South Dakota’s 15 delegates for Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton are now at the National party convention in Philadelphia. The votes they cast on Tuesday were the final few Clinton needed to become the party’s nominee.
One of those delegates is Paula Hawks. She’s running for South Dakota’s lone U. S. House seat. Hawks says she supports both candidates, Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton. She spoke on SDPB’s Dakota Midday from the convention. She says there’s still some work that needs done…
“I’m hoping that we hear more of the unifying message and more of the positive tone that we’ve been experiencing thus far, and that that will continue to die down,” Hawks says. “I do think that there is a level of conversation that needs to be had in order to sway those Bernie, those strong Bernie supporters to support and be vocal about their support for Hillary Clinton.”
Hawks says South Dakota will come together to support Clinton for president, and says the Democrat has a 50 percent chance of taking the state.
Party unity behind both Republican and Democrat candidates for president is a theme this year, following heated campaigns on both sides.
Ryan Budmayr, the Executive Director for the state’s GOP says his party is rallying behind Trump.
“Sunday I talked with folks and they said, ‘Well, I’m supporting this person, or thought that this person was good, or had some worries with the candidate here,’” Budmayr says. “And you can sense that, over the last few days they are now getting behind and more fully supporting the candidate in Donald Trump. So, it’s an interesting deal but you really can, sort of, feel it.”
Budmayr says two South Dakota delegates had a hand in crafting the GOP’s platform.
