Large turnout shows support for Trump at Floyd County GOP caucus

By Bob Steenson, bsteenson@charlescitypress.com

The point of the Floyd County Republican caucus Monday night wasn’t to help pick a candidate for president. That decision was a foregone conclusion.

The reason about 135 people turned out at Washington Elementary School in Charles City — and in some cases waited in line for more than half an hour to sign in — was to show support for the person who already is president.

One attendee said it was simple: “Why are we here? Trump. Why do we support him? The economy.”

U.S. Rep. Jason Smith, R-Missouri, told the group that he was asked by President Trump to attend the Floyd County caucus to tell people there that he needs their support in November if they want him to continue his work in Washington.

“You all helped deliver in 2016, electing Donald Trump as president, and I want to say thank you and we need you to do it again,” Smith said to loud applause.

The actual Floyd County tally for Republican nomination preference was 117 votes for President Donald Trump, 2 votes for former U.S. Rep. Bill Walsh from Illinois, and 1 vote for former Massachusetts Gov. Bill Weld.

Among those attending were a number of onlookers, people from out of the area and kids under the voting age, all ineligible to vote in the county caucus.

That included a group of five students from an advanced placement government class at St. Croix Central High School in northwestern Wisconsin.

Those five, along with four others who were attending the Democratic caucus in Charles City, jumped into vehicles after school Monday and drove to Charles City to experience the Iowa caucuses and to videotape interview people as part of a class report. They drove back to their homes Monday night after the caucuses were over.

Much of the caucus time involved precinct business such as electing officers to run the caucus, selecting precinct committee representatives and county convention delegates, as well as hearing from a couple of candidates in the November general election and hearing letters read from other Republican candidates who couldn’t make it.

Temporary chairman Julius Bryant was quickly elected chairman at the beginning of the caucus and conducted the meeting.

Floyd County Supervisor Linda Tjaden read a letter from Randy Feenstra, an Iowa state senator who is running for the Republican nomination for U.S. House District 2, the seat where Rep. Steve King is seeking re-election.

Tjaden, who is in the last year of her first four-year term, also said she will seek re-election in the fall.

Randy Heitz, a new member of the Floyd County Medical Center Board of Trustees after the hospital’s organization was changed in the last election, reminded the crowd that all seven positions on the board will be open in November, and he encouraged people to consider running and said he would be running for an elected term on the board.