We must rethink rural elections if we want to win 2020. The path to victory will be something you haven’t seen before.
Country life means making connections. It’s shoveling out after a snow storm so one of us can get to Walmart and get milk for the baby next-door.
It’s really poor teachers scraping up every dime so students have pencils. It is churches working together to assemble backpacks of food so the kids can take them home over the weekend. Otherwise, those kids won’t eat. And sometimes it’s frying an egg in a bonfire just for fun.
It is wildly unrealistic to think that any candidate running in an area built on porch sitting and unrelenting hard work is going to magically have spare money and extra time to contribute to their local campaign.
The way to win these votes is to get to know the people you want to represent. The money needs to come from somewhere but it sure as hell won’t be coming from counties where only 1 in 10 single mom head of households aren’t near or below the poverty line.
As Democrats we are all about helping people and making a difference. Rural Democrats are no different. America needs to take a deep breath and realize that rural people matter. Yes, you may hate the way some of my neighbors voted. But when it’s midnight and a bear is coming through the neighborhood, politics cease to exist. In the end, It’s all about people.
Hate is easy. Aim higher. Chances are you have something in common, if you just try hard enough. I can’t afford to spend hours on call time. My time needs to be spent getting to know people. More importantly, I need to be out of my house so they can get to know me.
Liberate me from the machine that just doesn’t work in rural red America. Donate so I can head out to Walmart, and everyone will win.