Franklin County Republicans, Democrats participate in Monday’s caucus

The first step in the 2020 Presidential Election procees drew voters across the county Monday night.

At the Republican Caucus, attendees received a surprise as they gathered in the media center at Hampton-Dumont-CAL High School prior to selecting their desired choice for President of the United States and several other state and local elections.

Mark Meadows, a congressman from North Carolina, was on hand Monday to provide a stump speech in support of President Donald Trump. After he concluded his speech, Meadows returned to the podium with Trump on the phone.

“I want to you all and I really appreciate it,” he said to applause from the 100-plus present after finishing a brief speech.

While the Associated Press predicted an easy Caucus win for Trump, Franklin County Republican Chair Brian Borcherding explained participating in the caucus is still vital for Republicans to attend.

“The Iowa Caucus, this is your chance as a citizen of Iowa to pledge a new plank to the Republican platform or if you want to change a plank of the Republican platform, that is part of the process tonight,” he said.

Once a precinct chooses a platform, it will be sent to and debated at the county convention and potentially passed to the district and then the state. Delegates and junior delegates were also chosen to represent precincts at the Franklin County Republican Convention.

Borcherding said one highlight of Monday night’s convention was a neighborhood poll for Iowa’s Fourth Congressional District, currently held by Steve King. King is seeking election and is opposed by four fellow Republicans in Jeremy Taylor, Steve Reeder, Brett Richards and Randy Feenstra. Borcherding said the poll would not be official per the State Auditor, but gets a sense of who the area favors.

“We are interested in seeing where all the candidates stand,” he said. “This is our opportunity to see what everyone is thinking as far as that goes.”

As far as the presidential race, while Trump is running opposed for the Republican nomination, all 153 present cast their vote for the incumbent Monday night.

Over at the Hampton-Dumont Middle School, area Democrats had plenty of options to choose from. With a dozen potential candidates vying for the Democratic nomination, Hampton caucus-goers had to split up into several groups as they determined how many delegates each candidate would ultimately receive.

"They say it's a mess, but it's a pretty well organized mess," said Precinct Chairman Vernon Harper, who helped guide caucus-goers to their precinct meeting room.

In spite of the sometimes contentious relationships between the candidates seen during the primary the mood among the caucus goers was largely informal and high spirited.

"People are just visiting, chatting, and being really friendly about it," said Harper.

From local volunteers to out-of-state campaign workers, there were plenty of people around to inform and encourage support for one candidate or another. Beatrice Stern, a Bernie Sanders supporter from Mountainville, NY, drive up to Hampton from Des Moines to rally supporters and observe the procedure.

"It's been absolutely fascinating. I'm really impressed by Iowans," said Stern. "They are really amazingly nice and thoughtful about the election."

Because candidates need at least 15 percent support in a precinct to be considered viable, one or two people could make all the difference in determining where delegates go. Supporters whose candidates weren't immediately viable had to decide where they would go to determine the spread of delegates. By the end of the night everybody had settled on their final choice and decided who would be the delegates to go on to the next stage.

The chosen delegates will gather at the county convention at Maynes Grove to officially declare their choices on March 21.