“I heard about that,” Betty Copeland, a retired UAW worker who attended a Sanders rally in West Burlington, Iowa, said of the disruptions. “I believe all lives matter. I don’t care what color you are.”

Copeland, a black Democrat who supported then-candidate Barack Obama in the 2008 Iowa caucuses, said it was “rude” for protesters to interrupt a speaker and that they could convey their point “in another way.”

But, she added, it was critical for Sanders and other Democratic candidates, to speak out on issues of race and police brutality.

"I think it’s important that they do speak about these issues because it’s important to the people," Copeland told Mashable "Lately there has been so many black young black men dying at the hands of cops …and I think it’s important for the candidates to show that they either support or don’t support so that way you know what you’re looking at."