Freeborn County GOP and DFL caucuses will be Tuesday in Albert Lea.

The DFL caucus begins at 6 p.m. at the Eagles Club, while the Republican event starts at 6 p.m. at Southwest Middle School.

Both caucuses will feature a straw vote for this year’s gubernatorial race and election of delegates to this year’s county party meetings. The DFL County Convention will be at 1 p.m. March 18 at Union Center, while the GOP County Convention will be at 9 a.m. March 24 at the Albert Lea American Legion.

The parties will discuss their party platforms Tuesday.

The GOP caucus is expected to include a program that starts at 6 p.m. At about 6:45 p.m., participants will go to caucus locations.

The DFL caucus is expected to include a business meeting at 7 p.m., and the event is scheduled to last until 8 p.m.

DFLers Colin Minehart, Vicki Jensen, Dan Feehan, Joe Sullivan, Bob Ries and Rich Wright are candidates for the 1st District congressional seat. Republicans Jim Hagedorn, who narrowly lost to incumbent Tim Walz in 2016, and Carla Nelson are running for the seat, which became open after Walz announced he is running for governor.

Republicans Keith Downey, Mary Giuliani Stephens, Jeff Johnson, Phillip Parrish and Creedence Petroff have declared their runs for governor, while DFLers Tim Walz, Tina Liebling, Paul Thissen, Chris Coleman, Rebecca Otto and Erin Murphy are also running for governor.

Freeborn County GOP Chairman Ebenezer Howe said people interested in the political process should attend the caucus to ensure their voices are heard.

“If you want to complain in November, you need to do something about it, and a caucus is where it starts,” he said.