The carcinogenic classification of glyphosate faces new pressure

Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide in the world, is a controversial product in agriculture due to its potential carcinogenic effects. In 2015, the International Agency on the Research for Cancer (IARC) published a monograph concluding that glyphosate is “probably carcinogenic to humans.” However, in February 2020, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued an interim registration review decision (ID) finding glyphosate poses “no risks of concern to human health when used in accordance with its current label.”

© Kristy Ardalan 2024.

On March 20, 2020, the Natural Resources Defense Council challenged the EPA’s ID in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. In May 2021, the EPA requested—and the court granted--a partial voluntary remand without vacatur of the ecological portion. The EPA later withdrew the entire ID, and the status of glyphosate remains under reconsideration.

As of 2026, the EPA maintains that there is no evidence glyphosate causes cancer in humans; there is no indication glyphosate is an endocrine disruptor; that residue on food items are safe for consumption; and that ecological risks are low, with the exception of potential harm to bees.

Despite these conclusions, public skepticism remains high. The widely publicized Monsanto Roundup litigation—through which Monsanto has paid nearly $11 billion to tens of thousands of plaintiffs alleging cancer caused by Roundup—has intensified doubts about the EPA’s classification. Additionally, organizations such as the Environmental Sciences Europe and the World Health Organization have criticized the EPA for failing to adequately consider individuals with heightened exposure, such as farmworkers and nearby residents. The Center for Food Safety has also cited emails between an EPA scientist and a Monsanto officer that suggest “coordinated efforts to undermine the legitimacy of IARC’s… determination.”

White House Easter celebration 2023.

© Kristy Ardalan 2024.

On February 18, 2026, President Trump signed an executive order titled “Promoting the National Defense by Ensuring an Adequate Supply of Elemental Phosphorus and Glyphosate-Based Herbicides.” A related fact sheet states that the order is intended to “protect domestic production of elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides” which are “essential to military readiness and America’s agricultural strength.” The fact sheet emphasizes that currently only one domestic company produces elemental phosphorus and glyphosate-based herbicides. It also notes that the demand in the U.S. far exceeds current output, which “gravely endangers national security and defense” including food-supply security.

A particularly controversial provision of the order grants immunity to domestic producers that comply with federal law.

The famously polluted Potomac River in Washington, D.C.

© Kristy Ardalan 2023.

Environmental groups, such as the Waterkeeper Alliance, have strongly criticized the order arguing that “it puts chemical industry profits above public health and clean water.” Granting immunity for industrial chemical producers that follow federal directives makes it harder to hold them accountable for harm to human and environmental health. As discussed in this prior blog post, critics also point to broader legislative trends—such as provisions in the recent farm bill—that may weaken environmental protections, including removing dozens of pesticides from health and environmental safety reviews, granting the USDA power to block EPA health and environmental safeguards, removing Clean Water Act protections that limit pesticide pollution, etc.

However, there are signs of legislative pushback. On February 20, 2026, Representatives Thomas Massie (KY) and Chellie Pingree (ME) introduced the bipartisan “No Immunity for Glyphosate Act” to Congress in effort to undo the February 18 executive order. Representative Pingree stated “If there was ever any doubt about whose side this Administration is on, this Executive Order makes it crystal clear: Big Chemical comes first, and the health of Americans comes last.” Representative Massie similarly argued that “If the goal is to 'Make America Healthy Again,' the federal government should not be using its authority to promote or protect the production of glyphosate.”

© Iowa Environmental Council and The Harkin Institute, Environmental Risk Factors and Iowa’s Cancer Crisis, p. 9. Data from the National Cancer Institute state cancer profiles.

The No Immunity for Glyphosate Act was introduced to Congress shortly before a disruptive report from the Iowa Environmental Council and the Harkin Institute for Public Policy and Citizen Engagement titled “Environmental Risk Factors and Iowa’s Cancer Crisis” was released on March 25, 2026. The report focuses on pesticides, PFAS, Nitrate, Radon, and other industrial contaminants in Iowa. The Executive Director of the Iowa Environmental Council stated that the report “demonstrates clear links between environmental pollution and our health and well-being.” As found in the 2020 census, the majority of Iowans live in rural areas and the rural areas are surrounded by endless fields of corn all likely sprayed with glyphosate. The graph below shows that rural residents in Iowa experience and live around the most dense pesticide application areas in the United States and the cancer rates reflect that.

A map of counties depicting high and low cancer rates

© Investigate Midwest, National Cancer Institute, and the CDC

Iowa’s cancer rate exceeds the national average by more than 10%, with a particularly elevated rates among individuals under 50. The state has the highest number of concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs) in the country, a number more than 2.5 times as many CAFOs than the next highest state. With emerging research linking glyphosate and other environmental contaminants to adverse health outcomes, pressure is mounting for legislative action—and soon.

