What do Dems need to do to win the rural vote

move to Ohio.

Live there, let them know you. I doubt you’ll change anyone over a certain age, but you can reach the kids. It reminds me of my Serbian foreign exchange student. She tells me how many of gher friends hate Americans, but she won’t because of the memories we made here. We’re talking about her daughter living with us for a year, like her mom did, to go to school. Inch by inch.

the same thing about Indiana. We are really in the best area to deal with upcoming climate change, but the politics are unbearable.

I really, really hate the fact it is always a "battleground state."

internet access is the key...remote work from home.
Yes it is a different way of life.
Yes there is fewer hot spots...I live in wisconsin there will never be a shortage of bars......

there are dems hidden everywhere.
I have found in true red areas it takes a certain amount of courage to have a dem yard sign,,,,because folk feel the social pressure of it not having been done before...be the first.

This includes explaining the OLD b.s. that repugs are good for 'business.'

They would have to pledge that they would harm all people and groups that they don’t like. I don’t think anything short of that would work. Anyone who runs on such a platform isn’t a Democrat.

I live in TN. Facts just don’t matter here. Just hate. Well, and Republican Jesus. It’s beyond frustrating.

The reality is 'In the eyes of REAL Democrats people in rural areas don't share ANY values that Democrats could connect with.

This is, of course, all a consequence of polarization and rather than consideration of people facing both similar and different problems due to their geography, a broad brush of stereotyping of people who aren't Urban.

I wish it wasn't so, but I read DU regularly and I report what I read.

So. What could dems do?

They could:

Increase broadband access to rural areas. Wisconsin isn't really backwards, but the technology has huge holes whose filling could improve education, health, and the general flow of news/information.

Advocate educational equity for rural students. Access to technology, equipment and experience commenserate with suburbs. Children in rural areas face less and less investement in industry and consequently, great need to have educations that enhance mobility.

Expand/subsidize public transit so that more energy efficient means could be used for the work commute of persons from rural to suburban and rural areas. Jobs fall short in rural areas, and commuting is a demand of survival. The commute times and costs of rural citizens are ridiculous, and as highways are the only option the cost of fossil fuel, including impact on global warming are out-sized.

Expand programs that make healthcare accessible in regions where capitalist "cost effectiveness models" work against "healthcare delivery".

Democrats need to realize that people are people. They mostly aspire to similar opportunity for themselves, their children and grandchildren. People in rural areas are no way different, and they struggle to overcome both frequently degrading sterotyping as well as perceived barriers of third class status in local, state and federal spending.

The GA GOP doesn't want their rural voters to have healthcare or to be informed.

The GOP suburbs and rural areas don't want public transportation because of the others that could travel to their areas.

It's about going there, build infrastructure there, develop programs that helps them, counter the AM radio BS that they spill. But this needs years of investment to get a return.

Plenty of Dem programs that help rural 'Mericans, too. It falls on deaf ears.

The ubiquitous RW AM radio poison isn't going to be countered anytime soon.

But worse, Rural America has an innate fear/distrust of Urban America. That is universal; it is present in every nation on Earth to one degree. I hear it often from suburbanites, too: "I never go in to Seattle; it's too dangerous". No, no it's actually not.

Donald J. Trump.

Send out flyers that list bills passed, what they are for, and how each elected official voted. Highlight the harm to people from the Republican bills and policies versus the benefits of the Democratic ones. Do this often so the message sinks in.

Looking at the map like that is deceiving, because land doesn’t equal people.
The population of California is that of several states combined.

RWNJ communities and counties. I know, I've seen them.

On edit: not even close to enough pukes to stop anything here.

Stomp the ground hard. One one where the mob hysteria isn’t ringing in their ear.

Edit: I don’t know the answers but I know ignoring rural Americans has hurt Dems in the past.

Also: GIVE OUT FREE YARD SIGNS. Seriously. In my rural county yard signs are a gage for the apathetically uninformed.

Fuck them.

At least in Michigan

Fuck them.

We shoved that proposal right up their asses.

I have nothing against Democratic/liberal rural voters. Problem is there are way too few of them and we are not going to win over the Dump loving ones.

Hats off to you for living amongst and tolerating them.

In the largest county in the Upper Peninsula, about 11,000 voted against Prop 3.

