Above, convener Bill Erickson calls the caucus to order.

There were 52 Faribault County Republicans who braved some wintry weather and attended the Faribault County Republican Caucus on Tuesday night, Feb. 27.

Fierce winds and blowing snow, along with dropping temperatures, probably kept some folks from attending.

“I remember eight years ago we had about 350 people attend this caucus,” Bill Erickson said. “We had to put out extra chairs.”

Erickson recalls the reason was due to a long list of potential names for being the Republican presidential candidate.

“Two candidates topped the list for our Faribault County straw voting,” he says. “But Donald Trump was way down the list.”

At this year’s caucus there were a lot of empty seats. The Republicans meet in the Blue Earth Area High School Commons Area, and they have rows of tables set up with designated areas for all of the 33 voting precincts in the county.

Many of the seats in quite a few of the precinct areas were empty.

Still, the GOP party members carried on, with Erickson and Brenda Baldwin filling the roles of being the conveners of the caucus.

The caucus lasted almost exactly an hour, with discussion of the caucus rules, letters from candidates and discussion of future procedures and events.

“Normally there is a straw poll taken, to determine the favorite candidate for president or governor,” Erickson said. “Now that has changed to a presidential primary, which will be held this next Tuesday, March 5. We want everyone to vote in that primary.”

The other important upcoming date is March 23, when the Republican County Convention will be held, at the Golden Bubble near Wells.

“Each of the 33 precincts in the county chooses their own delegates to the county convention,” Erickson explained. “It will be there that resolutions we put forward here will be looked at.”

He added that there will be an endorsing convention held as well, to endorse candidates for the state legislature.

Also at the caucus, Baldwin urged those present to consider volunteering to be an election judge. Republican judges are needed at all polling sites, she said.

“This (a caucus) is pretty much a grass roots type of politics,” Erickson says. “There are some state laws concerning it, like the date it has to be held, but the rest is pretty much independent; choosing delegates, passing resolutions. All done locally, by local people.”