Why Democrats Can’t Write Off the Rural Vote

Few questions have bedeviled Democrats as much as the question of how—or even whether—to reverse their decline in rural and blue-collar America. Long gone are the days when the party was seen as the natural home of the working class. Now, the dominant narrative goes, Democrats are a haven for urban, highly educated elites, while the Trump-led GOP makes inroads among working-class voters of all races, thus imperiling the coalition that has sustained Democrats for decades.

With states like Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Michigan on a knife-edge this November, the Democrats need every vote they can get. So on today’s episode, we’re kicking the tires on the party’s relationship to rural voters. We have three guests who live and breathe rural America—and who are adamant that, far from being a lost cause for Democrats, many rural and working-class voters could be up for grabs if the party made a serious effort to win them over. 

Jane Kleeb is the chair of the Nebraska Democratic Party and the author of Harvest the Vote: How Democrats Can Win Again in Rural America. Anthony Flaccavento is an organic farmer, co-chair of the Rural Urban Bridge initiative, and the co-author of The Nation’s Rethinking Rural column. 

And, in a special bonus segment, we spoke to Sarah Taber, the Democratic candidate for North Carolina Commissioner of Agriculture, about her campaign and how she is trying to bring urban and rural residents in her state together.