Democrats and Rural America

By Martin Burns

There was a time and not that long ago, when Democrats were competitive in rural areas. In the 1980s, for example both Nebraska and North Dakota were represented by four Democratic senators. Delving even farther into the past, Democrats have a proud heritage of rural support from FDR and the New Deal. Today, the picture is far different. As the Daily Yonder (a news site that focuses on rural issues) points out: “Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton lost rural voters by more than 30 points in 2016. In swing states like Pennsylvania, where she lost statewide by less than 1%, her drubbing in rural counties was critical to Donald Trump’s Electoral College victory.”

Given the need the Democrats for the Democrats to take control of the Senate if they are ever want to see their agenda enacted; the need to win rural voters is more important than ever. Jane Kleeb, the chair of the Nebraska Democratic party, has written a cleverly titled guide, “Harvest the Vote” for Democrats interested in reaching out to rural voters. Kleeb is an experienced activist who has been profiled in a PBS film entitled called “Blue Wind on a Red Prairie” and her work against the Key Stone pipeline was featured in the New York Times magazine: “Jane Kleeb vs. the Keystone Pipeline.”

Much to her credit, Kleeb is honest about the attitude of many DC insiders about Democratic prospects in rural America:

“The Democratic Party does not any of this [outreach] nationwide and certainly does not engage rural communities in a deep and authentic way. Instead, what we see happen over and over again is if a race gets close in a rural district or state, they send in outside consultants ad staffers to try and win the race, The investments are often too late to close the gap.”

In her short and focused book, Kleeb gives many suggestions for Democrats to win over rural voters. There is one piece of advice that shows up throughout her book: Democrats need to show up in rural areas and listen to rural voters. Her quote from Montana Democratic Senator John Tester is especially eloquent:

“Democrats just did not show up out here [in rural America in 2016]. We don’t need Democrats to stand up and tell us what they think our issues are, we need Democrats to listen to us again and find out what is important to rural people.”

Will Democrats take Kleeb’s advice and show up in rural America? The verdict is still out. We will have to wait until November to render a final judgment