Cities themselves are pretty Blue.

as did all the people who voted for him in the Upper Peninsula of Mi and much of the northern part of lower Michigan combined

In a few cases (Indy, Jacksonville), those overlap. White Flight hollowed out the cities and put lots of Whypipo in the periphery.

In places like Wayne County, it can be significant numbers.

I did that for Michigan and it's clear the great majority of Trump voters live in counties classified as urban or mostly urban.

He got more votes where all the people are. Isn't that obvious math?
Here in Illinois Bailey got 63% of his votes from the Chicago market. But, Pritzker slaughtered him by 11%
Without comparing the 2 populations we can't compare vote totals.
Of course Wayne County had more votes against the proposition than in a UP county.
What's the population multiplier?

People bitch about rural voters but for some reason ignore the far greater urban dwellers that make Trump competitive.

It's still a matter of population density.
I disagree with your conclusion that getting more votes in a highly populated county than in a less populated one means anything.
Other than, of course, urban & suburban voters are not homogeneous. And, that would be an unrealistic expectation given the sample size.
These "facts" are intuitively obvious and shouldn't be used to conclude anything meaningful.

Some people don't understand that you must look at percentage of population and not number of votes. Wayne County, Michigan alone has almost 2 million people - more than the entire state of Montana. There are only about 300,000 people in the entire U.P. Wayne County is mostly urban (Detroit). From Michigan's website:

"The city of Detroit voted overwhelmingly in favor of Joe Biden -- 233,908 total votes for the Biden-Harris ticket compared to just 12,654 for the incumbent President Trump."

There are people on our side that spread misinformation too, though I don't think it's deliberate. I think they just want to cling to a "fact" that they've been spouting for a long time. Urban voters overwhelmingly vote Democratic.

We just need to do better reaching out to the Democrats and left-leaning independents who are already there. Abandoning states like West Virginia is the reason why Trump was able to win that state by 40 points.

Plus, we can probably get Dems elected to some local positions and build from there. It takes time, money, and volunteers to do that.

We don't need to win, if we lose by a smaller margin it will help us in statewide races and will build an organization in rural areas.

Over our current numbers. It would secure the "swing" states.

Let's go for a 12% increase.

that Republicans in power aren't really on their side.

They have let the Republicans use and exploit their
hate and phobias, and...

they truly hate urban liberals. They have projected
all their self-loathing and feelings of inferiority onto
liberals and Democrats.

Once they suffer and die enough, then maybe things
will change.

I just don't know when enough will be enough.

These people are incapable of learning. I live among them. They are really dug in.

It's my liberty (to hate and kill) ... or death.

Get rid of hate radio.

Dem structure is not driven by the search for power. Truth takes repetition just like falsehoods. Take the message to the young, less stuck minds.

Work with them. Also work with ag extension in urban areas. Urban ag agents work with the rural ag agents and they talk...I know..I've worked with them!!!

As an urban Texan, they are an online resource for me. The best in the south. (Texas is also good, but the two run neck and neck) Univ of FL is big on Urban Forestry.


https://hos.ifas.ufl.edu/extension/

political opportunities to share thinking.

I'm sure some ideas will come to you.

You know, WHITE, not aggressive, boring.

The trick seems to be to run candidates they can't hate.

Other than that...... j/k of course.

The candidate has to understand rural life. Speak to it, not laugh at it. Make it better in a way they can relate to. Show them that government programs can actually help them.

In the 1930's, rural areas LOVED the federal gov't. It lifted them out of decay and poverty. It was good for farming. It got roads built and phones installed. It electrified the countryside. Things that changed peoples lives for the better.

We have to find that again.

Montana. Not boring at all but knew how to speak to the rural voters.

People brush off the impact a.m. radio stations had in shifting the culture and thinking of rural folks away from Democrats from the early 1990’s to now. Clear Channel Communication and Rush you know who blasted out on every radio station that used to have local content and programming. National GOP politics and messaging became local in every tractor, company pickup, welding truck, 18 wheeler that had a radio. I don’t know how to fix it, but I’ve watched it happen and it won’t be fixed over night. Beto was almost successful with this in his run against Cruz, but his comment about AR15s pretty much eliminated that support this go around. Fetterman had a pretty good approach. You may not win the rural counties, but we can cut the margins.

Small Town improvements. Most small towns have firetrucks and the Dept of AG buys lots of those. Also when an older building in small towns is restored such as turning an old high school gym into a community/recreation center those funds can come from Dept of AG.

