Bonneville County Democrats hoping for resurgence after caucus

Democratic party leaders across the state are still looking at the caucus’ attendee numbers in surprise, with many counties seeing larger than expected voter turnouts.

“We were expecting between 800 and 1,000 people,” said Miranda Marquit of the Bonneville County Democrat’s executive committee. “What we ended up with was 1,248 people at the caucus.”

Party leaders were especially surprised by the demographics of the who attended the caucus. “Two things I think need to be pointed out,” said Jim De Angelis, a Democrat running for Idaho House seat 33A. “One, the size of the crowd and youth. The (number) of the youth that was there was impressive. And the second thing I noticed was the outreach for voter registration. We had over 150 new registered voters, most of whom were Democratic.”

With the bump in numbers, local party leaders are hoping the excitement is a sign of things to come in Bonneville County and other areas.

“We’re really hoping that the enthusiasm from the presidential process will translate over to the local politics,” said Marquit. “We’ve got some great candidates running for office this year for the state legislative positions.”

“Well I see a gradual increase in support for the Democratic Party,” said De Angelis. “It’s a slow process obviously. It’s still a very red area.”