Attendees had the opportunity to meet in a large group first, where they heard from acting secretary Dave Seitz, who presided over the nomination and election of Rick Hendricks as the permanent secretary for the Becker district.

 

Immediately afterwards, ballots were passed out for a straw poll of attendees to vote for the announced candidates in the race for the nomination to replace outgoing Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, the U.S. Senate race to try to unseat incumbent Sen. Al Franken and the race for Governor of Minnesota to attempt to replace Gov. Mark Dayton.  The ballots were collected and tabulated by four tellers, Hendricks, Bob Simpkins of Palmer and Kevin Austin and Joan Parsakalleh of Becker. 

 

In the congressional poll, former gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer was the overwhelming choice with 51 votes, with Phil Krinke second with 15 and Rhonda Sivarajah a distant third with eight votes.  For governor, candidate Dave Thompson polled 40 votes, with Marty Siefert second with 21.  In the U.S. Senate poll, candidate Mike McFadden finished first with 21 votes, with Julianne Ortman a strong second with 17 votes.

 

Some elected officials and candidates visited the gathering, including Sivarajah, who is also the current chairperson of the Anoka County Board.  She emphasized her ability to get elected in a Democratic area and the results she has been able to achieve in terms of reduced spending and promoting a conservative agenda.  

 

Emmer also paid a visit to the caucus, telling the City of Becker group he plans to work “ten times as hard” to get the support of grass-roots voters that are vital to election success, and that he will abide by and support whichever candidate gets the party endorsement.  Emmer promised “a great campaign” for the office he seeks, and he urged his fellow Republicans to install a new governor and “fire (Sen.) Al Franken!”

 

Rep. Jim Newberger also visited the caucus, where he spoke about the “War on Coal” that environmentalists are currently waging on consumers such as the Becker Xcel Energy plant.  He described the severe effects the loss of the plant would have to the local area, and he pledged to continue to oppose any further regulation and other efforts to close the plant down.

 

Newberger also said he will travel to Kentucky and West Virginia to talk with people in communities where coal plants have been lost.  He described it as “issue Number One” for himself in the legislature.