So send Biden's Secretary of AG out to some of those ribbon cuttings!! Have Kamala Go along on some. Have Biden go along on some. Have Mayor Pete go to those in the Midwest for Dept of Transportation!

That kind of stuff. Make it face to face in the community. So their experience is not all just what they see on Faux.

But paying attention to a ground game to get democrats engaged and voting in these areas helps boost vote totals. Also, radio ads in these areas are cheap and worth it for turnout. And it's not hard to fill a high school gym for a good rally every now and then.

We ceded it to the right wing after the telecommunications act.

For those in urban areas, it's nothing, there are plenty of stations easily tuned in but in rural areas, it is the background noise to nearly everything, it is on in stores, barns, cars, and tractors.

And it is all right wing. The ugliest right wing you can find.

There is no counter to this currently.

Oh, and there's no support for rural democrats. Not from state or national parties.

We need to enter that space again. I know Air America failed to get enough sponsors, but perhaps a different model would work. On-air personalities don't need to be high-profile stars, just well-informed and entertaining.

Ceding that space decades ago (except for AA) hurt us, IMO.

We also need candidates in every area who can articulate the issues an knock down the BS attacks. We should be everywhere, even just as a name on the ballot. If the Republican implodes in a scandal, we have a shot.

I don't know the solution, but I'm pretty sure I know the problem.

a few companies. Then, invest in left leaning radio on AM.

Right wing hate radio, Fox, megachurches - it's all a big right wing circle jerk.

at least in Michigan, why isn't AM radio a problem in the urban areas?

I'm wondering if you think it's also a problem in urban counties or mostly urban counties where the great majority of Trump voters live? At least in Michigan.

The problem in the rural areas is that there's scarcely anything else but right-wing propagandists and evangelical religious programming to be found on the radio dial. There's no countervailing message at all.

There are dozens of AM and FM radio stations where I live but I've only been able to find one RW talk station out of Eagle River , WI.

If you should happen to take a cross-country auto trip across the red states anytime soon (as I have), you will see what I mean.

Of course, you and I are only supplying anecdotal evidence here. If you want statistical evidence, I guess you could look into the airwave dominance of companies like Clear Channel Communications or Sinclair Broadcasting. But frankly, I'm surprised that this would be news to anyone. It's very widely observed that the lack of counterbalancing opinion on the airwwaves since the repeal of the Fairness Doctrine by the FCC has been a boon to the right, and to the Republican party.

When I ask the size of the audience RW radio has, how many listeners, nobody seems to know. People just seem to want to believe rural people have nothing to listen to but RW radio and don't want to bother to fact check it . I looked up the radio stations serving my neck of the woods, Upper Peninsula of Michigan and northern Wisconsin and found 1. WERL.

My adult children, nephews, and nieces (for example) pay no attention to radio or traditional television. They stream everything. On longer car trips they listen to music, podcasts, audio books, and other content they've previously recorded.

When they are deciding where to live one of their top concerns is the quality of their internet service. If there's no high speed internet or spotty cell phone service they simply wouldn't live in such a place.

I think "brain drain" in rural areas is a very real phenomena. All the interesting kids leave. If they can't leave then they kill themselves, often slowly with drugs and alcohol and too frequently with reckless gun or automobile "accidents."

They best thing "We Democrats" could do is provide easy escape hatches for kids who are trapped. In the past that's been military service or college, and that's been the case for a long time. My grandfather joined the Army Air Corp to get the fuck hell out of Wyoming, which is where he'd landed after running away from home in Montana. He was an officer in World War II and ended up as an engineer working on the Apollo Project. I doubt he'd have survived into his thirties if he hadn't fled rural U.S.A..

From all the bullshit they teach us in grade school we are supposed to romanticize rural U.S.A. as a place of pastoral beauty and good people, but it's actually a fucking wasteland of ignorant genocidal maniacs. We know what they did to the Native Americans and other peoples who were not White and the same flavor of Christianity as themselves.

This nation is never going to solve its many problems until we are willing to take an honest look at our own history. It's an unfortunate fact that White Supremacists, people who wanted to own slaves and kill off Native Americans, were given disproportionate political representation in our Constitution.

As for AM Radio, I think all religious, commercial, and political content should be evicted from it.

and other generational propaganda efforts will make this almost impossible. Unless that propaganda is tamped down, or a real alternative view is offered, I see little hope.

