Parties picking campaign headquarters in Havre

The campaign season is revving up with the Democratic and Republican parties opening their headquarters here in Havre, with both parties confident that their candidates will win the upcoming general election Nov. 6.

“The Hill County GOP is committed to victory in 2018,” said Andrew Brekke, Hill County Republican party chairman.

His counterpart with the Democrats said much the same.

Rep. Jacob Bachmeier, D-Havre, Hill County Democratic party chairman, said he is “sure the Democratic party will win” and that he “looks forward to the campaign season.”

Bachmeier, who is up for re-election himself and faces a challenge by Havre Libertarian Conor Burns, said that the Democratic party has not picked a location for its headquarters yet but is looking at open office spaces in U.S. Bank, Wells Fargo and an office on First Street, as well as possibly returning to the 305 Building and will decide what location to use within the next couple weeks.

The headquarters will be open from the second week in June until November, running through the election season, and remain open for a short time afterward for cleanup, Bachmeier said, adding that the headquarters will be open from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Monday through Saturday.

The plan is to be canvassing every day with volunteers, if they have the number of volunteers to do so, Bachmeier said, and the office will be run by the Democratic central committee as well as the coordinated candidate campaigns.

Bachmeier said that having its headquarters will allow the party to have direct contact with the community as well being able to coordinate volunteers. He said the headquarters will also provide direct voter contact and provide yard signs for supporters.

Bachmeier said that “campaigns are won with door-to-door campaigning.”

He added that the Democratic headquarters will be hosting a barbecue later this summer.

Brekke said the Republican headquarters will be at 701 First Street, the same as two years ago, and will be open from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. during the summer months and will be open longer as the election gets closer.

“(We) will once again be opening our headquarters to provide our candidates and our supporters a single location to center our campaign efforts. We will host a grand-opening barbecue at the end of July to start our fall campaign season and look forward to great success this fall,” Brekke said.

He added that staff and volunteers will be running the headquarters, where all future events will be held. The headquarters will also consolidate signs and materials as well as other items for supporters and volunteers.

The Republican headquarters will be open from the end of July until the election.