History of the Caucus

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About our Caucus

Our caucus got its charter in May 2015 after a year of work by a small core group of us who hammered out that first constitution. We knew, to be successful, the caucus needed to address a wide range of issues, to attract representation from all over the state, and to grow in numbers, to make our voice strong within both the DFL and in the environmental community. Our numbers have steadily grown over the years, with current membership at well over 1000 and over 100 members in good standing, meaning they have attended a meeting in the last 12 months. Our membership director, Barb Crow does a wonderful job keeping these numbers updated for us.

Fall trees and water by John Badger
Fall trees and water by John Badger
We toyed with the idea of forming issue sub caucuses but in the end, decided we needed one united voice. Under the leadership of Karl Forsberg, former Outreach Director, we did outreach at fairs, Open Street events, and many other venues. We helped organize multi-caucus events such as a governor candidate forum and a breakfast meeting at the 2018 State convention. We hosted issue forums on divestment, copper-nickel sulfide mining, climate change, strategic messaging, and regenerative farming. We joined forces with MN350, MCEA, MEP, Sierra Club, and many others in peaceful demonstrations, and legislative days of action. The caucus was the 2017 recipient of the Leadership in Diversity Award from the DFL Outreach and Inclusion Committee. Karl and our current Outreach Officer, Molly MacGregor continue to reach out to underrepresented communities most recently supporting the East Phillips Neighborhood Initiative. See Molly’s report for more information on this project. In June, we updated our constitution to more clearly state our focus on addressing racial justice and environmental justice in every aspect of our work as a caucus.

We have developed a robust process of endorsing candidates. We had 3 subcommittees working on endorsements for the 2020 election under the leadership of committee co-chairs John Wells and Hailey Finucane. Subcommittee chairs were: Matt Doll and Hailey Finucane, Steve Johnson and Cecily Harris, and Megan Bond and Rich Updegrove. This allowed us to reach more rural candidates from both CD1 and CD7 and 8. Committees collected written answers to questions on a range of issues, conducted personal interviews, and submitted recommendations for endorsement to the Executive Committee. The list of 64 endorsed candidates can be found on our web page linked here. All but one of our endorsed candidates went on to win their primary. Following endorsement, the work of the caucus shifted to our campaign committee. Under the leadership of Greg Laden, members were urged to volunteer and give financial support in key races. We also hosted several virtual candidate forums and boosted social media posts on their campaigns with the help of our Communications Director, Kristin Larsen.

Water between trees by John Badger
Water between trees by John Badger
The caucus has also done strong committee work developing platform resolutions recently under the leadership of Greg Laden and Kristin Larsen. The 2020 DFL Action Agenda includes several very important resolutions. Here are three we helped shape and  promote. Declare a climate emergency. Mandate 100% carbon-free electricity throughout Minnesota by 2030 and meet or exceed “net-zero” emissions by 2050. Transition to an equitable, economically-just, and clean energy economy that provides high-paying jobs in rural and urban areas while reducing racial, gender, and economic disparities.
Protect Minnesota aquifers and freshwater sources from pollution, commercialization, and export; upgrade our drinking water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure.
Support a moratorium banning copper-nickel sulfide mining in Northeastern Minnesota’s watersheds, for the protection of some of America’s greatest treasures.

Blue starburst of trees looking up by John Badger
Blue starburst of trees looking up by John Badger
Our legislative committee, formerly under the leadership of director John Wells and currently led by Greg Laden, has also been active. We hosted our first caucus sponsored lobby day in 2019 and plan on making it an annual event when it is safe to return to the capital. Members also made phone calls, wrote emails, and signed petitions for several action alerts we sent out on a wide range of issues.

On October 1st, I received the Willard Munger Award for Distinguished Environmental Stewardship from the Minnesota DFL. I am grateful for the recognition on behalf of all of you, who have helped to make this caucus a success! We’ve learned a lot over the years, and know our work is far from complete. The 2020 legislative session must reverse the damage done on the federal level and move MN and our nation forward with bold action to address racial and environmental justice while taking critical steps for a rapid, equitable transition to a clean, renewable energy economy. We are stronger together! With your help, the caucus will continue to “Protect what we love,” for generations to come!

Veda Kanitz

How you can become involved  You are invited to join the caucus if you are a member of the DFL, and if you support our mission.  Please review those here.  Membership link is : … Once you’ve joined you can become a “voting member” (what do we call it) by simply attending one meeting per year.  Donations are needed, wanted and welcome but are NOT required.  There are many ways to help and tapping your skills and making sure helping the caucus is fun is what we hope to do.  One way you can help from day one is to share our Web Page, our Facebook Page and Twitter Page with all your contacts.