As usual, the urban folks totally disregard the effect of this cheap media that created the population dreaming of overthrowing the government and killing liberals. And love Trump because he simply voiced politically what Limbaugh and the rest have planted so deeply in their psyche.

I cannot for the life of me understand why this corrosive effort has been so utterly ignored.

The campaigns insist on running tv adds, when it is really about talk radio, which would be so much cheaper to keep going.

Do what Fetterman did. He campaigned in every county in Pennsylvania. In the rural Trump counties he usually got three to five percentage points more of the vote than Biden.

Iff you take rural county and lose it 65-35 instead of 70-30 you win. Maybe that 5% respects you just for a showing up and listening to them. When I was an organizer for the Obama campaign I learned that the phrase "I hear you" can go along away.

Several have touched on it.

It isn't about "winning" the rural vote, it's cutting into the margin.

Really vote by party, they vote for people they know and like. Political signs here never have a party on them, most people go to the polls not even knowing which party some of their favorites belong to. KY could flip, if anyone really tried.

The hate thing is probably #1.

Invest in improving rural schools....People who learn to think for themselves do not vote for Republicans.

In one of the reddest and rural states. My city has only ~120k people - that’s how small it is.

Repubs now comprise 90% of state officials and all federal positions.

There is no winning here. It’s all about religion, abortion, guns, illegals (I hate that word described for people) and other immigrants, and fighting off socialism.

Any young people who don’t fit into this way of thinking move away.

The state in general has a hard time keeping people here. Conservatism is never mentioned as a main culprit. But it is the driving force for me to move on as soon as I can.

I do not blame you but am pretty tired of it coming from Kansas who managed to get enough from all parties to save abortion in this state and if you think that was easy well, you might as well call me names and stop reading.

Not all of us are rubes. Not even all the rubes are actual rubes. I cannot explain it to you because after years of trying I am done trying, we are just too easy to lay it all on. Like Iowa last night, good grief. That was embarrassing and sad to see here. I am a rube, my friends are rubes and I am really not ashamed of it since I really do not know how people are using the term. Just like any group of people with a "name" they are all over the place and just because their education is more rural does not make them stupid. Some of us got edumacated yuck yuck.

I have done, with others in the state, what was thought of as something that was never ever ever ever going to happen. We worked and created an LGBTQ+ group that has been statewide and working well since 2005. Statewide, even where the rubes are. I know roughneck farm workers and cowboys who are out and just fine so.....rubes? Yup.

All it takes is time and consistency AND respect for the fact that they are human. If you are talking with them with respect then they are willing to listen. You would be surprised how many people you simply write off as dumb and disgusting are actually very smart. They just are smart in ways that, hmmmm, oh yes provide you with food or other goods. Many time these days they use part of their wealth to create places that help the environment and....they FEED you.

I could go on but I have said all of this a hundred times here and I do know what is coming my way in response. Go ahead and disrespect those whose lives put them in different places than yours. Go ahead and disrespect those who really have no outlet other than what they have always been told and preached to. I can tell you that with money from the damned party we could make headway but that stopped after the 50 state strategy was dropped. It was not only that but that sent us back to needing to use more money out of our pocket to make a difference. Also it was just so damned demoralizing. It was almost like you needed us to be this way so you could always have a place to blame.

I don't know but I am sure damned tired of doing this. Just remember, there are those of us (A LOT of us) working for you here and what we have to do is about 1000 times harder than what it takes in an already bluish big city. If we ever get something like the 50 state strategy again please do not yank it away. It is going to take a while but we can do it. Abortion, LGBTQ+ rights? Do you have any idea how hard that was in Kansas? We did that.

BY HANNA TRUDO - 11/02/22 6:00 AM ET

This is a very good article.

Bernie was very popular here, I do not remember how he did in the Western rural areas though. I do know the Democratic primary went to him when he was running against Hillary. Do you think anyone ever stopped to think really hard about that little tidbit of information?

It does take time and it does take persistence but it is not impossible, not at all. It also takes the right kind of person. As all people they do not like to be treated as if the "big shot liberal" is coming to show them how stupid and wrong they are and that is often what they will hear. I have never understood how anyone could treat a room full of adults as if they were children and expect them to be interested and anything but offended. It makes me hope that most of the degrading and often uniformed comments here are made by people who would not really ever do much real political work outside of their own comfort zone. It is that "I am a liberal, more educated than you are so listen to me tell you how you are wrong" attitude. The Roe vote would NEVER have passed like it did and in such a short time of work if some of the "Sit down, shut up you useless dumb ass farmer" people here were involved.

