For the past 30 years, Mary Casady has chosen the Tucson sun over a chance to participate in the caucuses in her home state of Iowa.
This year, though, the caucuses came to her.
The snowbird from Keokuk was one of 72 Iowa voters who gathered at the Flowing Wells Library on Monday to take part in the first-ever satellite caucuses held outside the Hawkeye State.
“It feels great. This is history-making,” Casady said as she admired the enthusiastic crowd. “Iowans will vote if you let them.”
The library on West Wetmore Road was one of four remote sites in Arizona and one of nearly 90 set up by the Iowa Democratic Party across the country and around the world. Iowans were also slated to caucus Monday at a private home in Tucson, a clubhouse in Green Valley and a movie theater in the Phoenix suburb of Queen Creek.
The voting at the library took a little over an hour and played out like a friendly neighborhood meeting, complete with snacks. Participants stated their preference by clustering around the designated table of their chosen candidate. Then they tried to convince others to join them by waving signs and giving short endorsement speeches on behalf of their chosen candidate.
The only evidence of the chaos that plagued some caucus sites in Iowa came after the first alignment vote, when about half of the participants got up and began to file out of the library.
“The caucus has not been adjourned,” caucus chairman James Clark shouted over the chatty crowd shuffling toward the exit.
Clark said he initially volunteered to help organize a satellite location because “my first cousin’s son was running for president.”
He had already begun his online training for the caucuses when that cousin’s son, Montana Gov. Steve Bullock, dropped out of the race on Dec. 2.
After that, Clark decided to throw his support behind Corey Booker, only to see him suspend his campaign on Jan. 13.
“Now I’m with Amy,” Clark said, pointing to the Klobuchar sticker on his chest.
Casady from Keokuk said she was undecided at first, but she ended up at Pete Buttigieg’s table, where his supporters spoke glowingly about his intelligence and charisma but struggled to spell his name.
Table leader Steve Wahle, a doctor from Cedar Rapids, finally had to Google it.
“It’s embarrassing,” Wahle said with a laugh.
Steven Wahle, a supporter of candidate Pete Buttigieg, motions to the room that his group needs two more Buttigieg backers. Buttigieg placed fifth at the satellite caucus.
Buttigieg wound up finishing fifth at the satellite location behind Amy Klobuchar, Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren.
Brad and Kay Hazen traveled to Arizona from their home in Fairfield, Iowa, to attend the Tucson Gem, Mineral and Fossil Showcase, but only after they found out they would still get to participate in the caucuses, albeit remotely.
“We weren’t going to come here if we couldn’t,” said Brad Hazen, who quickly planted himself with the other Sanders supporters.
Kay Hazen hadn’t made up her mind yet, so she roamed around the room shopping for a candidate before the caucuses began. She eventually wound up at Warren’s table with one of the Massachusetts senator’s stickers on her shirt.
Asked about Iowa’s first-in-the-nation status, Kay and Brad Hazen acknowledged that the tradition may have outlived its usefulness, especially when the demographics of their home state skew more “old and white” than the nation as a whole.
“It does seem like a state with a more representative population ought to go first,” Brad said.
While wearing a hat covered in buttons supporting Elizabeth Warren, Linda Weidner, Arizona resident and supporter of Warren, listens during the Iowa Caucus at Flowing Wells Library, 1730 W. Wetmore Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on February 3, 2020.
As you might expect at a Sun Belt satellite location, Monday’s crowd was mostly made up of retirees, with only a few voters in the room under the age of 50.
John and Karen Carver drove more than 100 miles from their winter residence at a Naco RV park to caucus for Warren, though they said they will happily support whomever wins the Democratic nomination.
Their only goal: “Get rid of Trump,” John Carver said.
“Underline that,” Karen Carver added.
That seemed to be the general theme of the evening. Though Klobuchar and Biden finished first and second, respectively, each winning two of the delegates up for grabs, none of the Iowans present said they preferred the current president over anyone else in the field.
“I’m voting blue,” Casady said. “I don’t care who it is.”
Meg Dobson makes a speech in support of candidate Amy Klobuchar during the Iowa satellite caucus at the Flowing Wells Library. Klobuchar finished first at this caucus.
Jim Fower, Iowa voter and supporter of Joe Biden, peeks behind a Biden sign while listening to others speak during the Iowa Caucus at Flowing Wells Library, 1730 W. Wetmore Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on February 3, 2020. About 80 Iowa voters, for the first time, participated in the satellite Iowa Caucus.
James Clark, Caucus Chairman, hands out presidential candidate forms during the Iowa Caucus at Flowing Wells Library, 1730 W. Wetmore Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on February 3, 2020. About 80 Iowa voters, for the first time, participated in the satellite Iowa Caucus.
From left to right, Alan Hulsebus, Brent Hulsebus and Kathy Mou, Iowa voters and supporters of Bernie Sanders, pose for a photo with Bernie Sanders signs during the Iowa Caucus at Flowing Wells Library, 1730 W. Wetmore Rd., in Tucson, Ariz. on February 3, 2020. About 80 Iowa voters, for the first time, participated in the satellite Iowa Caucus.
