Stretching from Seward to Cooper Landing, skipping the central peninsula, and taking in Kachemak Bay, the oddly shaped district even goes over to Tyonek across Cook Inlet. About 60 people from Homer, Seldovia and Halibut Cove attended, including 46 registered Democrats — a good turnout considering the Fairbanks Democrats only had 50 at its caucus, said co-chair Julia Person.
“We’re pretty happy about that,” she said. “A town our size, it shows how impassioned people are.”
One program that came out of the caucus is to rebuild neighborhood precincts, with captains holding monthly or quarterly meetings, said Ward. That’s part of the National Democratic Party’s strategy to recreate a grassroots party movement.
“Locally, what I envision is that people begin to practice politics,” Ward said. “We’re trying to reach out at a neighborhood-to-neighborhood level.”
Outgoing district chairwoman Angie Newby called the strategy a bottom-up campaign, with the slogan, “Get off your bottom and stand up to be heard.”
Reaching consensus on some issues proved difficult, Person said. Party members broke into small groups and discussed party platform planks. They were able to come up with strong support for issues like changing the area cost differential for education funding, but issues like immigration reform were tabled when a consensus couldn’t be reached.
“Democracy’s messy, but it was interesting to see so many people interested and involved,” Person said.
One thing the Democrats didn’t do was come up with a candidate to challenge Rep. Paul Seaton, R-Homer, for District 35 representative. Newby said some members talked about running, but cited personal commitments that kept them from seeking state office.
Even without a candidate, Democrats said they hope to be organized enough to influence the issues.
“If we have the whole district organized, we can have a clear message based on participation,” Ward said. “We can put out a real solid voice on the issues of the day.”
Newby said most districts held caucuses last weekend to meet the required time ahead of the state convention. The Alaska Democratic Party Convention is May 19-21 at the University of Alaska Anchorage campus. For more information about the local party, call Ward at 235-9136.
Michael Armstrong can be reached at michael.armstrong@homernews.com.
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