Hillary Clinton’s campaign, looking to shore up support with millennials, has hired Bernie Sanders’ national campus and student organizing director, according to a Clinton aide.
The move comes as the Clinton campaign launches her new “millennial engagement” program, an initiative that will look to help Clinton with a demographic that overwhelmingly tilted toward the Vermont senator during the primary.
Kunoor Ojha, the former Sanders aide, will serve as the Clinton campaign’s national campus and student organizing director, tasked with listening to young voters and convincing them to back Clinton.
This is the Clinton campaign’s first major hire from the Sanders campaign.
Anne Hubert, a former Viacom senior vice president, will lead the millennial outreach effort.
Sarah Audelo, former political director at Rock the Vote, will be Clinton’s youth vote director.
“The team will travel the country and listen directly to millennial voters — including students, parents, workers, and organizers — to ensure that they have the voice at the table and that the campaign is addressing the issues that matter most,” a Clinton aide said. “They will also serve as a resource for state teams to ensure that every state has an aggressive program to reach millennial voters.”
Clinton aides acknowledge that while millennials backed Sanders overwhelming in the primary, polls show Clinton fares much better with the group than presumptive GOP nominee Donald Trump.
A Harvard Institute of Politics poll released this year found 61% of voters under 30 would back Clinton, compared to 25% for Trump.
Sanders overwhelmingly beat Clinton with young voters in almost every primary and caucus contest this year. Asked in April about how Clinton would win over the demographic, Sanders said she would need to listen to their concerns and understand that the conversation is a “two-way street.”
“So it is a two-way thing. And it’s not me, I don’t control millions of people,” he said. “But the Clinton campaign is going to have to make the case to those young people that in fact they are prepared to stand up for some real fundamental changes in this country. And that’s a case they’ve not been able to make.”
Sanders added that he doesn’t believe Clinton’s campaign has responded properly to young voters’ issues.
“I really don’t think they have,” he said. “They are very good at rhetoric, and certainly she has moved to the left in response to many of the initiatives that we’ve brought forth.”