Thank you!

Just as he has been working for years on getting the younger progressive generation involved in politics. That work is coming to fruition, as his recent GOTV rally tour in partnership with Next Gen America was a success.

farms are out there anymore that are not corporate. We have some here but out West I believe many have been taken over. I do not have those numbers however. Bernie is the perfect guy to lead this. He comes across as sincere, as he is, and he is easy for people to relate too. I witnessed that with friends of mine who went to see him and came away with support for him. Not everyone however.

I was thinking about this this morning as I was re-reading this thread to see where it was actually heading. So much vitriol and of course I do understand it but I know from personal experience that that will not change things. As long as this has gone on many people who we would like to influence come to you with a boulder on their shoulders, ready to fight because nobody wants an "elite" (a term which they infuse exactly what we all hate in the pretentious billionaire class) telling them that they are not good enough or stupid or crass or whatever the latest term is. I too have engaged in that as an elitest and I had to work really hard to understand why that put you on your back foot before you even started.

I am nobody. I have done work in the state mostly for LGBTQ+ equality. I am not a leader although I have done work like one from time to time. I traveled the state once in a while and got my fill of what people out West thought about all of us from the East side of the state. They were right about most of it and I can tell you if it was me out there I would probably still be a Democrat (it is in my heart) but I would not want to listen to what usually comes to town to talk to them.

I was also thinking about how it is so important to let people know they have worth, not something many people here would advocate after reading all these years here. You know who does that almost better than anyone? As good as Bernie, it is Joe Biden. He is the kindest man when talking and trying to understand what people need who are not being reached. I was never a big fan of his but my mind has been changed just from listening to him and seeing how open his heart is and how he knows that everyone has worth, even if they disagree with him. I see a chance here that is likely to be blown if people do not start trying to really understand others, understand them knowing why they feel how they do. Most of them are not the illiterate Magats, nose picking gun humpers wanting to rape every woman and kill all the Democrats. Those people are there and in some places it has gotten really bad but that is not the fault of them it is mainly because we looked down at them, acted like they smelled bad and told them they were not worth the effort. I also understand feeling that way but it does not help us change things. Just my thoughts on this. Just a small time, once helped create a state wide organization that nobody ever thought would be possible in Kansas.

It's a strength and it's a counterbalance to what passes as discourse these days

Thankfully I never really had to speak much.

Of course you are correct.

Saying things like “fuck rural voters” is most definitely unhelpful and unwise

Even the dimmest rube can understand that

Fact is most of DU is older, retired, urban, suburban. The concept of working a ranch 24/7/365 with all the problems there, from the price of gas to the weather, is hard to fathom when one spends most days clicking electronic devices or holding the TV remote

Growing up, the bumper sticker slogan was: don’t complain about farmers with your mouth full

There are very few of us rubes on DU. There are many more out here on the prairies that are Democrats.
I sit at the bar in the tiny town up the road and talk to rural folks all the time

As you so eloquently point out, they are in fact decent humans

Thank you for your post

It seems funny to me that there are so many people posting and being angry at the "Karens". It seems to me that most of them come from urban and suburban areas. Most rural people don't go out a lot during any time of the year and when they do they are in bars or other gathering places where there is often only one mind set. There is the big part problem, a community mindset. I wonder, knowing so many of them, if they would ever say anything like what we have heard from the "Karens". *I hate that term but,,,,,

We may be rubes, Democratic rubes trying to make things better, but at least we are trying to help people understand. It was the church in my family growing up and I refused to be a part of that. I also refuse to be a part of a party that acts as bad and often worse than the people they are going after. It is just me but I can see no help in that way. I had to learn calmness and oh that was hard. I wish I lived farther out from the seat of government here and then I would have a really good feeling for the pulse out there. From here it looks much like you said and what I have said.

Love the bumper sticker, I do not remember that one.

Keep talking to your people and I will mine when I get the chance. It will take a better and much younger person than I am to get this done but I do have a big mouth when I need one.....

Stories: setting there at the bar, the folks know each other. They know I’m liberal, working on the Rez, ponytail and hippy stache
Politics is set aside mostly. But we still buy each drinks and shake hands out the door

Thurs night -7 hit a deer broke down side of road in the dark 5 vehicles pulled over offering help while waiting for a tow. They all offered to let us set in their vehicle to keep warm

It’s a country thing I reckon

Guns are huge out here, and we'd need to gut the gun safety part of our platform.

