Iowa caucuses are being held on Feb. 3, 2020. You may have heard about caucusing, but what is it? This is when Iowans gather at a specific location, depending on their address, to discuss and vote on candidates.

Though it may sound like it, caucuses are not actual elections but are integral to selecting party leaders. Iowa is the first state in the country to hold a primary or a caucus. Therefore, the rest of the nation looks to Iowa to see who we believe the early leaders to be.  

2020 will be my first year caucusing and I’m ready to show up for my candidate: Bernie Sanders.

This caucus is utterly important to make sure we get Sanders into the White House. I’m ready to have a candidate that represents me and my community as a lesbian, as a woman and as a student.

I’m ready to have a candidate that represents communities that don’t look like mine, a candidate who is willing to fight for someone he doesn’t know.

Sanders is a man of empathy, of compassion and of truth. He has fought for the same policies and ideas for decades and has proven time and time again that his interest is in the people of this nation, not in corporate greed or tainted money.

Sanders is the voice of the many voiceless, of communities that are constantly overlooked such as people of color, rural America, immigrants, working class families and an array of others who deserve representation. That is why I’m showing up to caucus, to proclaim my support for Sanders, to help others see that there’s more to agree on with supporting him than there is to lazily push him aside because of falsehoods and preconceived notions.

The current president is someone who mocks the disabled, could care less about the working class, is vehemently racist, uses religion as a façade to target minorities, and lacks any kind of human emotion in regard to those who don’t hold the same economic, social or racial status as him.

This is a president who is literally supported by the KKK, supported by neo-Nazi white nationalists and is a white supremacy apologist.

We cannot risk him winning again at any cost, which is why we must go out and caucus to show the nation that we do not stand with Trump, that we want a candidate who actually gives a shit about the well-being of this country and all of the people in it.

If you are 18 years of age or older, or will be 18 by Nov. 3, 2020, it is your duty to show up to caucus, to show up to the polls and to show up for your country in supporting a candidate that can and will defeat Trump.

I cannot stress the importance of caucusing enough. It’s an exciting opportunity to meet like-minded individuals and to actively participate in democracy. We cannot win without coming together to support the only candidate who stands for everyone in this nation and issues that matter and effect all of us. From Sanders himself, “I believe when we stand together, when we share the vision that government should work for all of us, there is nothing we can’t accomplish.”

For additional information on how to caucus and what else it entails, check out YouTube for the How to Caucus for Bernie in Iowa video or take a look at the ACLU of Iowa’s website. To locate your precinct, visit www.berniesanders.com/iowa/.