Freeborn County Republicans selected former state House of Representatives Minority Leader Marty Seifert as the winner in a straw poll Tuesday during the party’s caucus.

Al Arends, co-chairman of the Freeborn County Republican Party, said Seifert, of Marshall, received 78 votes; state Rep. Tom Emmer of Delano received 27 votes; state Sen. David Hann of Eden Prairie received five votes; and former state Rep. Bill Haas received one vote.

Arends said there were quite a few party members who did not vote because they didn’t have enough information to make their decision.

He estimated there were probably 160 people in attendance.

A total of eight Republican candidates are vying for the GOP endorsement leading into the gubernatorial race.

The caucus is the opening stage in the party endorsement process.

Though the hot topic at the caucus was the gubernatorial race, Arends said there were several other things that took place there.

During the first hour, there was a general meeting of all the people in attendance, and then at 7 p.m. they broke into the individual precincts and wards.

At the beginning of the meeting former state representative Paul Overgaard of Albert Lea talked about how important it is for people to get involved in the political process, he said.

There were also a number of resolutions introduced, including resolutions about the state budget and a resolution that states Congress should not pass any bill that they themselves would not be covered by, Arends said. The latter resolution referred to the health care bill.

“We just hope that everybody, Democrats and Republicans, get involved in the process,” he said. “It’s very important that our legislation knows what the concerns of the people out here are. We’re very alarmed at what the amount of spending is right now.”

During the caucus, party members also selected delegates for the county Republican Party convention Feb. 27 at Americas Best Value Inn.