A couple weeks ago, the DFL held its convention for the First Congressional District. As I wrote about a month or two ago, I was elected at the Waseca County Convention to go ahead and represent the county at this CD1 convention.
This year it was held at LeSueur Elementary School. The other two delegates and myself carpooled to save gas on the long trip. We left Waseca at about 7:45 a.m. in order to get there early.
We got there about an hour and a half before call to order. When we walked in, we registered, got our credentials and immediately met by someone from the Dan Feehan campaign. We were given a tour. There were tables lining the halls, with volunteers and workers from every campaign for every position in the party.
As we walked around, the walls were covered in posters and there was literature on every candidate. Throughout my time leading up to the convention I spent hours on the phone with the four candidates vying for the CD1 DFL endorsement. All four candidates pledged to honor the endorsed candidate, so it was up to us, the roughly 140 delegates to endorse a candidate to represent the DFL candidate in the fall.
The differences between the candidates were few, but they were significant. Coming into the convention, there were two candidates I narrowed my support to. I decided I would vote for one on the first ballot and the other on the second ballot going forward.
There was talk that the convention could go on until midnight, if not into the next day. This did not come to fruition. Voting began at about 2:30 and there were specific rules in place to ensure a fair process. To get the endorsement, a candidate would need 60% of the vote and if a candidate in the first ballot got less than 10% they would be eliminated. The second ballot would move to 15% and the succeeding ballots would go up by 5% until a maximum of 25% was required to stay on the ballot.
No candidate was eliminated on the first ballot. The results were given and one candidate received about 53% of the vote. It was not long for the other 7% to come around. After the second ballot, three of the candidates went to the stage. The three candidates took turns speaking and it wasn’t until the last speaker spoke that we knew, officially, whom the endorsed candidate would be.
With a roar, Feehan was endorsed and the crowd went up in cheers as he came the stage. With his wife and child by his side, he thanked them, his supporters, the other candidates, and all of the DFL party members for donating their time for the work needed to be there that day.
In the end it was a successful convention. I was elected to a district director position within the DFL party and am excited to continue in the political process. As I’ve said before, I highly encourage anyone and everyone to get involved. I have been very pleasantly surprised at how much I have enjoyed my time at all of these events. The people and conversations are great, and knowing I’m doing what I can to try and help is very fulfilling. Until next time, I hope you enjoyed my thoughts for the week.