If you build it, they will come: Rural relocation incentive programs prove popular

In an effort to combat rural depopulation, small communities across the United States are thinking of inventive ways to encourage relocation. Programs have popped up across the country offering financial incentives to new residents, ranging from down payment assistance to cash stipends. These packages can include anything from free internet service and recreation passes to lunch with the mayor. 

An earlier post on this blog discussed how rural communities are attracting California’s remote workers to Indiana incentive programs. This post discusses two programs that have emerged through state  initiatives in the last few years since that post that are seeking to draw folks from all backgrounds to find their new rural homes. Both programs offer bigger financial incentives than previous programs, and they specifically reward homeownership. 

An infrastructure project in Hickman, NE, an hour northwest of Pawnee City.

One program in Pawnee City, Nebraska, a town of about 900 residents, 90 minutes southeast of Lincoln, attracted considerable media attention last year. As part of their Vision 2030 plan, the city is offering $50,000 in down payment assistance to new home buyers. One video on the program from business news service Morning Brew garnered over one million views.  The money for this program has come from a grant from the Nebraska Affordable Housing Trust,

Over the next five years, the city plans to build 25 houses, multiple apartment buildings, and new community amenities. These projects are set for infill lots already owned by the city, which has helped to reduce costs.  The first two houses will be sold for $325,000, significantly higher than the average home price of $116,768 in Pawnee City. 

But the buzz has proved to be more than just media hype. The Chamber of Commerce reported receiving 115 applications for the two homes in the first two weeks. To qualify, applicants must make no more than 120% of the Area Median Income (AMI), $108,375 for a family of four.

Aaron Sawyer, Pawnee City's Economic Development Director, explained to Morning Brew what kind of applicants they are looking for:

The ideal people for these homes that we're building here in Pawnee City would be people that work from home. They can get a lot more bang for their buck to come to a small town like this, in a safe environment, and their same job, and just have a much better lifestyle.

Pawnee City isn't the only place trying to attract the growing number of remote workers to rural areas. Ascend WV is one of the largest relocation programs, covering several rural communities across West Virginia. A partnership between Brad D. Smith, former CEO of Intuit, Governor Patrick Morrissey, the West Virginia Department of Tourism, and the University of West Virginia, this program provides incentives for remote workers to move to the Mountain State for at least two years. 

Maverick's Bar, located in Morgantown, WV, an Ascend WV community.

Ascend WV is offering $12,000 cash payments for relocation, paid out in monthly installments over two years. If participants choose to buy a home at any point in their two years, the remaining money can be paid out as a lump sum for a downpayment or other home-buying expenses. The program also offers free outdoor recreation and gear rentals, access to coworking spaces, professional development through West Virginia University, and exclusive social events.

The program seeks to grow West Virginia's economy while helping remote workers find a community to call home and get involved in. West Virginia recorded the ninth-worst job growth of any state coming out of the pandemic, and post-COVID corporate investment has been concentrated in wealthier-than-average counties. This program could drive spending and tax revenue to more remote locations, like New River Gorge. The community there still faces long-standing infrastructure concerns, like sufficient housing for residents, even after the recent designation of New River Gorge as a National Park. 

Ascend WV complements First Ascent, a program to support recent graduates of West Virginia University and avoid brain-drain.WVU Today reported that as of September 5, 2025, 

[B]oth programs have drawn nearly 65,000 applicants, relocated upwards of 950 new residents, and kept 60 graduates in West Virginia, boasting above a 96% retention rate. Notably, 38% of participants also are West Virginia homeowners.

It remains too early to tell if these relocation programs are enough to meaningfully combat rural depopulation over the long term. However, these programs have proven incredibly popular and created significant online chatter. Attracting remote workers could pay off considerably, as they are able to increase the tax base and drive up consumer spending, without taking much-needed jobs away from residents. 

The gain isn't solely with the rural community, however. Young people with remote jobs report feeling less happy and engaged in their communities. These programs, especially those that offer social engagement and recreation opportunities, can help people find their place in the world. As twin crises of affordability and loneliness impact young Americans, programs like these may offer a chance for rural areas to revitalize community, reverse demographic trends, and shore up tax revenue. 

New survey shows (some) rural Americans more optimistic than their urban counterparts

The AP reported yesterday on a new survey from the American Communities Project that shows, among other findings, that certain rural Americans--those living in counties the survey designers designate "Rural Middle America" are more optimistic than the average American.  Here's the part of the AP story about rural optimism: 

Rising optimism in rural areas, despite economic anxiety

Rural residents are feeling more upbeat about the country’s trajectory — even though most aren’t seeing Trump’s promised economic revival.

The $15 price tag on a variety pack of Halloween candy at the Kroger supermarket last month struck Carl Gruber. Disabled and receiving federal food aid, the 42-year-old from Newark, Ohio, had hardly been oblivious to lingering, high supermarket prices.

But Gruber, whose wife also is unable to work, is hopeful about the nation’s future, primarily in the belief that prices will moderate as Trump suggests.

