February 25, a Tuesday, is caucus day in Minnesota with both the Cook County Republicans and Cook County Democrats meeting.
The Cook County Grand Old Party (GOP) Republican caucus will be held at the Cook County Senior Center (The Hub) at 7 p.m.
The Cook County Democratic-Farmer-Labor (DFL) party will meet at the Arrowhead Center for the Arts at 6:30 p.m.
Why should you attend a caucus, you ask?
“With the presidential primary and a caucus this year, people have been asking, why caucus if they vote for president by primary ballot? That’s a good question,” said Bryan Hansel.
“Caucusing offers a chance to get together with your neighbors and discuss issues and pass resolutions about those issues. So, if you have an issue that you are passionate about, like I do, and if enough people agree with you, then those resolutions could end up in the party platform.”
“For example,” Hansel said, “I love our National Park System and believe that we should eliminate the park maintenance backlog in the next ten years. I’m introducing that as a resolution.”
“The second reason is because we select delegates to our endorsement conventions at the caucuses. This year there are several DFLers running to unseat the incumbent in the 8th district. By caucusing, you can either become a delegate for your preferred candidate or vote for a delegate who supports your preferred candidate. If your candidate gets enough support, they could get the party endorsement and the benefits that result from that endorsement.”
“Overall I believe that in a democracy, citizens have a duty to participate. Caucusing is one of the ways that citizens can fulfill that duty and it is also an example of the purest form of democracy. It’s doing the people’s work,” said Hansel.
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