On Tuesday night, it was the Utah Democrats’ turn to hold neighborhood caucus meetings. Unlike the Republicans who held in-person meetings last Tuesday, Democrats used a mix of in-person and online meetings.
One in-person location was HD32 at Nibley Park School in South Salt Lake, where approximately 100 Democrats, give or take, gathered around cafeteria tables to hear from candidates and choose delegates for the county and state conventions this year.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, shakes hands with John Bennion at the Democratic Party's neighborhood Caucus Night at Nibley Park School on March 22, 2022.
Just like the lower than expected turnout at many Republican caucuses, attendance Tuesday night was not as robust as it has been in other years. Will Kocher, HD32 legislative chair, says he’s not surprised the numbers were a bit lighter.
“It’s an off-year for elections, and maybe some people are still wary of coming to a public meeting with a pandemic still going on,” Kocher said. He noted there was an option for Democrats to file and run for party positions online, and many took advantage of the virtual opportunity.
Tom DeSirant, Utah Democratic Party Executive Director, said there were some encouraging signs for the party Tuesday.
“We saw a lot of growth in some parts of the state where we wouldn’t see a ton of Democrats. Utah County ran out of supplies in both of our caucus locations because turnout was higher than anticipated,” DeSirant said.
DeSirant added about half of their county parties used the option to hold caucus meetings online.
“Rural counties picked up online meetings. That helps in places like Dagget County with just 863 registered Democrats or Kane County where there’s a four-hour round trip from one side of the county to the other,” DeSirant said.
There was a distinct tone shift from the GOP caucus meetings earlier this month. For Republicans, the bread and butter issues were the Constitution, election integrity and anger over mask mandates. For Democrats, the discussion focused on the environment, workers’ rights and justice. Think going from Lee Greenwood to the Indigo Girls on your Spotify playlist.
(Leah Hogsten | The Salt Lake Tribune) Members of Salt Lake City Precinct 123 listen to House District 32 candidate Eric Biggart, right, at the Democratic Party's neighborhood Caucus Night at Nibley Park School on March 22, 2022.
Eric Biggart, one of two candidates vying for the open HD32 seat vacated, was blunt when speaking to caucusgoers.
“We have a numbers problem. For every Democrat on the Hill, there are four Republicans. We need to work four times as hard,” Biggart said.
He’s not wrong. Democrats are essentially a third party in the Beehive state. Both Republicans and independent voters outnumber them. There are nearly 3.5 registered GOP voters for every Democrat and more than two unaffiliated voters for every member of the party.
While there are some contested races for Democrats this year, the most significant decision delegates will face concerns a candidate who is not a registered member of the party.
Utah Democrats are not used to potentially impacting a U.S. Senate race. That would probably require them to ditch Democrat Kael Weston and throw their support behind independent candidate Evan McMullin, in the hopes of defeating incumbent Mike Lee. McMullin is definitely not a Democrat.
The McMullin quandary is already carving a deep divide in the state’s minority party. On Saturday, the Democratic Central Committee spent more than three hours chewing over the rules for the upcoming state convention.
One such change pushed through by Weston’s supporters is designed to stop delegates from withholding the nomination. It puts all unopposed candidates on a single slate for an up-or-down vote.
Former Rep. Ben McAdams, who supports the McMullin gambit, decried that change, saying it railroads delegates without giving them a choice.
“I think it’s appropriate to let delegates decide. It’s not democratic for us to take away that choice by sleight of hand. Just because one side doesn’t believe their candidate can get support at the convention, they want to take the choice away,” McAdams said.
That change won’t do much to prevent a fight over the U.S. Senate race. It can be undone by a successful motion to separate individual races from the slate.
Will it work? That’s what delegates will have to decide. Nicholas Mitchell, a first-time candidate for Congress in CD2, said he’s not inclined to throw his support to an independent candidate and hopes delegates will take the same position.
“The Democratic Party needs to vote for Democratic candidates. As a party, we need to support people advocating for Democratic values. I’m firmly behind Kael, and he knows that,” Mitchell said.