“Right now, the president is trying to get companies who moved their businesses out of the country to move them back,” said Gruber, a Trump voter whose support has wavered over the federal shutdown that delayed his monthly food benefit. “So, maybe we’ll start to see prices come down.”

About 6 in 10 residents of Rural Middle America — Newark’s classification in the survey — say they are hopeful about the country’s future over the next few years, up from 43% in the 2024 ACP survey. Other communities, like heavily evangelical areas or working-class rural regions, have also seen an uptick in optimism.

Kimmie Pace, a 33-year-old unemployed mother of four from a small town in northwest Georgia, said, “I have anxiety every time I go to the grocery store.”

But she, too, is hopeful in Trump. “Trump’s in charge, and I trust him, even if we’re not seeing the benefits yet,” she said.

It's important to note that not all rural or nonmetro counties are designated "Rural Middle America", and I'd say the lion's share of the counties in that category are in the Midwest. Many are in Iowa, Indiana, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, and Wisconsin, for example, with a few in coastal states, including New York, Washigton and Oregon.  Many nonmetro counties, including my home county in Arkansas are designated "Evangelical Hubs" and others--as in New England--are designated "Graying America."  You can find the cool color-coded map here.  And here's a chart showing the movement in attitudes from all groups.  It shows Native Americans as even more optimistic than "Rural Middle America."   Optimism also rose among other groups associated with rurality, including "Evangelical Hubs", "Aging Farmland", "Working-Class Country" and "Exurbs."   

You can read more about the methodology for assigning counties to the various categories here.  

Postscript:  On Nov. 20, Newsweek published this story about rural-urban difference in the survey.   I'll feature a few posts from that story here.  First, this is from Shannon Monnat, President Elect of the Rural Sociological Society and Director of the Center for Public Policy Reform at Syracuse University:   

Rural communities tend to be concerned with "cultural recognition, respect, and visibility," Mon " nat said, as many have experienced "long-term economic losses, population aging, poor health, and weakening local institutions," so she added that when their daily life is "shaped by these challenges, national politics can become a symbolic arena where people seek affirmation.

It's also important to remember that rural communities "vary tremendously in their economies, the types of people who live in them, and political orientations," Monnat said, so not all rural communities will feel the same.

* * * 

"Painting these results as rural versus urban masks the diversity within nonmetropolitan counties, which make up the vast majority of counties in the U.S.," Carrie Henning-Smith, a professor of health policy and management at the University of Minnesota, told Newsweek.

* * * 

"Some parts of rural America are thriving, while other parts face significant challenges both now and in the future," Kenneth Johnson, a professor of sociology at the University of New Hampshire, told Newsweek.

* * * 

However, in other areas, rural counties are depopulating, meaning they reached their peak population decades ago and have now lost around 25 percent of that population, Johnson said.

This is partly because in "the majority of rural counties, more people die than are born each year," as "access to health care is more limited," he added. It is also because many rural areas are losing young adults to urban areas and cities, he said.

Finally, I am quoted regarding Democrats' disinvestment in the rural vote.  

Legal Services Corporation releases long-awaited report at Rural Reach event

Panel of paraprofessionals who provide assistance to legal aid clients
"Rural Reach" event, Oct. 29, 2025, Madison, Wisconsin 

Here are the broad outlines of this important report, "Justice Where We Live:  Promising Practices from Rural Communities, quoting from the press release: 

For millions of Americans living in rural communities, access to civil legal help is out of reach, according to a report released today by the Legal Services Corporation (LSC). The report, “Justice Where We Live: Promising Practices from Rural Communities,” is a first-of-its-kind exploration of the barriers rural Americans face in accessing legal help – and the community-driven solutions already making a difference.

Across the country, 41% of counties are considered “legal deserts,” with few or no lawyers available to serve residents (source: Legal Evolution). In rural-heavy states like Wisconsin, which ranks among the bottom three nationwide for lawyers per capita, families and individuals often face life-altering legal problems — from housing insecurity to domestic violence — without meaningful access to assistance.

To address this urgent need, LSC convened its Rural Justice Task Force in 2021. Funded in part by Ascendium Education Group, today’s report release marks the Task Force’s work by highlighting four key challenges.

• The shortage of attorneys in rural areas.
• The digital divide limiting access to online resources.
• Geographic and transportation barriers.
• Cultural differences that can hinder trust in the legal system.

Alongside these challenges, the report highlights innovative solutions already underway in rural communities and offers recommendations for lawmakers, courts, legal aid providers, law schools, and others. Promising practices — from technology-enabled legal services to new recruitment pipelines for rural lawyers to expanding opportunities for professionals beyond lawyers to help those facing legal issues — show that progress is possible and replicable.

“If we want to know how to deal with the challenges that face rural Americans, the best thing we can do is talk to rural Americans and the people deeply rooted in those communities,” said Fr. Pius Pietrzyk, LSC Board Vice Chair and co-chair of the Task Force. “In this new report, we've taken a deep look at the reasons families cannot seem to get the civil justice they deserve, and our Constitution promises them, and offers concrete solutions not just for legal services offices, but for all Americans.”

