Alpha News took a trip to the Minnesota State Fair to check out all things political. While most Minnesotans don’t seem to want to share who they are voting for for President, they still have plenty of opportunities to engage with candidates and party activists.
Republican Party volunteer Joe Remely, who has been working the fair booth for the last ten years, says he has seen an unprecedented level of energy and concern from fairgoers this election year, saying, “It’s greater participation, people seem to be very energized, and for Minnesotans, they’re very, very energized!”
Several other party booths agreed, saying they have had a record number of booth visits.
Some DFL-ers claimed Republicans are “ashamed” of Trump, claiming they don’t have a cutout of the Presidential candidate. Local DFL Chair and Party volunteer Scott Graham explained, “They appear not to have enough faith in their own candidate to put a cutout of him there, they use our candidate negatively, it’s the best they could do I guess?”
Republicans have two cutouts of Trump for fairgoers to pose with, as well as a cutout of Clinton in a prison jumpsuit. Remely says accusations of Republicans “shying away” from Trump are false, stating, “Absolutely not. That’s just part of their spin, on everything.”
One party is seeing a lot of Minnesotans who shy away from both Clinton and Trump. The Libertarian Party says with many Minnesotans disappointed with both of the major Presidential candidates, their booth is seeing more foot traffic than they can handle. Party volunteer Bill Dodge says, “It’s been great this year, there’s a lot of people – seems like it’s because of the other two candidates and their dissatisfaction with the other two parties in general.”
Minnesotans can also visit the Constitution Party, the Green Party and the Independence Party while at the fair.
Subscribe to Alpha News for all things political in Minnesota.