BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – College students and young adults flocked to listen to Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders at the Indiana University Auditorium Wednesday night.
Prior to his speech, Frances Brown, a recent graduate from Bloomington, excitedly anticipated which topics the candidate would discuss.
“He’s going in the right direction with his opinions on women’s rights,” Brown said.
The senator from Vermont did not disappoint the electric crowd. Along with focusing on the concerns of individual minority groups, he shared his ideas on how to tackle a low minimum wage, a broken criminal justice system and climate change.
Sanders opened his speech by recognizing the overwhelmingly young population of individuals that attended the rally.
The rally was his second campus event of the day. Earlier Wednesday, Sanders held a town hall at Purdue University in West Lafayette.
“We were told a year ago that young people aren’t interested in politics,” Sanders said. “But you know what I’m seeing? I’m seeing that young people understand they are the future of this country.”
A standing ovation answered his observation.
Early in the night, Sanders stated he believed “the only way we transform this country is through political revolution.” The remainder of his speech was dedicated to explaining how he planned to accomplish the feat.
Sanders shared his concepts on how he planned to improve the crises of our country. Such ideas included raising the minimum wage to $15, imposing a tax on Wall Street and providing free health care for all American citizens.
The senator even shared his personal opinions of fellow presidential candidate, Donald Trump.
“I will tell you why Donald Trump will not become president,” Sanders stated. “It’s because the American people will not be voting for a candidate to become president who, every single day, is insulting Mexicans and Latinos. He is insulting Muslims. He is insulting women. He is insulting veterans. And he is insulting the African American community. This is not the type of candidate the American people will vote for as president.”
Sanders argued “what American people understand that makes this country great is our diversity.”
The presidential candidate ended the rally with encouraging those in attendance to go out and vote in the Indiana primary on Tuesday, May 3.
“What I have learned throughout this campaign is that we do well when the turnout is high and we do not do well when the turnout is low,” said Sanders. “Next Tuesday, let us have the highest voter turnout in Indiana history.”
The rally ended with a final standing ovation from the crowd.
Shawn Gompa, a student at IU, enthusiastically shared his support for Sanders’ topics addressed during the speech.
“I’m excited to see what kind of efforts are made to get money out of politics and see if we can do something good for the environment,” said Gompa.
