Thousands of Minnesota Democrats turn out on caucus night

Thousands of Democrats turned out for precinct caucuses Tuesday in what party officials say is a signal of a strong grassroots movement, fueled by anger at the Trump administration, its local Republican allies and the recent incursion of 3,000 federal immigration agents here.

The Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party reported 30,000 attendees, including many first time caucus goers.

In south Minneapolis — a hotspot for federal immigration enforcement activity in recent weeks — many DFL activists in Ward 10 refrained from voting for Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar for governor in its straw poll, even as the party establishment has all but anointed her bid to become the state’s first female governor.

Out of 693 votes cast in the Senate District 62 straw poll Tuesday, 338 voted “uncommitted” — nearly 50%. Klobuchar received 200 votes, which is about 30%. About 17% cast their straw poll vote for miscellaneous candidates who are not running for governor.

In the precinct that encompasses the Whittier neighborhood, about 50 people cast preference votes in a straw poll for governor, with 30 voting “uncommitted,” seven for Klobuchar and the rest for candidates who are not running for governor.

In the ward that includes the Wedge neighborhood, 70 people reportedly voted “uncommitted,” while 19 voted for Klobuchar.

Klobuchar, who announced her campaign last week, is the only major DFL candidate running for governor after Gov. Tim Walz dropped his bid for a third term last month. She’s a favorite to win the nomination and beat a field of mostly unknown Republicans in November, but the caucus outcome could signal the work she needs to do with the party’s Twin Cities progressive base.

Meghan Casey, who served as the 10th Ward’s precinct nine caucus chair Tuesday, said she can’t support Klobuchar because she has “done a lot of damage, especially in her role as (Hennepin County) Attorney.”

Klobuchar was a tough-on-crime prosecutor elected two years after Minneapolis was infamously referred to as “Murderapolis” in The New York Times.

“I don’t really want to see her move up in her political career without any sort of atonement for past harms,” Casey said. “She’s too much of a centrist, and we need someone willing to stand for something.”

Klobuchar, who has served in the U.S. Senate for 19 years, is in a much different Democratic Party compared to when she left for Washington. Today’s DFL voters are typically younger, more diverse and more urban than when Klobuchar climbed up the political ladder in the 1990s and early 2000s.

Throughout her career, Klobuchar has sought to build relationships with Republicans. Her bipartisanship extends to confirming many of President Donald Trump’s judicial nominations and leading Inauguration Day proceedings for Trump last year.

Tuesday was Kirk Brincks’ second caucus. He cast his straw poll vote for Klobuchar. The uncommitted vote, he says, illustrates the ward’s left tendencies. An uncommitted vote, he said, “may make you feel good, stand up for it, but it’s an ignorant statement. It’s not a compromise for the better.”

Attendees heard two-minute campaign pitches from multiple state and local officials, including Attorney General Keith Ellison and Rep. Aisha Gomez, DFL-Minneapolis.

Ellison asked the caucus-goers to endorse him “one last time” so he can continue standing up for Minnesotans and protect them from the Trump administration in the courts.

“We cannot let (Trump) tell the rest of the country, ‘I made Minnesota bow, and I’ll make you bow too,’” Ellison said.

The precinct caucus also approved a bevy of resolutions to alter the DFL’s party platform, including abolishing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, defunding the Department of Homeland Security and assuring people have access to gender-affirming care.

Elsewhere, suburban Democrats made a strong showing; over 1,000 caucus-goers attended the DFL caucus in Eagan, according to the DFL. One sight there reported more than 75% first-time attendees. The state party said in a release that Lyon County reported record attendance for a non-presidential year, and Carver County reported lines just as long, if not longer, than when President Barack Obama ran in 2008.

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This article, “Thousands of Minnesota Democrats turn out on caucus night,” has been republished from the Minnesota Reformer under Creative Commons license CC BY-NC-ND 4.0.