Listening to rural people -- up and down the ballot
With just over two weeks left until November 5, we are seeing a real commitment from Democrats to rural voters up and down the ballot.
In one of the biggest developments this week, the Harris/Walz campaign unveiled their Plan for Rural Communities. As the Associated Press reported on Tuesday, the plan “marks a concerted effort by the Democratic campaign to make a dent in the historically Trump-leaning voting bloc in the closing three weeks before Election Day. Trump carried rural voters by a nearly two-to-one margin in 2020, according to AP VoteCast. In the closely contested race, both Democrats and Republicans are reaching out beyond their historic bases in hopes of winning over a sliver of voters that could ultimately prove decisive.”
Governor Walz spoke about it at an event in Pennsylvania where he said, "When people think rural America, farm policy matters … crop insurance matters. Trade matters, tariffs matter. But you're bigger than that. Your families, your health care matters, your education matters, your roads matter, your retirement matters, all those things matter."
We are bigger than just agriculture issues and the first paragraph of the press release introducing their plan made it clear that this is a new and different approach:
Vice President Harris and Governor Walz believe in rural communities and understand that supporting locally led solutions is key to rural prosperity. Their administration will make it a priority to equip the nearly 50 million rural Americans with the tools and resources they need not just to get by, but get ahead.
We couldn’t have written it better ourselves. (And we have to think our founding Executive Director Matt Hildreth played a key role in this plan but we can’t talk to him until after the election.)
To us, this plan shows what happens when you actually listen to rural people. It demonstrates both a deep understanding of and a solid commitment to rural Americans. At Rural Organizing, we have talked for years about rural communities needing lower prices, higher wages, and a better quality of life, and we wholeheartedly welcome this strategy from the Harris/Walz campaign to address those very issues.
It was so refreshing to see Harris and Walz prioritize the issues that we deal with every day: expanding access to health care, ensuring access to care for our families — both children and the elderly — and strengthening rural economies, especially by recognizing the importance of small businesses, where a higher percentage of rural people are employed.
The Harris/Walz approach is a recognition of the reality in today’s rural America. Yes, agriculture matters. But more rural people work in manufacturing than in agriculture. And, the Harris/Walz campaign has made expanding manufacturing jobs a top priority. Health care is another major rural employer, but rural hospitals are in dire straits — and getting worse because of abortion bans. Each one that closes devastates the local economy.
The Harris/Walz rural plan offers a dramatic contrast to Trump and Vance’s dark vision for the future that would only make things worse for rural Americans. Trump spent his first term repeatedly trying to repeal the Affordable Care Act, which would shut down 500 rural hospitals, and even now they have no actual plans beyond division and fear to address the very real and complex crises rural people face with respect to childcare, eldercare, schools, and more.
It’s been our mission to make sure Democrats focus on turning out their small-town and rural bases — which do exist! — and to demonstrate their commitment to investing in rural America. Harris and Walz are showing rural voters that their concerns have been heard. This really is the plan we’ve been waiting for and we look forward to making it a reality.
They are also showing how life can improve when elected officials deal with real issues instead of just trying to divide us. The top of the ticket is committed and that’s great to see, but we are also seeing amazing engagement in rural downballot races. For too long, national Democrats have ignored state legislative races, but that’s where so much of the action is. Gerrymandering and voter suppression have been toxic in states.
But, that’s also changing, thanks to the great work of some amazing activists like Jess Piper in Missouri and Paolo Cremidis from the Outrun Coalition. Both were featured for their work by Julie Tinder at Daily Yonder:
Jessica Piper ran for state representative as a Democrat in Nottoway County, Missouri, in 2022. She lost after receiving 25% of the vote. Then she joined Blue Missouri, an organization that provides crowdfunding for under-funded Democratic nominees in some of the reddest and most rural districts in the state. These districts, according to Piper, have often been neglected by investment from the national Democratic party. This creates a self-fulfilling prophecy, she said.
“Don’t give us any money, don’t invest in us, and look what happens,” Piper said.
The strategy in Missouri is changing this year, Piper said. Money – to the tune of $100,000 – has come in from the Democratic National Committee.
“It's going to take a while before we see the fruits of our labor,” Piper said. “We know it's a long game, but we know it's worth playing.”
Having run for office, Jess knows first hand the challenges. And Paolo spoke to Tinder about the vital need to reach out to all communities in rural America:
In upstate New York, Paolo Cremidis runs the Outrun Coalition, a grassroots group of 523 local Democratic elected officials from across rural America. Cremidis, the coalition’s executive director, said each official also brings a diverse identity not often represented in politics, including women, immigrants, young people, Latinos, Indigenous people, people of color, and members of the LGBTQ+ community.
“We need to delve into this diversity, because if we don’t, we are not going to have a candidate base or bench going into the future,” Cremidis said. Much like building a team of players, Cremidis and other rural organizers are looking to field a group of candidates they can train and then tap to run in future races.
And, we’ve seen advocates in the key states understand the power and need for engagement. For example, Mother Jones recently profiled some amazing work underway in Georgia by Fighting Fifty:
Last May, Cathy Kott, a resident of rural north Georgia, received a text from an unknown number. “We’re looking for Democrats who would be willing to run against State Representative Jason Ridley,” the message read. “If you’re interested or know anybody who is, call me.”
The sender was Bob Herndon, a longtime political operative in Georgia. Herndon had been involved in recruiting Democrats to run for office for years—efforts he says were often chaotic and generally too little, too late.
Kott is a candidate in Georgia House District 6, in northern rural Georgia. She joined scores of other Democrats who are running in very red, gerrymandered districts to increase Democratic turnout and give voters a choice. As Mother Jones noted, it matters:
There’s data to back up the strategy. Run for Something, a national organization which supports grassroots progressive candidates, analyzed precinct-level election returns in eight states and found that President Joe Biden did better in 2020 in conservative districts where a local Democrat was running than in districts where a Republican ran unopposed. The difference was small—a boost of .4 to 2.3 percent—but in tight races, accumulated statewide across a range of districts, that amount could make the difference. The report singled out Georgia as a place where such long shot campaigns in rural red areas might have put Biden over the top.
“Reverse coattails” or “closing the margins” or “lose less:” However it’s described, it’s an important strategy that we’ve been pushing for a long time.
The Washington Post recently featured Kate Barr, who is running for State Senate District 37 in North Carolina. The headline of the article, She’s running with all she’s got for a seat she can’t win. That’s the point, told part of the story.
Barr centers her pitch on the principle of giving voters an option, even in deep-red districts where the outcome is all but predetermined. Having Democrats campaign in those conservative areas also gives a political boost to Kamala Harris in a state where the presidential race is seen as a toss-up and could prove nationally decisive if Democrats can peel off enough voters to secure North Carolina’s 16 electoral votes.
So much respect for the candidates who run, knowing they probably won’t win, but can make a huge difference overall. We love to see it!
As I write this, my colleague Dani Cook is on a roadtrip through rural areas in battleground states, delivering even more yard signs and meeting with fellow rural progressives. For the past couple months, our team has been really excited by the enthusiasm and activism in rural communities. Dani, who has become a TikTok sensation (after her daughter insisted she join the platform) is seeing it first hand. You can follow her journey here.
This was a big week for Rural Organizing — and we’re not slowing down. As Coach Walz often says, “We’re going to leave it on the field.”