Revisiting Rural America:

How Democrats Can Beat Republicans On Their Own Turf

It is hard to begin this post without acknowledging the Arizona Supreme Court’s recent ruling. A very clear reminder of the obstacles people in red states face on reproductive healthcare, gun violence, freedom from discrimination, voter suppression, and disinformation.

And let’s not forget the weird, inexplicable obsession over kittens and Nazis among some conservative lawmakers.

Anyways, today I want to discuss how the Democratic Party could speak to Rural America, which many consider the backbone of the Trump base. Now, to be clear, I am no expert on Rural America. I have not lived in Rural America. The closest I have been to living in Rural America were some vacation stays in Smugglers’ Notch, Vermont, and several trips to the small enclave of Sharon Springs, New York (highly recommended travel spots, by the way).

I have never worked on a farm, or in a coal mine, or in a timber facility, nor in a paper mill or a meatpacking plant. So some of you might ask: why should I care about Rural America?

Via Flickr: Russell, Kansas. The birthplace of Senators Bob Dole and Arlen Specter.

Why? Because, one, it is the right thing to do. And two, the success of Rural America is the success of our nation as a whole. These are people much like us urban dwellers, who work with their hands and have their own families to take care of.

The United States is an amazing nation. It always has been, even as it still falls short of its promises and commitments to creating “a More Perfect Union” and to “Bending the Arc Towards Justice.” Yet we are still striving, and there is more reason than ever to continue that quest regardless of party.

Democrats should very well take the hint. We should embrace the opportunity to be a true national party. Address rural voter issues, including those of particular interest to the American Heartland—like agriculture, healthcare, poverty, the rising cost of living, and broadband access (for further examples, see some past blog posts on Substack, Medium, and LinkedIn).

For too long, the Democratic Party has taken so much for granted on the electoral map. Remember the time when Hillary Clinton thought she would merely steamroll into the presidency by solidly winning Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania? She learned the hard way precisely because she lost 2/3rds of all rural voters in 2016 (and because she did not turn out the party base).

On the other hand, remember when the 2022 midterms were supposed to be a bloodbath in favor of Republicans? In the end, Democrats only lost 9 House seats and actually gained 1 Senate seat. Frankly, Democrats could have done even better than that, had they not chosen to write off promising contests in places like North Carolina. Over and over, the Democratic Party has chosen to do the bare minimum for electoral victories—i.e., the coastal states, some side dishes in the Mountain West, and a handful of Blue Wall states.

This was not always the case. In 2006 and 2008, the Democratic Party roared back into power across the country (not just in Washington DC) with the 50-State Strategy. The 50-State Strategy encouraged Democrats to hit hard and heavy on populist kitchen table concerns. It further allowed them to tout differences on cultural issues, and promote a bold, progressive agenda promising an end to the political status quo.

During those elections, the DNC supported the state parties in all 50 states, contested control of many state legislatures, expanded outreach to Rural America, and rallied the grassroots party base in force (from young voters, minorities, immigrants, and women, to organized labor, consumer activists, and environmentalists).

Unfortunately, President Obama diverted resources from the DNC party apparatus as a whole, focusing funds on his presidential campaign and a small cluster of battleground states. This was partly done at the behest of the Clinton-Wall Street faction of the party. And with that, the effective long-term party-building came to an abrupt end much too soon.

DNC Chair Howard Dean hit it on the head on 2006 and 2008. The elections were not about winning all 50 states. They were about making a difference and having a presence in the contests that matter—from the US Senate and US House, to governorships, other statewide offices, and the state legislatures themselves. They were about offering a real alternative to voters in places taken for granted by both parties. It is hard to gain a net 50+ House seats, or 15 Senate seats, in two cycles just by going for the bare minimum. Or just by focusing on the presidency.

But Democrats gave up on the bottom-up hard work. Uprooting the grassroots campaign network was morally devastating to the communities the party once relied on. It also put an end to efficient organizing in places within GOP strongholds. It took many states out of the table, and endangered old battlegrounds like Florida, Ohio, Iowa, Missouri, and Indiana—which appear, for now, to be off the table. The lack of engagement has fractured key party base groups. Especially the ones we often hear about on the news, like African Americans and Hispanics & Latinos. It also eroded massive amounts of support in the Industrial Midwest and the few competitive parts of the South left.

We have seen dramatic losses among blue-collar, white working class voters, along with disillusioned minority voters (think of the rural Black voters in North Carolina and Georgia for example, and the Hispanic Tejanos along the border in the Texas Rio Grande Valley).

