Nebraska Democratic Party Chair-Elect and Alliance native Vic Covalt was in Alliance over the Heritage Days weekend. Box Butte County Democrats met with Covalt to discuss campaign strategy.
Covalt, who will step up as the state chair for the party in December, was born in Alliance, attended Emerson Elementary, the middle school, and graduated from Alliance High School in 1971. Covalt is a Lincoln attorney who has served as the chair of the bankruptcy section of the Nebraska State Bar Association and is a member of the Nebraska Association of Trial Attorneys and the American Bankruptcy Institute.
Covalt says he is realistic about the challenges of being the minority party, but believes the number of Democrats statewide is growing.
So does the man he's succeeding ... Steve Achelpohl ... who's stepping down after eight years. Achelpohl points to the party having 77 county conventions this year, modest gains in recent elections in the officially non-partisan Unicameral, and presidential caucuses in all 93 counties. He also warns Covalt that the state chairman is a "lightning rod position" that draws criticism from all sides.