Environmental rules and proposals would need some major adjustments. Electric vehicles are looked up on with suspicion. The shorter range - especially when hauling or towing. Battery longevity is also derided, as is the challenge of doing major repairs or replacements oneself. The rage over EPA wood and coal stove restrictions is still big years later.

LBGTQ rights is another trouble spot. I'd describe attitudes as polite tolerance - but far from acceptance. Anything involving schools in this area is going to get major backlash.

Taxes and role of government is another. The general attitude is the benefit received from the amount of taxes paid is less than the cost. Government is seen as bumbling and intrusive.

In short, completely different culture and probably incompatible with much of the Democratic party.

Religion is a major issue.

I live at my country place now .

My neighbors are all Democrats.

But there are plenty of Republicans outside our area.

I had a run in with a few of these Republicans.

They are not nice people.

I had to pull out my hand gun to make them back off.

I do not want to be around them.

to pay more attention to registered Democrats in rural areas to get them out to vote and improve our chances on the statewide races.

Trying to convert rural repubiQans is a losing proposition. When we have tried, it makes our message schizophrenic and causes us to compromise our values.

But there could be some benefit to paying more attention to those rural people already registered as Democrats to GOTV among them. They probably feel ignored or unsupported.

radio and Fox and similar in TV service.

May be too late to save my generation (older Boomer) but would get to the young.

I mean get fast, limitless data internet to everyone based on ability to pay and treated as a public service, part of being human in the 21st century. I include the various devices and training in the use of the devises. This would mean rural people could really work remotely in many cases and put rural entrepreneurs next door to a world of customers. I seriously do not believe at present one can function fully as a citizen in our society without this capability.

... on them. White people in rural Vermont aren't right-wing idiots.

COINCIDENTALLY... there's also not nearly as many evangelical churches in rural Vermont compared to other rural parts of the country.

If white evangelicals had not voted at all in 2016 and 2020, both Clinton and Biden would've won the majority of the white vote too.

suburban center-left.

Go ahead and flame away.

Acreage doesn't vote.

and i get it
you put your ad dollars where your voters are

for dems that means urban
for repugs that means rural

and it works

but if you keep doing what you have always done you will keep getting what you always got

around 22% of eligible Dems voted. About 26% of eligible Republicans voted.

5% more Dems voting would have turned us around.

Not sure where the numbers came from, it was on a local newscast.

She won a district rigged for a rural vote.

She is really great. Sharice Davids works very hard.

And I mean completely. No Fox, no AM talk radio, no internet conspiracy theory podcasts. That's about the only way we can convince these people that they are being lied to 24 hours a day.

These are people who till or work with the earth, have a deep belief in God, pull your self up out of a hole, if not, your neighbors will help you (and they do). And at the same time, they have no understanding what urban areas have to go through, but see it on TV and it shocks them.

Thus they think, if the urban areas adopted their ethic, they would do better. But, we are also talking about people who skipped a sub standard school at times to farm fields while the truant officer looked the other way. So critical and long term thinking isn't developed (if that was possible in the first place)

But sadly some on the left, mock their religion in a militant way, their intelligence, etc. So, they are turned off and/or don't trust. Can't blame them.

For example, myself, I came up from nothing....and when I mean nothing, I actually opened the fridge and wondered why it was even on because there was nothing in it (parents would not take "government hand outs" I got the grades to get the College Prep courses, went to "College Night"...by my self, and while there, saw I was the only solo student without their parents. But, I did manage to get into a University that was known to be difficult. None in my family and extended family even acknowledged it...my own father didn't realize I was in a University until I was two years into it. And while there, extended family tried to get me to quit and I quote one uncle "You are there because you're lazy, you see a bunch of guys working on a road with one guy watching them and say I want to be that guy"...fyi, he didn't graduate from HS, got a GED and walked away.

After that, got a good paying job, married, etc. Yet, there were relatives who said I would "turn away from God" eventually. Instead, became a respected member of the church (lets just say I'm refusing some leadership roles). And those who dismissed me? Had sons and daughters that went downhill. And still, dismiss me.

