“You can’t complain if you don’t participate!” exclaimed caucus goer Ray LoPresto, seated next to table neighbor Greg Soule, who replied, “I was going to say the same thing!” The smiling men then turned to each other, laughing, and high-fived.

About sixty people were in attendance at the Grand Old Party caucus (or the Republican party of Minnesota known as GOP) and Democratic Farmer Labor Party caucus (or the Democratic party of Minnesota known as DFL) on the night of February 4th. The GOP participants each surrounded one of the eight designated Goodhue County township tables. To kick off the evening, only one cowboy hat was removed before the traditional recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance and site captain Merle Larson led the group, heads bowed and hands folded, in a prayer. After a reverberating shout of “Praise Jesus!” all sat down at the tables littered with policy pamphlets, brochures about new running candidates, and of course, Hershey’s chocolates. The DFL caucus similarly was starting off down at the elementary school. The group of six and Lantern photographer Josh Siebenaler (eventually signed up to be the vice chair for Larson Township) congregated around just two tables. It was a much more relaxed affair – one rainbow tie-dye shirt, no candidate campaign signs taped to the walls and no American flag in the elementary cafeteria to hold hands on hearts to.

GOP Captain Larson claimed that the main objective of the Tuesday night caucuses was to elect Goodhue County delegates and precinct officers, but there also seemed to be significant secondary purposes. Early on at the meeting, the GOP attendees discussed a new bill that legislators were going to convene upon regarding state judge appointments, and many tables made resolutions about a law on bullying and discipline in Minnesota schools. As per usual, there was always something to be said about second amendment rights to bear arms. Leah Manney, a DFL employee, says that the DFL party that night was “gearing up for the reelection of the governor as well as the reelection campaign for Al Franken…There’s going to be a lot of money coming into Minnesota and it’s going to be a lot of work organizing get-out-the-vote campaigns to make sure that we’ve got a unified message.” She added that the second district is particularly difficult for Democrats to progress in.

While there was an array of people from all backgrounds at both events, the young adults under 21 could be counted on one hand. Caucus members were definitely taking note. Table leader for Ward 2 of Cannon Falls, Tania Anderson, provided, “I think it’s important for us all to be involved.” She explained that “…it’s important to get our young people involved because [as her attending daughter Brooklyn mentioned] it’s not that bad.”

Sharing similar thoughts, Ray LoPresto and Greg Soule represented the Warsaw Township that night at their own table. While they claimed that they only saw each other there every two years for a couple of hours, the pair was adamant about youth involvement in local politics, telling me as I left – “It’s young people like you who give us hope.” And in exchange for the opportunistic outlook that these men and the caucuses gave me, I gave them each a high five.