“Access to justice should never depend on where someone lives, but for too many in rural Wisconsin and across the country, that’s the reality,” said Rebecca Rapp, General Counsel and Chief Privacy Officer of Ascendium, who serves as co-chair of the LSC Task Force alongside Pietrzyk. “This report shines a critical light on the barriers rural residents face and points to solutions they have developed to close the justice gap in rural areas and beyond.”

The gallery walk at the "Rural Reach"
event featured innovative approaches
to serving rural residents where they
are.  Oct. 29, 2025

For rural residents, the stakes are high. LSC’s research shows that more than three-quarters of rural households face at least one civil legal problem each year, yet 86% receive inadequate help. Without legal assistance, families risk losing homes, veterans struggle to access earned benefits, and seniors face crushing debt with nowhere to turn.

The report emphasizes that while the challenges are steep, progress is possible.

“We know what works to close the rural justice gap,” said Ron Flagg, President of Legal Services Corporation. “We need to invest in programs that bring legal help to where people live — from growing the pipeline of rural attorneys, to supporting licensed legal paraprofessionals and community advocates, to using technology that connects clients to help across long distances.”

These ‘fixes’ only work, though, “with sustained commitment at the local, state, and federal levels,” Flagg added. “Together, we can ensure that geography never determines whether someone can access justice.”

 A big focus of the event--not highlighted here--was a push toward the use of para professionals--sometimes called "justice workers"--to help meet legal needs in rural places.   The final panel of the day featured four such paralegals or justice workers from Montana, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and Georgia.  Interestingly, a program to empower paraprofessionals in Washington State--there called LLLT (limited license legal technicians)--was shuttered a few years ago.  Now such programs--at least among a few dozen states--are being seen as the future of filling the justice gap.  Two prior posts on the rural justice gap and how paraprofessionals might fill them are here and here.  

Panel of judges and the American Bar Association President 
speaking in support of licensing of paraprofessionals, sometimes
called justice workers. 

Recognizing the barrier of distance, transportation in high school vocational training programs

Kavitha Cardoza reported for the Washington Post a few days ago on an innovative apprenticeship program in Elkhart, Indiana.  An excerpt follows:  

Elkhart County is at the forefront of a movement slowly spreading across Indiana and the nation to make apprenticeships a common offering in high school.

In April, President Donald Trump signed an executive order calling for the creation of 1 million new apprentices, the latest step in a bipartisan push for apprenticeships that began during the Obama administration. The “earn and learn” model is taking hold in more than 30 states alongside growing disillusionment with the concept of the four-year college and the fact that well-paying jobs that don’t require bachelor’s degrees are going unfilled nationally.

But in the United States, the number of apprenticeships for high-schoolers is still tiny, just over one-tenth of a percent of students, according to an estimate by the think tank New America. 

In contrast, 70% of high school students in Switzerland--often held out as a model for such training schemes--participate in these programs. 

What I want to highlight here is the recognition that rural locations pose natural limits to these programs. 

Transportation has been a limiting factor, too. There’s no public transit system, and students who can’t rely on their parents for rides are often out of luck. “We’d love to offer a bus to every kid, to every location, but we don’t have people to run those extra bus routes,” [said a high school principal in Elkhart County].

I also appreciate this comment--not rural specific--from the woman who oversees college and career programs at one Elkhart high school: 

apprenticeships help convince students of the importance of habits such as punctuality, clear communication and regular attendance. “It’s not from a book,” she said. “They’re dealing with real life.”

Trump's immigration enforcement spreads to rural America, the agricultural sector

It was inevitable, I suppose, that Trump's immigration enforcement would ultimately turn to rural America and the farm sector, and that matter is getting a lot more coverage this week.  The New York Times began covering the situation in upstate New York last week, and this week the enforcement spread to California in earnest (see coverage here).  

Here's a quote from the Los Angeles Times coverage of recent raids in central California, which provides perspective:

Until this week, California’s agricultural sector had largely escaped the large-scale raids that the Department of Homeland Security has deployed in urban areas, most recently in Los Angeles and Orange counties. California farmers — many of them ardent supporters of Donald Trump — have seemed remarkably calm as the president vowed mass deportations of undocumented workers.

Many expected that Trump would find ways to protect their workforce, noting that without sufficient workers, food would rot in the fields, sending grocery prices skyrocketing.

But this week brought a different message. Asked about enforcement actions in food production regions, Tom Homan, Trump’s chief adviser on border policy, said growers should hire a legal workforce.

“There are programs — you can get people to come in and do that job,” he said. “So work with ICE, work with [U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services], and hire a legal workforce. It’s illegal to knowingly hire an illegal alien.”

The Los Angeles Times also reported on raids earlier in the week.  That story says that half of California's 256,000  farmworkers are undocumented, according to a report from UC Merced.  

