Southeast Iowa turns out to caucus

Southeast Iowans played their part in the Iowa caucuses on Monday night. Democratic and Republican caucusgoers came out in Washington, Henry and Jefferson Counties to support their candidates.

As the caucuses' final alignments went late into the night due to results being delayed because of 'quality checks” being done by the Iowa Democratic Party, local and statewide results for the Democratic Caucuses were not available at the time of publication.

'The integrity of the results is paramount. We have experienced a delay in the results due to quality checks and the fact that the IDP is reporting out three data sets for the first time,” an Iowa Democrats news release said.

However, on the Republican side, President Donald Trump saw no competition from his fellow GOP candidates. The current president maintained his popularity among Republicans who voted in Iowa this time around after losing the 2016 Iowa caucuses to Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Trump received over 95 percent of the total votes across the state. His challengers, former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld and former U.S. Representive Joe Walsh of Illinois each received a little over 1 percent.

In Southeast Iowa, Trump's numbers mostly echoed the president's statewide results. In Henry County, Trump received 95.4 percent of the vote with 289 votes. Together, Walsh and Weld did not break 5 percent with Weld getting 13 votes and Walsh getting one vote. Washington County republicans were all in for Trump as the president gathered 99.1 percent of the vote.

In Jefferson County, Trump saw his lowest percentage of the vote in Iowa. Trump gather just over 80 percent of the GOP vote with Walsh gathering about 20 percent.

Though results were not yet known, Union reporters visited multiple precincts in the region and talked to Democratic caucusgoers about who they were caucusing for and why.

The gym walls at Stewart Elementary School in Washington were covered in political posters Monday night as 91 democratic voters in Ward 1 turned out for the caucus. A table at the school entrance was busy for most of the night as two volunteers signed people in.

Before voters walked into the gym, precinct captains from various campaigns met them in the hallway to pass out stickers and make one last minute pitch to any undecided voters.

Among the voters in the room were Adriana Lozano, a mother of two and expecting a third child.

Lozano said thinking about her children and what would be best for their future, as well as her own, is what inspired her to caucus for Sen. Bernie Sanders.

'He has some good ideas on free tuition for two year college which is really helpful for me personally being a mother of two, it's really hard to go back to school,” she said.

Compared to other candidates, Lozano said she felt Sanders was the most relatable because of how his plans were geared toward the middle class.

'I feel like (because of) the way he talks, I can relate to him more. He's not just big business like the rest of the people who have money. He's more relatable,” she said.

Sanders also had support in Henry County. Isabel Sanchez, a first time caucus participant, began the night at the Sanders corner of Henry County's Central Caucus held at Mt. Pleasant Middle School.

'I'm with Bernie for now. I'm looking,” she said.

For Sanchez, the policy that drew her to Sanders is his immigration plan.

'It's because I have a lot of friends and family who need that plan,” Sanchez, who hails from Puerto Rico, added. 'I think he's going to make Puerto Rico state 51.”

By the end of the night, Sanchez decided to stick with Sanders. Ultimately, her belief in Sander's immigration plan solidified her choice to caucus for him.

Ron and Laura Weinberg of Fairfield were torn between supporting multiple candidates. Ron said he was having a tough time choosing between Warren and Bernie Sanders. Laura said she wanted to caucus for Marianne Williamson, but Williamson dropped out of the race before Caucus Night.

'Bernie is my second choice, but Elizabeth is good, too,” Laura said.

The Union asked the couple if they took into consideration a candidate's chances in the general election when they made their caucus selections. The two agreed that they weren't concerned with polls, and instead supported candidates who stand for principles, and whether they follow through with their promises.

However, not all voters supported what they felt were expensive plans laid out by the senators. Instead support for a different senator, Amy Klobuchar, remained strong in Henry County.

Klobuchar supporters Steve Wickham and Randy Lauferman, both liked the candidate's 'Midwestern sensibility” and moderate stance.

For Lauferman, a retired farmer, climate policy is especially important.

'Climate change is my biggest concern ... I have a farm west of town, I farmed it for 35 years. Our climate has changed so much; we have to do something about it otherwise our great grandkids won't have a place to live,” Lauferman said.

Despite acknowledging that Sanders also has a robust climate change plan, Lauferman said Klobuchar can 'get things done.”

At Washington Elementary School in Fairfield, the gymnasium was packed to the gills with Democrats wearing stickers and holding signs of their favorite candidate. Joan Masover handed out stickers on behalf of Klobuchar's campaign, and wore a T-shirt that read 'Amy Klobuchar Will Beat Donald Trump.”

'I'm supporting her because she's right on all the positions, and she's the most effective senator in terms of getting things done,” Masover said.

Masover said that a Republican friend of hers in Klobuchar's state of Minnesota told her that he'd vote for Klobuchar, not because he agreed with her on the issues, but because he felt she was the only one who could pull the country together. Masover said she feels a lot of people feel that way about Klobuchar.

'I started out in the [Elizabeth] Warren camp, but I think Amy will perform better in the swing states,” Masover said. 'After all, it only matters who wins the Electoral College.”

Perri Huggins was wearing an Elizabeth Warren T-shirt, and said she was caucusing for the Senator because she likes her bold ideas.

'She's a great unifying candidate at a time of great division,” Huggins said.

Huggins said she wanted a candidate who prioritized climate change, 'because nothing else will happen without a livable environment.”

Other voters were looking for plans that would bring immediate change. In Washington, Erin Riley said she chose to caucus for Sen. Elizabeth Warren because of her plan to cancel student loan dept. on day one. A universal child care system also interested her, she said.

The wide range of plans aimed to help all Americans influenced her, but Riley said Sen. Warren's consistency with the issues and on the debate stage helped solidify her decision.

'In debates that I watched, she just seemed so poised and sure of herself. She doesn't waiver from what she believes in. She's done so much for our country all ready and she's been in politics long enough to know what needs to be done and I think she is the one that can get it done,” she said. 'I also think she can help unify not only the Democratic Party but also get some bipartisan cooperation.”

Henry County voter Robin Bowling was also looking for a nominee with the ability to unite the nation. That was the driving factor in her candidate choice, which lead her to caucus for Joe Biden.

'I like his health care and his agricultural programs but the most important thing is that I think he can unite the country,” she said.

While Bowling has chosen Biden, she felt it was difficult to determine who would get the nomination.

'It's hard to tell, there are so many good candidates,” she said.

Some voters arrived just to show support despite not actually being eligible to caucus. Teresa Brennan showed up at Washington Elementary School in Fairfield to campaign for Andrew Yang, even though she actually couldn't vote for him. Brennan resides in Urbana, Illinois, and made the 3.5-hour drive to Fairfield just to get-out-the-vote for Yang. She wore a cap with the word 'MATH” on it, an acronym Yang has popularized that stands for 'Make America Think Harder.” Brennan said she also likes the 'math” Yang has done on his proposal to give every American adult a 'freedom dividend” of $1,000 a month.

While some drove across the state to get involved, other locals just became interested recently. Austen Troutt of Fairfield said he'd gotten into politics the last five or six years by reading The Atlantic and listening to podcasts such as The Ezra Klein Show.

Troutt said he planned to caucus for Sanders because the independent Senator from Vermont is a man of integrity who 'has been right about things for a long time, and that quality makes him more electable than others.”

To be viable after the first round of the caucus, candidates needed 15% of a precinct on their side to be eligible to participate in the final alignment and potentially receive delegates. Follow future coverage in print and online at southeastiowaunion.com