So all in all, I guess what I'm saying is, you can't reach all rural residents with logical thinking, even if you invoke God. And its sad because they are part of the economy and if they let there bias, prejudices, etc. by the way side, they could be more successful. But its going to be a tough nut to crack when they are willing to scorn one of their own for seeking a better life, while some mock them. This is not something than can be accomplished in a generation. And given the short term goals of leadership, there is no incentive to do so as of yet.

There is no easy fix here...and the GOP like it.

Every Presidential primary season, the same lame gaggle of reporters go following Republican clown car candidates around to those fairs while they nosh on corn dogs and apple fritters. I think the biggest one was that Iowa State Fair that was always their launching point due to Iowa's early slot in the primaries. I don't recall Democrats being followed around at State Fairs often, if at all.

We don't have a "State Fair" here in PA nor any "fair grounds", but we DO have the annual "Pennsylvania Farm Show", which is held some time in January (the upcoming one 1/7 - 1/14/23) at the PA Farm Show Complex and Expo Center in the state capital of Harrisburg. The state broadcasts many of the events on the state cable channel. I know actually driving out there and attending that in person, has been on one of my BIL's bucket list (he is an avid watcher of the show every year).

They have arenas for stuff like tractor pulls, lassoing calves, and space to display livestock and poultry for competition, and feature the state's 4H Club members (who are youth), as well as food prep, crafting activities, and many competitions (e.g., "sheep to shawl" that I always watched where a team would shear sheep, collect the wool, card the wool, spin the wool (sometimes dye the wool or have earlier-dyed wool available), and then set up looms to weave it to make some beautiful article at the end).



Here are a whole pile of "voters" -



I know over here in the eastern side of the state, there is the annual Kutztown Folk Festival over the summer. I hadn't been since I was a kid until I got chance to go again about 8 years ago and it was great to see Kutztown again.

If these types of event visits are not happening, then anyone interested in meeting "rural" in what is basically a modern, relaxed, and entertaining environment, where they are showcasing the fruits of their labor, is a great way to start to make inroads and touch base.

Yeah, state fairs and farm shows are no brainers, especially for local candidates....

I live in San Antonio and 4H is a thing, even here. My son won an award for his drip irrigation one year.


I think most counties in the US have ag extensions. I believe Abraham Lincoln established land-grant universities and those programs filter locally. In urban areas those programs include nutrition programs and master gardener programs. (Master gardeners tend to be very republican). However, we can still work with these agencies/agents in urban areas because those agents carry a message to their rural counter-parts. We have a Dem county commissioner who has donated land to Texas Ag Extension (Texas A&M - Texas Dept of Ag -county partnership) for an urban farm. The Aggies do not dare bad mouth him..LOL

They go but the media focuses on the clown shows from the GOP circus and it can't be relegated to just that one.



That's great! I know I have debated doing drip tubes on my outdoor potted plants but trying to get the water source there consistently has been a challenge. I have a pile of those "plant-gators" irrigation "donuts" that I bought but have procrastinated throwing them on my bigger pots in any case.

I was born and raised and still live in Philly and it's a "thing" here too, but goes through phases of whether it gets featured or not. We have an agricultural high school here - "W.B. Saul High School"



They have a farm property not far from where I live with horses and livestock, poultry, and produce.



USDA used to have an extension office in every County in the U.S. (I believe started as a result of the dust bowl under FDR) but over the years, they have consolidated them - particularly if you have a few very rural counties with only few thousand residents in the entire County, so the Agent would be responsible for a couple such Counties.



I am an alumni of UMASS, which was such a university. Going up Rt. 9 towards Amherst was nothing but farms, moo moos, and baa baas. And then up popped the "weeds" of the University library and dorm towers of the SW Residential area.





Not necessarily. Philly isn't just all stereotypical citified "nutrition programs". There is the full range of ag including things like apiaries/bee-keeping and backyard farming. The Master Gardeners here are the opposite of "very Republican" in this dark blue city. Plus this city, with its gardening heritage including the oldest indoor Flower Show in the country - the Philadelphia Flower Show run by the PA Horticultural Society, makes horticulture in general all the stronger, as they are deeply involved here in this city.



We need to do more "leisure" activities with them. There is a tendency to go in swinging a political hammer and immediately start bringing up "politics" and "policies" -- much of which the average person doesn't focus on 24/7. Doing that immediately puts up the wall and they shut down. And if they bring it up, then wave it away.

I had 2 co-workers who could have been considered Limpballs-listening RW loons but we shared a love of other subjects so we just tip-toed around politics and focused on what we had in common.

