Sanders supporter challenges him to connect with minority voters

A Bernie Sanders supporter challenged the Democratic presidential candidate to do a better job of connecting with minority voters on Wednesday night.

{mosads}At a Democratic presidential forum broadcast on CNN, a Sanders supporter in the crowd stood and said the Vermont senator is his “dream candidate,” but that he’s worried because: “I just don’t see you connecting with people who view you through a religious or racial lens.”

Hillary Clinton holds a huge lead over Sanders among the black and Hispanic voters that make up the Democratic base, and it’s a reason why many pundits believe Clinton will steamroll Sanders once the primary contests turn to states with diverse electorates.

Sanders said he’s making inroads with African American and Latino voters alike.

“We are reaching out as strongly as we can, for example to the African-American community and the Latino community, and we are gaining more and more support in those communities,” he said.

Sanders said both should be a natural constituency for him, because he focuses on a message about raising the minimum wage, youth  unemployment, and criminal justice reform.

“There will be no president who will tackle institutional racism more than I will, and we’ve got to reform a very, very broken criminal justice system,” Sanders said.