Tuesday, February 1, 2022 is Precinct Caucus night in Minnesota, held beginning at 7:00 PM around the state., by the two largest political parties, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer Labor (DFL) Party, and the Minnesota Republican Party.
The smaller political parties generally do not hold precinct-level caucus meetings. But they may have other events at the more local level, to encourage and invite participation in their political parties.
For general information about Minnesota’s 2022 Precinct Caucuses see the Minnesota Secretary of State’s page on precinct caucuses, including their helpful precinct finder page.
For details about the two largest political parties precinct caucuses, it’s a good idea to check with both the respective state party’s website, and your local area party subdivision’s website. For example, this year the DFL in Minneapolis is not holding in person caucuses, instead using a different process.
Why Attend Precinct Caucus?
For the issue activist, we want to advance our issue by engaging with:
- Candidate campaigns
- Political parties
- Opinion leaders, such as news media
In order to do that we need to:
- raise the issue(s), and
- build relationships
You can participate in the Precinct Caucus to whatever degree of engagement with the political party, you choose:
- Elect or get elected as a Delegate to the next level up in the party structure (for example Delegate to the Senate District Convention);
- If a Delegate or Alternate, volunteer for a Committee to help organize the next party convention;
- Propose a Resolution to amend the Party Platform to make it more favorable to your issues.
Get Elected to be a Delegate
The best way to influence a political party to advance an issue, is to become more involved in the party and its activities. One of those important activities is the endorsement of candidates for elected office.
Minnesota’s political parties may not all have the same process for inviting involvement in their candidate endorsement process. But the two largest political parties, the Minnesota DFL and the Minnesota Republican parties, have largely similar procedures.
Those parties build upon individual involvement, starting the local “Precinct” level, all the way up to the State Convention level. From there, the State Convention will chose Delegates to the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
Once you are elected to be a Delegate to the next level up, candidates seeking the party’s endorsement will try to gain your support. This is an opportunity for you, as a Delegate, to let the candidate know that your support for party endorsement depends upon the candidates support for Cannabis Legalization, and the various Cannabis Legalization issues.
Delegates can also volunteer to participate in Pre-convention committees, helping to prepare for the next Convention (for example the Senate District Convention after the Precinct Caucus). The common Pre-convention committees, are:
- Rules
- Credentials
- Nominations
- Resolutions
Participating in this Convention Committee work can help you get to know and build relationships with others in the party.
Model Resolutions
Resolution should be in writing. Here are some model Resolutions for you to download, modify, print, or copy-paste.