“Rural Strategies for 2024”
1. Relate Rural Concerns to Democratic Programs
Other Democratic strategists and progressive activists told me that how Democrats talk about their achievements also matters for rural voters. Melissa Morales, the founder and president of Somos Votantes, the Latino engagement group, told me that she and other rural Democratic advocates and strategists have a theory for how candidates should be talking about the economy. Called the “Winning Jobs Narrative Project,” the strategy calls on Democrats to center on working-class and rural voters first and find commonalities between their concerns and Democratic accomplishments.
Democratic candidates often pitch voters with a “long laundry list of things that they’re doing to help you out,” Morales said. Democratic messaging last year on the child tax credit, which used the tax code to dramatically slash child poverty, was a prime example. “We go in and talk about how it was a huge anti-poverty initiative, that we’re going to lift half of people out of poverty. But that turns out to be incredibly disempowering and comes from a place of pity and not respect.”
After years of polling and focus groups, Morales said, if you flip the framing to focus on how the tax credit will enable families to pay for child care and get parents back to work easier, the idea resonates better. In Nevada, Morales said, Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto won one of the tightest races in the country by talking about the economy and Democratic wins like this.
2. Find the Middle Ground
And there’s also a way to talk about social issues that centers the libertarian and pragmatic streak that exists in a lot of rural communities, said Cody Lonning, a college instructor at Eastern Washington University and a co-founder of the Rural Urban Bridge Initiative, a think tank that develops messaging strategies for liberals and progressives. Abortion is an example of an issue where “there’s a sense of there needing to be a middle ground and neither party is really leaning into that idea, so when a candidate does talk in that way, there is a place of agreement.”
That means the candidates who can best connect with rural communities don’t necessarily get bogged down in policy specifics when talking to voters, but prioritize personality and earnestness. “A candidate does not have to agree with a voter on those issues. But they can’t just pivot and avoid those issues,” Lonning said. “A lot of times those questions are really sort of a voter exploring the cultural differences between them and a candidate, and trying to understand that candidate as a human being.”
A 2024 Goal?: Winning Statewide Elections
Republicans still have a tremendous advantage in base support, infrastructure, and candidate recruitment in rural communities. But making inroads and cutting down margins is the key to winning statewide elections — and that goal seems to be within reach for Democratic candidates this coming cycle.
Editorial Addendum:
And there the original article ended — startlingly abrupt for a Wisconsin Democrat — with a Goal quite suitable for most red states, but NOT for Wisconsin. That was a goal Democrats already achieved in Wisconsin. The new Democrat goal in Congressional District #8 is “23 in ’24”. It is a program lead by two women, the only two Democrats holding office in the combined 27 seats of the Assembly and Senate that represent the citizens of the 8th CD. It will be the topic of future articles on doordems.org. Look for it.
