Clinton Or Sanders? Young Democrats Weigh In

Transcript

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Republicans and Democrats are deciding right now - what's establishment? What's antiestablishment? What version of the party do they want their candidate to represent in the general election? Last week, we invited a group of Republicans to talk about the future of their party. Today, we gathered a couple of Democrats. Thirty-four-year-old Atima Omara backs Hillary Clinton. She works on women's rights issues and until recently, she was president of the Young Democrats of America. Nicole Castillo supports Bernie Sanders. She is 32 years old and works for a social networking site for Latinas. Back in 2008, Nicole was a Clinton supporter.

NICOLE CASTILLO: When Hillary Clinton ran against Obama, at that time I really felt that she was the most prepared for the job. And, you know, that - at that time, I was really, you know, starting out in my work as a women's advocate, and I think it was through my own journey of, you know, trying to figure out how to make systems change that I started to have - you experience frustration with a system. You know, is this system working for my community? And so, you know, as I come to, you know, her campaign now, I think about - is the system the only way in which we can make change? And might another narrative, perhaps the narrative of Bernie Sanders, be one that would be more empowering to my community?

MARTIN: OK, so what about Bernie Sanders's narrative resonates with you?

CASTILLO: Ultimately, it's that he is driving a people-powered campaign. I think especially if you look at millennials and Latinos, we don't have exactly the best track record for voting. And I think that's often because we see, you know, this system isn't for us. And so his narrative is one that's - yes, we're going to make system change, but it's going to take all of us.

MARTIN: OK, I'm going to turn to Atima. You support Hillary Clinton. Why?

ATIMA OMARA: For her as a candidate, specifically as Hillary Clinton, she has been working in politics for a very long time. She's an advocate on the issues that I very much care about, paid family leave. She's introduced equal pay legislation. She came out first in repealing the Heidemann. That's something that will actually benefit low-income women who have not had access to abortion on federally-funded health care. And she's very pragmatic. She does understand the way Congress has sort of devolved to a disarray. And it's going to take somebody who can be really creative and innovative about getting stuff done as president who has to deal with Congress.

MARTIN: Is she an establishment candidate, and do you care?

OMARA: (Laughter) I don't think she's an establishment candidate. I mean, to say that she's an establishment candidate is sort of ridiculous when you look at the fact that Sen. Sanders has been in Congress for 30 years. I mean, he's establishment because he's been in politics for a very long time. So I think that they both have just very different ways of viewing things, and that's fine. I mean, both their voting records are both pretty liberal.

MARTIN: Nicole, what do you think about that?

CASTILLO: I think that the accusation that she's establishment means - what people mean by that is more than having a career in politics. I think specifically, they're referring to the amount of corporate money that she's receiving.

MARTIN: Does it bother you, Atima, that Hillary Clinton took that big payment from Goldman Sachs for these speeches?

OMARA: No. I mean, not any - I mean, any - there are many candidates who have run for public office who have taken money for speeches.

MARTIN: Do you understand how - why people would be upset about that?

OMARA: I can understand why some people would be concerned about that. But she took it to make a speech, as opposed to we're donating $645,000 to your campaign so that you can be better on initiatives concerning Wall Street. That's the difference.

MARTIN: Does it matter to you that she's a woman, that's she's running this - what she's framing as a historic candidacy?

OMARA: Yeah. To me, it does. I was working for a democratic organization in 2008 when Obama was elected. And especially being a child of immigrants, knowing that Obama's father was an African, there's definitely an emotional impact to that. You look at Obama and you can see what's possible. And I think that that is the same for Hillary Clinton. I think people can look at her and see what's possible for women in politics.

MARTIN: There are supporters of hers who have said that she is at a disadvantage because she's a woman. She can't raise her voice or speak from this really impassioned place because somehow, that would delegitimize her as a candidate. Do you agree with that?

OMARA: I think that it is still challenging in today's political arena to still run as a woman.

MARTIN: Nicole, do you think Hillary Clinton is up against something that Bernie Sanders just simply doesn't have to deal with?

CASTILLO: Yeah, absolutely. And I think because of my experience working with Latinas Represent, you definitely see the way in which women are unfairly told to tone it down. She's really had to, you know, through her entire career, navigate how she's going to comport herself. If you follow Twitter, you can see it happening. You know, when she raises her voice, it's like - people are like, this is intolerable. Like, we just can't even handle this. Whereas it's a little bit more of a generous chiding when Bernie Sanders is like he's your grandfather yelling at you. It's a different - yeah, it's absolutely a different tone.

MARTIN: Nicole, if Hillary Clinton is the nominee, can you imagine yourself working actively on her behalf? Would you get out the vote? Would you volunteer in a general election for her?

CASTILLO: It's a very interesting question because I think some of my decision to support Bernie Sanders's campaign came from attempting to work with Hillary Clinton organizers. And so I think that obviously, I would want to do the best for our party and make sure that we're mobilizing the vote, but I think it will be challenging to want to put the level of energy towards her campaign, especially given my prior experience.

MARTIN: Atima?

OMARA: Yes.

MARTIN: You could imagine yourself...

OMARA: ...I imagine myself...

MARTIN: ...Supporting Bernie Sanders if he was the nominee...

OMARA: ...And doing what I can to make sure that, you know, (laughter) a Democrat is elected. The Supreme Court's at stake. We've got a couple who definitely are getting up there in years. I'm very concerned about where we're going politically in the country, and that is not a direction that I want to see under Ted Cruz or Donald Trump or any of them. So, you know, whoever's the Democrat nominee, and in this case it will be - the only other person would be Bernie Sanders - I will be supporting and voting for him.

MARTIN: Atima Omara and Nicole Castillo. Thank you to both of you.

CASTILLO: Thank you.

OMARA: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.