Meanwhile, this afternoon, Trump seemed to recognize the damage that the raids and detentions are doing  to farmers and to suggest he would back off immigration enforcement in that sector.  Here's the lede and some key quotes from Trump: 

President Trump acknowledged on Thursday that his immigration policies are hurting the farming and hotel industries, making a rare concession that his crackdown is having ripple effects on the American work force.

Mr. Trump, who has made mass deportation a centerpiece of his presidency, said on social media that “changes are coming.” And while there was no sign of any significant modification to his policies, Mr. Trump’s statements suggested the scale of his crackdown may be alienating industries he wants to keep in his corner.

Here is a further quote from Trump:

Our great Farmers and people in the Hotel and Leisure business have been stating that our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.

* * *

Our farmers are being hurt badly by, you know, they have very good workers, they have worked for them for 20 years. They’re not citizens, but they’ve turned out to be, you know, great. And we’re going to have to do something about that. We can’t take farmers and take all their people and send them back because they don’t have maybe what they’re supposed to have, maybe not.

* * *

We can’t do that to our farmers and leisure, too, hotels. We’re going to have to use a lot of common sense on that.

Read more about Trump's relationship with farmers, including during his first term, here and here.  This story is about a recent raid on a meatpacking plant in Omaha, Nebraska.  Here is an April NYT story about detention of a mother and her children from a dairy farm in upstate New York.   

In addition to these reports from the coasts, the New York Times has covered the story of a Hong Kong national who has lived and worked in rural Missouri for decades, here and here, with a focus on how the boot-heel community rallied around the mother of three who worked as a server at a local diner.  She was recently released; it is unclear if her community's efforts to gain her release influenced the outcome of the matter.  

Postscript:  One June 13, NPR spoke to the president of the United Farm Workers, Teresa Romero, about these issues. 

Another rural institution certain to be hurt by Trump administration cuts: public libraries

Children's Section of Rio Vista Library, Solano County California
(c)Lisa R. Pruitt 2024

The likely disproportionate harm Trump administration policies and budget cuts will have on rural America has been a theme of several recent posts on the blog.  In this one, I'm going go to leverage a story by Emily Hays of Illinois Public Radio, who reported on the topic a few days ago from Greenup, population 1,365 in central Illinois.  The excerpt that follows provides insights into why rural libraries are so vulnerable and it echoes a theme from other stories about rural vulnerability: because of weak local tax bases, small towns and nonmetro counties are less able to absorb the loss of federal funds that have helped to provide all sorts of services.  

Take and Make Kits at the Newton County (AR) Library
(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2025 

I'm also using this post to share some photos of rural libraries that I've taken in the past few years, some from my home county, Newton County, Arkansas, and some from California towns.  What I've seen in my hometown library, where I've spent more time recently, is that these institutions provide a wide range of services, from a seed bank to lending telescopes to craft bags for kids.  They host legal aid attorneys coming to chat about elder law and other issues residents may need to know about.  Sadly, to my mind, they may also mindlessly distribute The Epoch Times and other right-wing propaganda.  

(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2025

The following excerpt from journalist Hayes story features her in conversation with Vickie Pierce, the retired English teacher working part time as the circulation clerk in what is described as one large room: 

Telescopes on loan at
Newton County Library, AR
(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2025

PIERCE: We're a small-town library, so really small budget. And honestly, I'm not sure how we manage to stay open.

Reading room, Coleville Library,
Mono County, CA
(c)Lisa R. Pruitt 2024

HAYES: Part of how they stay open is through grants from the independent federal agency the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Before the pandemic, the federal government covered around 5% of Greenup library's operating costs. Kate McDowell is a professor at the University of Illinois School of Information Sciences. She says the IMLS is a very small agency...

KATE MCDOWELL: That has impacts on almost every community in the whole of the United States and territories.

HAYES: Public libraries get most of their funding from county and city taxes. IMLS distributes the majority of federal library funds. McDowell says the grants vary year to year and are often small, but they help libraries try new things.

MCDOWELL: What the IMLS funds is not just the subsistence of libraries, although that's there too - it's their future.

Mammoth Lakes Library,

 HAYES: IMLS gave out $267 million last year to libraries and museums. That's 3,000th of a percent of federal spending. But the future of that funding is in doubt. In March, almost all of the IMLS staff were put on administrative leave. In an executive order, President Trump claimed the move would reduce unnecessary bureaucracy. Greenup isn't expecting any federal money this year, and Pierce says the library is financially cautious.

PIERCE: We squeeze every penny three or four or five times to get the most out of it.

HAYES: And Pierce says the idea of taking more money away from libraries sickens her. The American Library Association says that's been happening nationwide to libraries and museums receiving IMLS grants.

Seed saving chart and seed library
Newton County (AR) Library 
(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2025

* * *

[A] judge has temporarily blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Institute of Museum and Library Services. Congress has funded the department through September. For now, Greenup Library says it's still providing the same services, but that could change for it and other rural libraries.

