Dana Ferguson

dferguson@argusleader.com

As Democratic presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton's campaign ramped up its presence in South Dakota Thursday, it aimed to court a voter demographic that has eluded it across the country: millennial women.

Touting campaign surrogate and abortion rights advocate Wendy Davis, the campaign opened its Sioux Falls office with a rally.

And while the former Texas state senator's message to support Clinton as a means to block Republican presumptive nominee Donald Trump's path to the White House resonated with the dozens in attendance, many millennial Democrats in Sioux Falls said they'd rather stand with Democratic candidate Bernie Sanders.

South Dakota's young Democrats aren't alone in that sentiment, as polls across the country have projected Sanders as more favorable among millennials, including women. And the younger voters have flocked to Sanders, saying he's the more trustworthy candidate and his campaigning has done more to re-energize voters.

"I try to get young women to see her in the same way that I do and see the full breadth of her body of work and what a passionate person she has been," Davis said in an interview with Argus Leader Media. "But if you are 18 or 22 or 25 years old in America, you’ve grown up seeing many negative messages about Hillary Clinton. There has been an ongoing assault against her for many years because she is a threat to what many see as the establishment."

To a crowd of about 60 in the Sioux Falls Labor Temple basement, Davis repeated the message, aiming to rally support from reproductive rights advocates, state Democratic party members and a handful of millennial women who'd come to meet and get a selfie with the former state senator.

For young Clinton fans, the message affirmed their support for the former secretary of state, but Democratic women resolved to buck the establishment resisted the event and re-affirmed their support for Sanders later Thursday afternoon at a canvassing event.

“It’s just so important for women to have representation that they can look at and think, ‘I could be like that someday,’” Emma Ward, 20, said. "She's the perfect woman to be the first female president, so we just have to keep doing what Wendy said and try to get them to see what we see in her."

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Fathia Gonzalez, 22, went to the event with friends from South Dakota State University. The self-proclaimed feminist said she sees eye-to-eye with Clinton on her pro-abortion rights platforms and plans to vote for her in the June 7 primary.

“I think it’s important that we vote for her not just because she’s a woman, but because of what she would do for women’s issues," she said. "I see her as a fighter for women’s rights and we need that in this country."

But not all young women feel that way about the Democratic front-runner.

Anne Weyer, 29, sat at Sanders' campaign office in downtown Sioux Falls Thursday afternoon as she prepared to canvass. She said she had trouble backing Clinton because she's accepted donations from corporations and had previously flip-flopped on some of her campaign platforms.

Like many of her friends, Weyer said, she has trouble accepting an "establishment" candidate. In her opinion, Clinton falls into that category.

"We need to get new blood in there because we're a democracy, not a monarchy," Weyer said. "That's the only way we're going to change the things that are wrong now."

Weyer said she found flaws, too, with the argument that young women should support Clinton because she could be the first female president.

"At this point in the U.S. and in the world when you talk about equality, it's about more than a person's sex, it's about their platform," Weyer said. "I can't in good conscience vote for Hillary just because she's a woman."

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Davis said she hopes that Sanders will eventually concede the race to Clinton, the current front-runner, so that the party can focus its efforts on opposing presumptive Republican nominee Donald Trump. Davis said Clinton would unite the country rather than divide it, as Trump has in his campaign.

"He's talking about things to get their (voters') anger stoked up. He's not talked about what he's actually going to do to make America great again and instead he's focused on insulting just about every group in this country that he can," Davis said.

Spokespeople for Trump's campaign and the Republican National Committee didn't respond to messages Thursday requesting comment.

At this point, Weyer said she's not prepared to give up on Sanders' chances and doesn't think she could support Clinton in the general election.

"I'm not going to pick the lesser of two evils," Weyer said, "If Hillary wants my vote she has to earn it. And she hasn't done that so far."

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