Linda Callahan, an attorney from Brinnon who was endorsed by Bernie Sanders supporters to lead the Jefferson County Democrats, defeated incumbent party chair Bruce Cowan by two votes Dec. 4 during a party reorganization.

More than 300 Democrats crowded into the Chimacum High School commons for one of the largest turnouts of party faithfuls in years. The crowd was reminiscent of the record turnout at Democratic caucuses last March.

Voting for chair of the party began as people were still standing in line to become dues-paying members and be eligible to vote for down-ballot positions. More than 70 people became members that day.

Only the precinct committee officers (PCOs), who had all been elected, could vote for chair, vice chair, state committeewoman and state committeeman positions. And of those four seats, the Jefferson County Progressives, a group that emerged to support Sanders, took two seats with the election of chair Callahan and Ryan Mc Allister, who was elected state committeeman. Mc Allister ran unopposed.

After Callahan’s 15-13 win over Cowan, Cowan was nominated from the floor for vice chair. He declined. Raul Huerta, a Progressive candidate, and Marty Gilmore, who had filled in for Cowan briefly during a vote on the chair position, were nominated for vice chair. Gilmore won with 20-7.

Claire Roney, who was the incumbent state committeewoman, defeated Progressive leader Linda Sutton, who had recruited Sanders supporters to run for PCO earlier this year. Roney won 15-12.

The outcome means there is a mix of new members like Callahan, who is not well known to current elected Democrats, as well as longtime party faithfuls like Roney, on the executive board.

WHAT IT MEANS

Teri Nomura, a past party chair, was taking a historical perspective before the vote.

“I think it’s all a blip, a hiccup,” Nomura said. “At the end of the day, all these people will be Democrats.”

Michelle Sandoval, a current Port Townsend City Council member who ran for county commissioner more than a decade ago, said the party has seen splits in the past. She has been watching it all unfold, and remembered there was a fracture in 2005. Quilcene attorney Peggy Ann Bierbaum had been elected party chair in 2004, and in 2005, she and some other executive board members resigned over how PCOs were allowed to vote for the appointment of Ruth Gordon to fill a vacancy as Jefferson County clerk.

But since 2005, after Republican President George W. Bush’s victory, the local Democratic party has been fairly united, Sandoval said.

“It does no good to split the party,” said Sandoval, recalling that she won a primary for county commissioner after not being endorsed by the party, but then lost in the general election, perhaps due to a lack of support from Democrats.

There were a number of people who showed support for Cowan, even though they could not vote. Patricia Jones displayed a sign on her hat that read, “Bernie Supporter for Bruce.”

Cowan did not publicly endorse either Sanders or Hillary Clinton for president; he appointed both Sanders and Clinton supporters to key positions in the party, including some of the PCO seats and some of the PCOs who subsequently did not vote for him.

Cowan supporters were visibly shocked by his defeat.

John Austin, a two-term Jefferson County commissioner, said he was well aware of the “romantic enthusiasm” that Sanders generated throughout the country for grassroots politics. Austin also said it was unfortunate that the local Democratic party was being undone by that enthusiasm.

“It feels like getting gut-slammed all over again,” said Juelie Dalzell, former Jefferson County prosecuting attorney, apparently referring to Donald Trump’s victory in November over Clinton.

The irony that a small number of PCOs would elect the new chair, much like the Electoral College is set to elect Trump president of the United States, was noted by several longtime Democrats.

County Commissioner Phil Johnson, who retires this month, also expressed disappointment, saying Cowan had “worked his tail off” for the party. Neither Johnson nor county Commissioner David Sullivan said they knew Callahan well.

While Cowan supporters were disappointed, Sanders supporters, who were also Callahan supporters, were elated.

“I see this as an opportunity for the party to get reenergized,” said Sanders supporter Mike Ferguson.

Matt Sircely, also a former party chair, who nominated Callahan for the position, said he had never seen a reorganization meeting with such high attendance.

Sircely noted that Mc Allister, 29, was nominated by Dave Woodruff, 80.

The entire crowd earlier had sung “Happy Birthday” to Woodruff, who, said Sircely, “is widely regarded as the most deeply experienced Democrat on the peninsula.”

Sircely said he saw moments of party unity with youth being paired with experience.

“Everything was issue- and process-related,” Sircely said. In 2008, Sircely became the second-youngest chair in the state, and there were concerns about experience. He addressed it, he said, with the help of party elders.

“The bottom-up, issue-oriented dynamics at play in this biennial reorganization are no different from those the Jeff Co Dems experienced in 2008. I see many similarities, and I think that’s good news for Democrats,” he said.

POST-VOTE REACTION

Cowan said after the vote that he knew it would be a close election. He said he hopes Democrats rally to support the party leadership and rebuild the party.

“I’m going to step back. I don’t want to cramp their style,” Cowan said, adding that he hopes when people are called to volunteer, they do so.

Cowan said he planned to retire a second time and work on his music.

“I’m gratified to see that the institutional memory of the Jefferson County Democrats will be represented on the new board,” Cowan said of Gilmore’s election and Roney’s re-election. “I hope they find a way to work together and to honor the opinions of all Democrats.”

Cowan said that after the caucuses in March, when he was recruiting people to run for PCO, he paid no attention to who was for Clinton and who was for Sanders.

“All the PCOs who voted in that election were elected, and many of them I had appointed to those positions or recruited to those positions before the elections,” he said.

He acknowledged that it’s likely that some of the PCOs who supported Callahan had been recruited by him. The PCO votes were done by secret ballot, so there’s no way to know who voted for whom.

Callahan said she thought she had 16 votes going into the election for chair.

“You can count, but you never really know, because people can change their minds. I was hopeful and also happy and surprised,” Callahan said.

Callahan said she thought she would have won with 16 votes, but PCO Rick Doherty, a physician, went to Standing Rock to be part of the protest there.

“He was another vote I could have been able to count on,” Callahan said.

Callahan also acknowledged that she was surprised by Gilmore’s win over Huerta.

Callahan said she also was happy to have Roney continue on the board.

“I understand there were some hard feelings, but that’s to be expected in an election. Someone is going to win and someone is going to lose.

“I’m happy with the board. I don’t see any controversy. It’s a unified board. We’re going to have the unity we wanted. That’s what I’m looking forward to.”