New commentary on Dirt Road Revival and how a place-based focus can win rural voters

Kal Munis and Robert Saladin write in the Washington Monthly, "The Democrats Rural Problem." The piece opens provocatively:

Democrats face a five-alarm fire in rural America, but no engines have been dispatched to extinguish the flames. Much of the party’s elite—ensconced in urban enclaves—doesn’t see the blaze.

* * * 

Equally important, party elites need to allow rural candidates to run their way. This means giving candidates the space to build their brands in a way that comports with their districts. Moreover, the nomadic hoard of volunteers and consultants needs to adapt to rural terrain. Frequently, there is a significant cultural divide between campaign staff and volunteers—to say nothing of activists—and rural voters. But for the voters Democrats have been hemorrhaging, the issues that galvanize many progressives—climate change, identity politics, gun safety—can be downright poisonous. The issues that fire up the younger, better-educated types who often staff campaigns have, at best, an indirect effect on improving the economic standing of lower-middle-class rural voters.

Of course, progressives care about such things as working-class wages, but when they do, it’s often down their list of priorities. Still, others find it distasteful to solicit voters they regard as racist, misogynistic, and so on. Rural Democrats need the leeway to court rural voters by distancing themselves from progressive urban priorities.

Localized campaigns offer the best hope for breaking out of the nationalization trap. Political psychology research suggests that emphasizing local issues of particular significance to voters’ districts is Democrats’ best shot at resonating with rural voters. It allows candidates to connect with voters based on a shared love of place, building trust and allowing Democratic candidates to get beyond the contentious national political conversation.

Local media sources can also help, as they are more trusted than their national counterparts.

This is the latest in a recent series of votes on the rural vote.  Find more here at the rural vote tag and the rural politics tag.  

Meanwhile, here's the latest I've seen on Beto O'Rourke's increasingly robust rural outreach in his run for Governor of Texas.  It's from KHOU-TV in Houston.  The New York Times also wrote this week about O'Rourke closing in on Greg Abbott in the polls.  Interestingly, the latter does not use the word "rural" or "small town," but it does mention his 49-day "Drive for Texas" as in O'Rourke's "comfort zone," an apparent reference to his earlier tack during his run against Cruz for the U.S. Senate seat.