Democrats, in short, have offered Republicans a helping hand. During Obama’s presidency, Republicans won more than 1,000 state legislature seats. That has made it easier for Republicans to pass new election laws and voting restrictions which disproportionately impact young voters. Besides, racial gerrymandering by the GOP has been so successful for conservatives because GOP mapmakers know Democrats are increasingly losing rural voters from decade to decade, keeping them ever more dependent on the cities and the suburbs (whenever possible, conservative mapmakers have aggressively sought to remake the country through Operation REDMAP; also check out the story of the Hofeller Files).

Thus far, the DNC has merely been playing catch up. Democrats have to broaden their horizons and expand the electoral map if they seriously want to gain and regain political power long term.

Reaching out to voters and communities matter, whether they be rural voters, or blue-collar voters, or white-collar voters, or youth, or seniors, or the LGBTQ community, or people with disabilities. Democrats should try to rebuild the famous Farmer-Labor coalition that elected Midwestern progressives and prairie populists such as South Dakota’s Tom Daschle, North Dakota’s Byron Dorgan, Iowa’s Tom Harkin, Minnesota’s Paul Wellstone, and Wisconsin’s Russ Feingold.

Rural America matters. The news that today’s DNC has 0 rural advisors for 2024 does not change that. It only makes clearer the real rhetoric and outreach problem Democrats have to deal with head-on. Democrats should take their accomplishments and agenda to these places. They should not forfeit these electorates needlessly to a party with so many holes to poke at. They should instead take the advice of people like my very good friend and prominent rural strategist Matt Barron (Mr. Barron knows Rural America both from living in the Berkshires and from advising the National Democrats for years on outreach to traditionally Republican constituencies. By the way, he has a book currently in the works. Remember to buy it whenever it comes out, TBA).

Rural America, after all, faces issues not much different from urban areas. One is corporate consolidation, something that people like Iowan JD Scholten can attest to. Right now, family farms and small ranchers are being squeezed out by agribusiness monopolies. These are the big factory farms that neglect their workers the most, mistreat their livestock, pollute the air and water more than anybody, outsource jobs either for mechanization or for abroad operations, and sell our farmland to nations like China and Saudi Arabia (who are all to willing to exploit it in unimaginable ways).

Corporate agriculture is a problem rural voters know well—and that Republicans have failed to address or acknowledge. Democrats can take the lead on taking on Big Agriculture and leveling the playing field in agriculture for organic, small, family farmers across this country.

Rural America can also become one of the centers of a revitalization in American manufacturing. Bio-based manufacturing can lead the way, as would innovations in renewable energy production, food processing, medical supply chains, and fair trade policies beyond the empty, hallow words of the Trump GOP rhetoric. Democrats should put the support of the labor movement and consumer safety to work for rural Americans—especially in key fossil fuel communities impacted by Don Blankenship-style coal barons. Democrats can thus focus more community resources to create support for rural small businesses (like has been done in Arizona and Nevada).

With that, Rural America can undergo a transformation in healthcare access and quality of life issues. Rural America currently struggles with a lack of access to healthcare, a large part of that resulting from GOP states refusing to expand Medicaid (including for substance abuse & behavioral health). Rural Americans continue to face a lack of access to education, with public schools consolidating, private school options unaffordable, community colleges few and far between, and young residents leaving for the cities in the so-called Brain Drain. The supply for rural housing is limited as well. GOP budget cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, Head Start, Food Stamps, crop insurance, and rural housing programs will leave Rural America further behind financially. Democrats have the policies needed to change those dynamics.

Contrary to public thinking, the Biden Administration has actually done a lot for Rural America. Economic growth has been most concentrated in “red states,” especially in the Midwest and the Great Plains states such as Montana and Nebraska. Money for electric grids and broadband access/affordability has gone out the most to Rural America via the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. The American Rescue Plan saved local rural governments from the brink of bankruptcy. It helped out rural health care providers, fire, and police departments.

The Inflation Reduction Act makes energy costs chapter, and expands renewable energy projects in rural areas, making them crucial battlegrounds in our fight against the climate crisis. The PACT Act will assist veterans in Rural America, and more jobs could be created through the CHIPS Act (if Biden does not allow Intel to pocket its grants in stock buybacks, as Commerce Secretary Raimondo would do without constant public pressure on her).

So whether it is on healthcare, education, the environment, energy, labor rights, consumer safety, agriculture, manufacturing, small businesses, corporate accountability, fair trade, affordable housing, and many others, the Democratic Party can offer a breathtaking agenda to address the concerns of the working-class in Rural America and beyond. Like they did briefly in 2008, Democrats can reach out to rural voters and erode significant portions of the Trump base. Trump’s abysmal record on Rural America only reinforces that opportunity.

So why not take advantage of Trump’s neglect of Rural America, and get a permanent DNC Rural Desk in place? That is the way to set the record straight for everyone voting this November.