Thousands of delegates and alternates from Minnesota political parties gathered to endorse candidates over the weekend. Among them were Lyon County residents.

“It’s a little bit awe-striking when you walk in,” said Marshall resident Craig Schafer, of his experiences taking part in the Republican state convention in Duluth.

Although the process of taking part in a state political convention was long and could be chaotic, it was positive to take part, area delegates said.

Lyon County DFL member Tim Buysse said he saw a lot of new faces at the DFL state convention in Rochester. He estimated more than half the delegates at this year’s convention were first-timers.

“In some cases, I didn’t know any of the people from the units,” Buysse said. “It’s nice to see a change-over, in one sense.”

At both the GOP and DFL conventions, delegates heard from political candidates, and cast their votes for party endorsements. Some of the high-profile endorsements delegates voted on included candidates for Minnesota governor, and U.S. senator.

“There were qualified candidates in every one of those categories,” Schafer said.

Schafer said this weekend was his first time participating in a state GOP convention, although he had been part of caucuses before.

“I think it’s so important for people to get out there and make their voices heard,” he said.

At the GOP convention, Republican delegates endorsed former Navy SEAL Adam Schwarze for U.S. Senate, and Kendall Qualls for Minnesota governor. Schafer said it took 10 ballots before Qualls received the endorsement for governor. However, he thought Qualls was a candidate who shared popular conservative views in Minnesota.

“I think when people get to learn about him, he’s a very strong person. And he obviously cares about Minnesota,” Schafer said.

GOP convention delegates faced some technical problems with the electronic vote clickers used in the endorsing process, and they had to take a break while the system was re-booted and tested. However, Schafer said he thought the results were credible.

At the DFL convention, governor candidate Amy Klobuchar received the party endorsement in one ballot, receiving 67% of the vote. However, Buysse said governor candidate Kobey Layne did get some support from delegates after “a really fiery speech” at the convention.

“It’s healthy to have an exchange of ideas,” Buysse said of getting to hear the two governor candidates.

Buysse said DFL delegates also endorsed Keith Ellison for Minnesota attorney general, and Zack Filipovich for state auditor.

In the race for U.S. senate, Angie Craig opted to skip the DFL convention, and delegates endorsed Peggy Flanagan. Craig and Flanagan will head to a primary later this summer.

“I think the majority of delegates understood that it made sense for Angie Craig to bypass the convention,” Buysse said. But at the same time, he said, “It would have been nice to hear (Craig and Flanagan) side by side.”

After the state conventions, Republicans and Democrats in Minnesota will be focusing on campaigns, and primary elections in August, area delegates said.