In 2016, Julieta Rangel said her caucus precinct off American Legion Road in Iowa City was pretty conflicted. Rangel was 17 at the time, just old enough to qualify to vote. But even then, she knew her candidate was Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

"It was really exciting. I was surprised by the people who came together," Rangel said. Hillary won her precinct, "but it was actually pretty close, like 50-50."

Her first time caucusing in the state was frustrating, Rangel said. Her parents and two brothers moved to Iowa City from Guadalajara, Mexico. She said she is proud of her Mexican heritage, but she can remember feeling unsettled about it. She remembered getting looks from other shoppers in stores as she traded Spanish words with her mother.

Supporting the Sanders side during the caucus filled Rangel with excitement, an excitement she carried four years later to Sanders' ice cream social Tuesday night at the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center. When a reporter asked her to speak for this article, Rangel happily jumped out of line to share her excitement:

"Knowing that his belief system has been the same ever since he started his political career, that's huge," Rangel said. "He doesn't change things for the public eye. It's just what he believes in morally. I think what we need is someone who doesn't do things for the public, but does things because they believe it is morally correct."

Just 10 feet away, Jim Arthur, a white man in a bright Hawaiian shirt, stood in the shifting crowd using a tongue depressor spoon to eat Ben & Jerry's ice cream from a recyclable cup. He echoed Rangel:

"It's a more everyday people-oriented approach to everything: civil rights, voting rights, economic justice. You don't really get that from any of the other candidates," Arthur said. "A focus on people that work for a living rather than the so-called 'middle class.'"

Like Rangel, Arthur was on the floor in 2016 caucusing for Sanders. Like Rangel, he was disappointed when their candidate lost the fight for the Democratic nomination. But unlike Rangel, Arthur has been doing this for a while. He said he has been living in the county for the better part of a half-century; he has felt disappointment before.

"I always vote. But I'm not always happy about who I end up having to vote for," Arthur said. "I vote for the people, but the guy I caucus for," he said pointing with his spoon towards the stage Sanders would soon take, "is never the nominee."

► Previously: Ice Cream Social(ist): Sanders visits Tuesday, opens office Wednesday

The problem, as Arthur sees it, is reporters.

"He speaks the truth," Arthur said. "It's hard for him to get that out and get covered by the press."

When asked whether he believes the press didn't cover Sanders fairly in 2016, Arthur said he felt when Sanders got a big crowd, the coverage was low, but when Trump drew a crowd, the coverage was high.

Criticism of the media is not unique to Arthur. Sanders has made it part of his own spiel on the problem-laden institutions in the country.

"And the reason we cannot do it alone — and this is not talked about in Congress or in the media — is that the power structure of America, the corporate elite, are so powerful that they will fight to maintain the status quo and continue to make hundreds of billions in profit and they will resist the efforts of any president no matter how honest or sincere he or she may be. That is just the fact," Sanders said.

Somewhere in the middle between Rangel and Arthur is Robin Jindrich of West Branch. Jindrich, a self-described "Bernie Bro-ette" in 2016, said she just hopes Sanders gets a fair shake this time.

"Pardon my French — he totally got screwed," Jindrich said.

In the 2016 Iowa Caucus, Hillary Clinton received 29 delegates to Sanders' 21. But Sanders managed major support in counties like Johnson. Here, Sanders' carried 5,473 votes to Clinton's 3,700 — almost 20% more.

Jindrich, Arthur and Rangel all felt that the Democratic establishment did wrong by the candidate they caucused for.

Sharaf Zia didn't caucus for Sanders or any other candidate in 2016. A recent immigrant from Pakistan, he won't be caucusing in 2020 either. However, Zia was in the crowd of with the rest hoping to hear an "unfiltered version" of the speeches he caught online.

SUPPORT LOCAL JOURNALISM: Subscribe to the Iowa City Press-Citizen.

Zia studied economics at the Lahore University of Mangement Science, but he said it was anthropological interest — or at least morbid curiosity — that led him to the crowd Tuesday night.

"Part of what is interesting is Bernie's message is very working class," Zia said. "The audience here heavily skews toward people who have advantages, people who are not living paycheck-to-paycheck."

Sanders was introduced by Frank Flanders, political director of UFCW Local 230 of Ottumwa, Iowa. The union represents 1,800 members primarily in the pork processing industry. Looking around the crowd Zia wondered how many of the folks in the crowd processed pork for a living.

"A lot of people who showed up here are college educated people — who have their own troubles for sure — but if I step out into Iowa City and take a very rough look at the types of people I will encounter, I did not see that same sample represented here," Zia said.

For Marlene Effiwatt, a recent grad student transplant to Iowa City from Tucson, Arizona, part said to support Sanders, voters have to think boldly.

"A lot of his ideas are called 'radical' because they operate in that realm of paradigm shift thinking," Effiwatt said. "The idea that student loans can be eradicated for everyone and that healthcare is a human right and should be free, those ideas didn't exist in the United States."

Effiwatt said she came to the Sanders event from a tenants' rights union meeting.

"They were saying that you don't have to have your security deposit eaten when you move out," Effiwatt said. "It's totally normal to lose your deposit when you move out. You often have to pay on top of that. ... What (Sanders) asks is if student debt or healthcare doesn't have to be like that, what else doesn't?"

Zachary Oren Smith writes about government, growth and development for the Press-Citizen. Reach him at zsmith@press-citizen.com or -339-7354, and follow him on Twitter @zacharyos.