Prior posts about rural libraries are here.  I want to specifically highlight this 2013 NPR feature on a rural Missouri library.  Here's one from 2008 about a library in a barn in New England.  This 2017 post is about Douglas County, Oregon's decision not to keep open a single library.   And a dispute about how much to pay the librarian in this Arkansas county was the basis for political ponderings in this lengthy op-ed in the New York Times in 2019.

Libraries are important sources of WiFi,
as illustrated by this sign 
at the Newton County (AR) Library
(c) Lisa R. Pruitt 2025

On rural legal deserts, this time in the Bench + Bar of Minnesota

Shaun Jamison of Purdue Global Law School writes (excerpting just a little here, but don't miss the full column): 

It won’t come as news to lawyers living and working in rural areas, but many of the people who live there are challenged by a lack of access to solutions to their legal needs. The access to justice issues have grown so acute in many places that a relatively new term of art—“legal deserts”—has grown up in legal aid circles to describe them. This article will offer a brief discussion of some of the key issues as well as possible solutions. 

* * *

There are several reasons for the low ratio of rural lawyers, including a misperception that a lawyer cannot make a living in a rural area, the “graying” of the rural bar, and a paucity of new lawyers coming in to serve rural areas. Some will argue that more lawyers are not the solution, or at least not the only solution, but there still is a minimum number of lawyers needed to ensure the protection of people’s constitutional rights and ensure the functioning of the court system. A criminal case, for example, requires three lawyers in a county to be available—and free of conflicts in the matter at hand—to try a case: a judge, a prosecutor, and a defense lawyer. 

Here's a (nearly) one-stop shop on legal deserts and related aceess to justice issues.  And Jamison refers to Hannah Haksgaard's new book, The Rural Lawyer (Cambridge University Press 2025), an important new resource. 

On the rural lawyer shortage, from the Illinois Supreme Court

Mark Palmer, Chief Counsel to the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism, posted this a few days ago about the enduring rural lawyer shortage.  The item is headlined, "The Disappearing Rural Lawyer, Part IV: The Persistent Legal Desert Crisis."

I'll just include a short excerpt here: 

In previous installments of my “Disappearing Rural Lawyer” series (Part I, Part II, Part III), I have examined the alarming shortage of attorneys in rural Illinois and explored initiatives across the state and country to address this problem to better serve rural communities, from financial incentives for relocating lawyers to technology tools to easier cross geographical divides.

Legal deserts — vast geographical areas with minimal or no access to legal services — remain a reality for many rural Illinois residents. For them, finding legal representation might require traveling significant distances, taking time off work, and incurring additional expenses that make justice effectively inaccessible.

In installment IV of this series, I present the latest data on Illinois’ rural attorney shortage and consider what it means for access to justice in 2025 and beyond.
The numbers: A continuing downward trend

Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission (ARDC) data from November 2024 reveals that the rural lawyer shortage in Illinois has shown little improvement.

Of the 8,327 Illinois resident attorneys admitted to practice in the last four years, a staggering 7,625 (91.6%) are practicing in Cook County or its collar counties (Lake, McHenry, Kane, DuPage, Kendall, Grundy, Will, Kankakee). This leaves only 702 of those newly admitted attorneys to cover the remaining 93 counties in Illinois.

Furthermore, of these 702, only a portion serve in private practice. Many of these lawyers are drawn to essential, non-private roles, such as prosecutors, public defenders, and other government positions.

However, this means the pool of attorneys available for family law, estate planning, business matters, and other civil needs is even smaller than the already stark numbers suggest.

In comparison to previous years, the trend of the disappearing rural lawyer in Illinois is concerning: 

• 75 Illinois counties have five or fewer new attorneys (compared to 72 counties in 2021)
• 32 counties have no new attorneys whatsoever (compared to 33 counties in 2021)

While there’s been a slight improvement in counties with zero new attorneys, the overall concentration of legal talent in and around Chicago continues to intensify.

Readers can, of course, find many resources related to the rural lawyer shortage on this blog. 

Countryside aesthetic for sale

Imagine images of ivy-covered cottages, floral-printed summer dresses, and pastel-colored tea parties hosted beside lush, green meadows. These scenes are all part of a social media trend referred to as “cottage core.” Simply put, the aesthetic centers around embracing the simplicity of countryside living and focusing on a slower pace of life. A New York Times article described the trend:

It could ​​be the beginning of a Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale, before the inevitable darkness seeps in, but rather it’s the backdrop of a budding aesthetic movement called cottagecore, where tropes of rural self-sufficiency converge with dainty décor to create an exceptionally twee distillation of pastoral existence.

The modern escapist fantasy has been around for ages but became increasingly popular around 2020, especially on social media platforms like TikTok and Instagram. The cottage core aesthetic was likely embraced partly as an antidote to the panic and stress of living in close proximity to others during the COVID-19 pandemic.

