By Aidan Mortensen | KOAL News

Communities gathered across Carbon and Emery Counties on Tuesday, March 17, as both the Republican and Democratic parties hosted their community caucus nights, marking one of the major steps leading up to the June 23 primary election.

“Because of your participation, newly elected state and county delegates are ready to engage with their precinct members. New precinct chairs and vice chairs are stepping into leadership roles as members of the Carbon County Republican Party Central Committee, representing their precincts and carrying local priorities forward,” reads a social media post from the Carbon County Republican Party. “Caucus marks a reset point. It launches a new era of local representation, real voices, and leadership where it matters most, at the grassroots level.”

The Carbon County Republican Caucus attracted hundreds of residents from across the county to select precinct representation. This turnout was in part spurred by a massive spike in registered Republican voters, with the party adding 383 new members since the beginning of the year.

Because of this spike, attendees were encouraged to get to know the individuals running for precinct positions. “They are not elected to push individual agendas. They are not elected to act independently of their Precinct,” said party Vice-Chair Kourtney Cox. “Delegates are elected to represent the will and the values of their precincts. This is a responsibility. This is not an award for being elected tonight.”

Additionally, at the GOP caucus, candidates seeking the party’s nomination took the stage. This includes commission candidates Larry Jensen, Daniel Campbell, Kourtney Cox and Christine Watkins – in addition to candidates for Carbon County Sheriff Nicholas Parker, TJ Robertson and Frankie Tapia.

Attendees also had the chance to hear from House District 67 candidates JR Bird, Gina Gagon and Yvonne Jensen.

For the Carbon County Democrats, approximately 60 attendees participated in the process, contributing to the largest statewide Democratic caucus turnout since 2016, with over 5,000 voters participating across Utah.

Speaking to this surge in Democratic popularity, Party Chair Allan Sumnall stated,” I think people are just disappointed and frankly exhausted with current affairs. Americans are better than this. We need to find ourselves again.”

Locally, for the Democrats, two candidates will appear in the general election: Carbon County Commission Candidate Oran Stainbrook and HD67 candidate Carl Ingwell, the lone Democrats vying for their respective positions.

In Emery County, the Republican Party operated in nine separate locations rather than a single central base. In a previous interview with Castle Country Radio, Emery County Chair Jesse Sloan stated,” The more people we can get to come out to caucus, the more your voice will be heard … We want as many people as we can get running for these positions.” 

Up next in the political process, each party will host their county convention, where delegates will decide which candidate they would like to represent them in each race. For the Carbon County GOP, their convention will take place on Saturday, March 28, starting at 4 p.m., on the campus of Utah State University Eastern. For the Emery GOP, the county convention will take place on April 9, at the Emery County Convention Center, beginning at 7 p.m.

The Carbon County Democratic Party’s convention will take place on Saturday, March 28, at Mont Harmon Middle School, starting at 3 p.m.