Oh, what a night! One hundred forty-nine people gathered under the DFL’s big tent on Tuesday, February 6 to kick off the 2018 midterm elections. The air in the Arrowhead Center for the Arts was electric as people, as many young as old, and a handful of little ones, enjoyed DFL sugar cookies, baked by the phenom Patricia Elfvin, and coffee before the real work began.
The crowd was fueled by a large contingent from Arrowhead Indivisible, a local group whose mission is to power and lift up a grassroots movement of local groups to defeat the Trump agenda, elect progressive leaders, and realize bold progressive policies, said Pat Campanaro, one of the Indivisible local leaders. Arrowhead Indivisible meets on the third Monday of every month at the UCC Church.
The DFL also welcomed future leaders Jack Willis and Laden Kivircik, members of the Y’s Youth in Government program, who volunteered to help.
Promptly at 7 p.m., Cook County Unit Chair John Thompson was joined by Vice Chair Pat Campanaro, Treasurer Paulette Anholm and special guest Jack Willis in kicking off the festivities.
It’s never too early to start learning about the U.S. political system as evidenced by future leader Tib Nordlund, who is holding up a precinct caucus sign for Lutsen. Tib joined with 149 people at the DFL caucus held Feb. 6 at the Center for the Arts.
Believing strongly in equal rights, the DFL promotes balanced numbers of men and women as delegates and alternates.
Before the real work began, candidate letters were read in support of Rob Ecklund, MN state representative, Rep. Erin Murphy, running for governor, Rep. Rick Nolan, and Leah Phifer, who is running a campaign to fill the seat in the wake of Congressman Nolan’s decision not to run again. Caucus attendees also had an opportunity to participate in a preferential poll to select their favored candidate for governor.
Although some people remained undecided, Rebecca Otto won the straw poll with 65 votes, followed by Erin Murphy with 22 and Tim Walz with 15. The other candidates all pulled single-digit votes.
The DFL Party uses precinct caucuses and conventions to endorse candidates and to debate and set the issues the party will stand for. The caucus and convention process sets the framework for the DFL Party by helping shape the platform and Action Agenda, selecting candidates who will receive endorsements, electing party leaders, and voting on the party constitution and bylaws.
After the general meeting, the group broke up into precincts, which are basically neighborhood gatherings where the real work begins. The DFL has divided Cook County into 13 precincts.
In the precincts, the first piece of business is to elect delegates and alternates to the operating unit convention which will be on March 24 at 9 a.m. in the Cook County Community Center. These delegates typically represent either candidates or issues and are elected to vote for the issue or candidate at the next level. Over 80 people volunteered to go to this next level.
The race between Nolan and Phifer took center stage in most of the precincts and in the end, more delegates were elected that supported Phifer than Nolan.
As important as candidate endorsement is the DFL resolution process. Caucus attendees are urged to bring issues of great concern to them and compose resolutions that have the potential to be forwarded to their local unit conventions and the state convention for deliberation for acceptance to the official DFL Ongoing Platform and Action Agenda.
Nearly 40 resolutions were submitted and approved to be carried into the Organizing Unit Convention. Seventeen of those resolutions concerned stopping any form of copper-nickel mining in the BWCAW area.
Delegates and alternates will be elected at the Organizing Unit Convention to attend the next level, the Congressional District Convention in Duluth April 14 followed by the state convention June 1-3 in Rochester.
With the recent decision by Rep. Rick Nolan to retire from Congress, the congressional race is set to get crowded. Phifer is looking to gain the official DFL endorsement at the Duluth convention. However, it is expected that a primary election will be held to determine the ultimate candidate.
Other resolutions supported:
. A 10-year federal extension of stable funding for community health centers
. Banning the pesticide Neonicotinoid to protect bees and other pollinators
. Two resolutions supporting a revenue-neutral fee on carbon called the carbon-fee dividend
. Two resolutions supporting the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment
. Common sense gun violence prevention
. Same day voter registration
. The DFL promoting and pursuing peaceful means of resolving conflict here and globally
. Permanent residency and a path to citizenship for all immigrants who entered the U.S. as minors
. Overturning Citizens United
. College forgiveness for people in service occupations like teaching, healthcare and law enforcement
. Transparency in public financing of political offices
. Endorsing Leah Phifer for Congress
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