However, this popular aesthetic does not account for its gentrifying effects on rural communities. Rural gentrification refers to the migration of affluent urban and suburban residents into rural places. This process can lead to real consequences – some of them negative – for rural residents. As Pilgeram wrote in an In These Times essay:

These include the displacement of poor, working-class, and middle-class people from areas experiencing gentrification because of the increasing price of housing and land, sometimes pushing existing residents into communities that are considered ​“chronically poor,” where they can afford housing. Thus, these demands create new opportunities and tensions within the community, particularly its land-use patterns.

The trend encourages consumers to buy land and homes in picturesque rural towns so that they, too, can cultivate a romanticized country lifestyle. These “rural gentrifiers” are usually more abundant in picturesque towns located in the West and Midwest, but no region is exempt from the force of rural gentrification.

One example is Gunnison County in Colorado. The county has scenic lakes and mountainous landscapes, which are an ideal backdrop for the cottage core aesthetic. The area has attracted many affluent families who have purchased second homes. The surge of wealthy residents, however, has left a housing shortage and accelerated income inequality. This forces the valley’s low-paid seasonal and service workers to pay more than average for housing:

According to Headwaters Economics, a nonprofit research firm, Gunnison County’s workers devote 32% of their income on average to rent, compared to 19% in non-tourism-based economies.

The housing in Gunnison County is in such short supply that many of the local motels have become month-to-month rentals for low-income families. Long-time rural residents are thus forcibly displaced as families are made more vulnerable and a cultural rift divides the community.

Although only the wealthy few can afford second homes in these rural communities, the need to buy into an aesthetic can lead to real and catastrophic effects. When the trend starts to fade away, rural residents are forced to deal with the aftermath.

To learn more about rural gentrification, see How and why Democrats are failing to attract rural voters: Is it the economy, stupid? and On rural gentrification, and the ensuing housing shortage, in coastal California.

Country roads, I’m coming back home

After almost a decade of losing population, rural America has seen renewed population growth. Between 2010 and 2020, the article “Rural America Lost Population Over the Past Decade for the First Time in History” describes how rural areas lost population compared to previous decades. The decline did not occur only in remote rural areas but also in rural areas adjacent to metropolitan counties. John Cromartie, a geographer from USDA in the Rural Economy Branch, Resource and Rural Economics Division, found a negative rural net migration rate between 2010 to 2016 and a near-zero rate between 2017 and 2020.

However, since 2020, rural net migration rates have increased. The 2023 USDA Economic Research Report, “Rural America at a Glance,” discusses how more than 480 rural counties saw a growth rate of two percent or more. Typically, these counties were near large metropolitan areas such as the southern Appalachians and Ozarks, the northern Great Lakes, and the Rocky Mountains. Population migration to these recreation and retirement destinations is often referred to as “amenity migration.”

One reason for the major shift in migration patterns was fear of exposure to COVID-19. Early in the pandemic, the USDA Economic Research Service reported that the presence of COVID-19 cases was higher in metropolitan areas until October 2021. This likely caused urban residents to seek shelter in rural places. However, soon after, nonmetropolitan areas started to experience a greater prevalence of cumulative COVID-19 cases than metropolitan areas.

Another reason for the big shift in migration patterns was an increase in remote job opportunities. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics indicates that telework increased among all industries between 2019 and 2021. When social distancing policies were removed in 2022, remote work participation fell slightly but was still higher in most industries compared to participation in 2019. “Rural America at a Glance describes how remote jobs have provided the working-age population with more flexibility and locational freedom. In addition to attracting new residents, employment opportunities have encouraged people to stay within these rural areas. In 2022, rural America reached record-low unemployment rates. Federal legislation, notably the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, provided new jobs for rural Americans in the clean energy industry.

Although rural America has been slowly growing its population, both current and future rural Americans are still facing problems. For example, “Rural America at a Glance” reports that housing insecurity remains a persistent issue for low-income nonmetropolitan renters, particularly among Hispanic and American Indian or Alaska Natives. Also, high poverty rates have been an ongoing problem for particular rural counties. Generally, though, poverty has been on a downward trend over the past fifteen years.

Rural America has seen an increase in population after losing a decade of negative and near-zero rural net migration rate. Despite this growth, there are still issues persisting in these areas. If rural America hopes to accommodate these future populations, there needs to be an emphasis on helping to increase resources and opportunities.

For more articles on rural population loss and its consequences, see Aging and population loss in small-town Pennsylvania and California rural schools facing teacher shortages.

WSJ speculates on rural bits of Illinois and California seceding from cities

Joe Barrett writes under the headline, "The Rural Areas Pushing for Divorce From Democratic Cities."  The subhead is, "Across Illinois and California, more red counties that feel steamrolled by blue-led governments are trying to split off."  

 Here's an excerpt: 

A burgeoning breakup movement is gaining momentum across Illinois, California and other states where vast swaths of red, rural counties are dominated by a few blue cities. More residents are pushing to break off and form new states. Or as a group called New Illinois State—which has declared itself independent from actual Illinois and last weekend passed the first draft of a new constitution—puts it: “Leave Illinois Without Moving.”

