Democrats say they'll do more to attract rural voters

Ashley Lopez reported for NPR a few days ago on Democrats' plan to vie from aggressively for rural voters.  Here's an excerpt about the "8 figure investment" the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee is making in advance of the 2026 midterm elections, an investment that will include "a full-time staffer who will be focused on 'strategic rural engagement across the country.'"  This is the first time the DCCC has had a program dedicated specifically to rural voter engagement. 

Suzan DelBene, who chairs the DCCC and represents Washington's 1st Congressional District, said Democrats see an opportunity to engage rural voters as President Trump's economic agenda, particularly tariffs, becomes less popular.

She said rural voters see the "damage" being done by GOP policies that have led to "costs going up, health care being gutted," and Democrats can provide an alternative.

Here's a further quote from DelBene:

I think Republicans are turning their back. They've been actively hurting rural communities with the policies they've put in place. Democrats are fighting to improve the lives of rural Americans and farmers.

* * *

When we look at the swing districts across the country, the districts that are going to determine the majority in the House of Representatives, we know that rural voters are key in those districts.

* * * 

According to the Pew Research Center, in last year's presidential election Trump won 69% of voters who describe their communities as rural, compared with just 29% for Kamala Harris.

Lopez spoke to Anthony Flaccavento, a former candidate for congress in southwest Virginia and founder of the Rural-Urban Bridge Initiative, who acknowledged how hard it'll be to win back Democrats:  

We focus on rural, but because there's so much overlap in why people have left the Democrats and why they have so much disillusionment, it's a lot of commonality between working-class folks in small towns and cities and rural people.  When you put those two together, rural voters and blue-collar, working-class voters, then you have the biggest voting bloc in the country.

I've written a lot on the blog about Democrats' neglect of rural voters, including here and here.