The gatherings planned for Saturday evening in several living rooms around Erie County won’t approach the throngs that Democratic presidential hopeful Beto O’Rourke is attracting in places like Iowa and New Hampshire.

But they mark the first local stirrings of the 2020 contest for president, as O’Rourke supporters watch a live streamed speech and campaign rally by the former Texas congressman already flying high in the polls. For attorney and Democratic activist Thomas G. Kobus, hosting one of the “watch parties” in his Town of Tonawanda home, it represents not only the start of the candidate’s national campaign but his start in Western New York too.

“This is all about lighting a fire,” Kobus said. “It’s really the beginning of his campaign.”

While other candidates like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont can count on local organizations already in place, Erie County Democratic Chairman Jeremy J. Zellner said O’Rourke’s supporters appear to be the first to kick off the local presidential campaign. He said watch parties like the one planned by Kobus and others will prove more commonplace as early as this summer when debates among Democratic candidates begin.