If people see that you enjoy some of the same activities that they do, then the politics thing can come MUCH MUCH later.

It's fairly easy to get drips from a hose bib out. Lots of YouTube videos. The question is: Do you want to?

Even in Texas, I water potted plants with my garden hose. Getting a good quality hose and extension (if you need it) is half the battle. Drips with a timer can be a good thing if you travel. Get a Y splitter for the hose bib. Attach the timer. Attach a garden hose to the area where you want your drippers and set it up. However, it's probably only worth the effort if you travel.

Backyard chickens are a thing here. Not my thing, but I think backyard chickens are sweeping the country.

I agree with the leisure activities etc. I'm guilty of showing up during elections....
Heck, I also miss out on local city council planning meetings? Why? I was doing GOTV...

Conservative propaganda is ruling over and ruining the democratic party messaging.

This is how most of them get their info. 86 Fox News. It’s no coincidence that Dems did much better in rural America before that poison was created.

Maybe some progressive billionaires could replicate some progressive communities in WY, MT, SD, ND and ID like the Villages in Florida.

Other than that, I really don't know.

Maybe jam their AM Radio reception, or hold the major corporations based in these red shitholes accountable for their support of racist, fascist politicians.

like John Fetterman did, visit and campaign there, encourage the Democrats who are there, flood the area with yard signs and bumper stickers and increase Democratic turnout in those areas. Fetterman improved on Biden's performance in 56 of the 67 counties in Pennsylvania, he didn't flip any, but they represent more than his margin of victory in the vote totals.

I remember years ago when I was in high school, Mo Udall came to my small hometown on high school homecoming day, spoke at an assembly at the high school, even though only a few seniors and the teachers were old enough to vote, then held a rally at the city hall, then came to the football game and stayed through the crowning of the king and queen. He visited every other small town in his district. When I turned 18, I remembered that, and he got my vote. Yeah, he was a Democrat.

A lot of our problem has to do with the Republicans being able to lie about us with impunity. For example, they'll lie and say that "defund the police" or "open borders" or "woke" are our positions. But they're not our positions. The vast majority of Dems ignore (at best) or outright oppose all of those. Rural voters—in fact all voters— need to know that.

We need to find a way to make sure our image matches our beliefs in proportion to one-person-one-vote. We shouldn't be afraid to harshly criticize, oppose, and disown ideas like the above when almost no one with democratically legitimate standing in the Dem Party espouses them. Reproductive freedom, equality, opportunity, and action on climate change, Dem core values that nearly all Dems support, shouldn't ever be weighed in the balance with unelected-to-anything Joe Random spouting off about defunding the police. It's simple respect for democracy.

Complete w trains, buses, etc to the nearest metro area. That would address the affordable housing crisis and this issue.

Left unchecked, Republican policies will fail. When they do, we need to be ready to pick up the pieces.

Indiana has been like Mississippi for years. The poor people there seem to be happy to be poor based on their voting.

We should focus our future efforts on maintaining or increasing support in VA, WI, AZ, NV.

I think the right Dems can win in GA. I think Abrams has great ideas but I think we need a different candidate to run for governor in four years.

Be on message and in action advancing progressive economic programs (read: taking an explicitly a pro-capitalist position that builds up small and middle class businesses that can expand economic diversity and wealth creation across the country).

Empower people. Help them make their lives better. Listen to their needs.

Stop telling them to "fuck off."

The Southern Strategy targeted white working class voters who had supported FDR by embracing racism. It worked.

...a 3,142 county strategy. Where it can't be done directly, build relationships so we have proxies. One of the biggest complaints is that we don't pay attention to those places, so have people there to be seen paying attention, to be their neighbors.

And what might work even better but won't be done, is using making use of fundraising assets to support Democratic- and liberal-leaning media that can workshop and repeat our messaging where people will hear it on a daily basis, the way the Right has over the last 50 years.

That’s it. And make it clear how things turn out if they cannot have the right advocates in place.

Not quick fixes. In the meantime, launch a massive propaganda campaign like the fascists have done with hate radio and TV.

Neither will ever happen, we're just going to have to deal with it.

In progressive ways.

Fetterman didn't win many dark red counties, but by directly addressing and engaging and having 'authenticity' he got more rural vote than Biden and Clinton did.

Anyone have any questions that authenticity is why he defeated Oz? Given the health issues (would have sunk many candidates) authenticity carried him.