Caucus attendees had the opportunity to vote on a preference ballot for governor. The two DFL candidates are Amy Klobuchar and Christopher Seymore. In Brown County, Klobuchar won the straw poll in a landslide, receiving 134 out of 146 votes. There were 11 uncommitted votes and one write-in vote.

This election year included an open governor’s race, a congressional election, an open race for State Auditor, as well as open local state senator and House seats. Longtime state Republican legislators Paul Torkelson and Gary Dahms announced they would not seek reelection for State House or the State Senate.

Caucus organizer Theresa Keaveny said it was one of the larger turnouts in recent memory.

Keaveny said there were many new faces at the precinct at the caucus. She believed the higher turnout was because people were looking for change in leadership.

Lee Weber discusses a resolution on Social Security Expansion during the New Ulm DFL precinct caucus. Weber said the purpose of the resolution is to keep social security solvent for the next 75 years.

New Ulm City Council President Andrea Boettger spoke as a caucus as a candidate for State Senate 15.

Boettger said the turnout for the New Ulm precinct caucus was nearly double from past caucuses, and this gave her optimism on her chances.

Boettger said after five years in city government, she has begun to see the issues impacting the state. She cited a shortage of childcare, elder care and housing as common problems across the state, but added that New Ulm had taken strides to fix these issues.

“I found a true passion for politics and I feel I could advocate for this state in a way that couldn’t happen before,” Boettger said. She believed that with recent shifts in how rural Minnesota voted, she could be elected to the Senate seat. “I believe this seat is winnable.”

The main purpose of the caucus was for the precinct to propose party platforms through resolutions.

Jen Jackson helps DFL voters identify which precinct they belong to during the New Ulm caucuses.

Keaveny said the resolutions were a way of telling candidates what issue the voters want them to support.

Some popular resolutions called for tariff reform, taking tariff power away from the president and giving it to Congress. There were multiple resolution on the Social Security expansion act, as well as on immigration reform and medicare for all.

Dr. Anne Vogel supported a resolution to reform the nursing home reimbursement in rural Minnesota. Vogel has been fighting for years to fix the reimbursement lag in out rural Minnesota for nursing homes, with some receiving medicaid reimbursements two years late. She said fixing this was essential to protecting nursing home residents, but also for support staff working in care facilities.

Multiple resolutions were submitted proposing regulations to artificial intelligence (AI).

Bennett Carlson presented a resolution that would limit an employers ability to replace a worker with A.I. Other resolution would asked that watermarks be added to A.I. created images.

Caucus organizer Ken Varland said turnout for the New Ulm DFL caucus was stronger than in past years.

Varland believed one of the top issues this election cycle were rising costs. He said there were cost increases in everything from insurance to utilities and groceries. He said the economy affects everyone and everyone notices the changes when visiting the grocery store.

“I think people are getting really upset and they are turning to activism,” Varland said. “The news out of Minnesota has got many of us asking who we are as people.”