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A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
Hand-written signs show the casual nature of caucus meetings in Carlton County Tuesday.
The Carlton County Republican Party held one big caucus in the atrium at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, where 40-50 people discussed resolutions and candidates with their neighbors.
One DFL caucus was held at the cafeteria at Cloquet High School.
Tuesday's Republican and Democratic-Farmer-Labor party caucus meetings were substantially more subdued than the last time presidential candidates were on the ballot.
Local party leaders on both sides agree: that's mostly because Minnesota is now holding a primary election for president, rather than using local caucuses to choose a candidate.
"I've had people ask me why we're even having precinct caucuses," said Carlton County DFL chairperson Patty Murto, as she waited for results to come in from DFL caucuses around the county. "But we still have legislative candidates that need to be endorsed and people can have a voice in the party platform, by passing resolutions about what their concerns are at the local level."
The Carlton County Republican Party held one big caucus in the atrium at Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College, where between 40-50 people sat at tables according to where they lived, and discussed various resolutions and candidates with their neighbors.
Barnum's Terry Lund was a first-time caucus-goer. Wearing a Trump 2020 hat, Lund said he'd been chatting with Jim Newman over coffee that morning when Republican Minnesota House (District 11A) candidate Jeff Dotseth introduced himself. Lund said he decided he'd give Newman a ride to the caucus on the spot and start getting involved, maybe by volunteering locally.
"I'm interested in politics but it seems like such a hard fight to get people on the same page," Lund said. "People need to do the right thing: not for themselves, but for the area, the whole country."
Dotseth attended the Republican caucus in Cloquet. State Senate (District 11) candidate Michelle Lee went in Moose Lake, but she had campaign literature at every DFL caucus site.
"Everybody was really upbeat here, and I picked up four more volunteers," Lee said. "People are really hoping we can turn out voters in November to beat Trump."
DFL caucuses were more spread out, and saw lower individual numbers: 25 in Cloquet, and around 10 in Moose Lake, for example, although there were many other locations.
Murto said she attended the DFL caucus in Esko, where about 16 people passed a stack of resolutions to protect and extend Medicare, prevent elder abuse, make insulin affordable, reduce student debt, make broadband accessible border to border, expand healthcare coverage and more. They did the same at each caucus location, but the resolutions depended on the people attending and their individual motions.
Murto said anyone who tried to attend the Perch Lake caucus should call her at 218-355-1652.
Murto said the state DFL party wanted them to enter information on an app, but she declined.
"I told them 'no.' We will sign in by paper and enter it afterward, like we always do," she said, shaking her head about the now infamous issues with a new caucus app in Iowa earlier this month.
The next step for the local DFL party comes at the District 11 Convention in Barnum on March 21 starting at 10 a.m., when they will endorse candidates for House Districts 11A and Senate District 11.
The District 11 Republican endorsing convention for House Districts 11A and 11B and Senate District 11 is March 14 at East Central High School in Finlayson starting at 10 a.m.