* * *

73% of voters in predominantly rural Iroquois County...on Election Day backed the idea of forming a new state with every Illinois county except Cook, home to Chicago and more than 40% of the state’s population. The nonbinding resolution also passed in six other counties, bringing the total to 33 of Illinois’s 102 counties.

“There’s a lot of people in Chicago, and I think that they make a lot of decisions that affect people downstate,” said Gioja, who doesn’t expect a New Illinois soon. “It’s just sending a message that, ‘Hey, you know, there’s people that would like to be part of the conversation, and often aren’t.’ ”

This reminds me of the disgruntlement that rural voters have expressed about not having their views heard in both state and federal government.  Kathy Cramer wrote about this in the context of Wisconsin in 2016, and others have since written about it, if only to ridicule it.  (See various columns by, among other, Paul Krugman in the NYTimes).

As a related matter, here's a story from The Guardian this weekend analyzing why eight California counties shifted from Biden (2020) to Trump (2024), and here's an LA Times story about Inyo County, which shifted to Biden by just 14 votes in 2020.   Needless to say, Inyo and many of these other counties aer the ones where lots of folks would like to secede from California--or have urban cities in the Golden State peel off and go their own way.  There are lots of prior stories on the blog about secession, including those about the would-be State of Jefferson.  

Still more on the rural vote as Tammy Baldwin courts dairy farmers, from WSJ

Katy Stech Ferek reports in today's Wall Street Journal under the headline, "Democrat Woos Dairy Farmers to Keep Crucial Senate Seat."  The subhead is "Sen. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin hits country roads and agricultural fairs, seeking to win over rural Trump supporters once more."  Here is the lede: 

CHIPPEWA FALLS, Wis.—Sen. Tammy Baldwin had an unusual talent during her last election: convincing rural supporters of Republican Donald Trump that they should vote for her, too.

This November, Senate Democrats need Baldwin to do it again.

Wisconsin is a prime battleground to determine the next president, but Democrats also need a win in the Badger State to keep control of the Senate. Baldwin’s campaign for a third term against the wealthy banker Eric Hovde, who says the Democrat is an out-of-touch career politician, has sent her down country roads in sparsely populated counties that cut through farmland and curve around lakes.

“I might not have met every farmer, but I think I found over time that word gets out,” said Baldwin, 62 years old, after a long day of campaigning outside Leinenkugel’s brewery in Chippewa Falls. Voters might be frustrated with gridlock, she said, “But to know somebody’s out there fighting for them, it’s a big deal.”

And here's a further quote: 

Supporters have said Baldwin connects to some conservative voters by focusing on economic issues, such as the cap on the out-of-pocket cost for insulin at $35 a month. On the campaign trail, she talks about leading 2018 legislation requiring federal water infrastructure projects to use American-made steel products, a requirement signed into law by Trump. She has secured mental-health resources for farmers and is trying to get federal money to test private wells for contamination into the next farm bill.

* * * 

Baldwin avoided Biden during his campaign visits to Wisconsin earlier this year. But in an indication that Democrats see Harris differently, Baldwin joined the vice president at her first presidential campaign rally, held at a high school outside Milwaukee.

This is from 60-year-old dairy farmer Randy Roecker of Loganville, population 300, in Sauk County, just west of Madison: 

[Roecker] said he usually supports conservative candidates but will vote for Baldwin, in part because of the mental-health resources she secured. He said he supports her fight to keep the label “milk” off nondairy beverages made of almonds, oats and other alternatives.

Roecker said: 

Tammy is the only Democrat that I really have trusted.  I think she cares. That’s truly what it is.… These other ones just want to get elected and hold their power.

And here's the word from Baldwin's Republican opponent, Eric Hovde, a real estate magnate who has lent his campaign $13 million and who lives part time at a home in Laguna Beach, California:  

“It’s the No. 1 issue. No question about it,” he said of inflation, adding that, if elected, he would focus on fixing the economy and stopping the flow of fentanyl into rural communities. He said his support in rural areas is evident by the lawn signs on display. But, he acknowledged, “There is a percentage of voters we have to close the gap on.”

More on Walz' attractiveness to rural voters

From Nicholas Jacobs article in The Conversation, discussed below

Vice Presidential nominee Tim Walz gave his speech to the Democratic National Convention in Chicago last night, and in doing so used some of his now standard rural and small-town lines--including how small-town folks mind their own damned business.   

Meanwhile, Nicholas Jacobs,  co-author of The Rural Voter, wrote in The Conversation about Walz' attractiveness--or lack thereof--to rural voters: 

Walz’s performance within his home state of Minnesota is a relevant bellwether for his national appeal among rural voters. Though Walz has deep rural roots, rural voters have not always supported him as much as his backstory might quickly suggest.

In six elections over the past eight years, populist candidates for major offices in upper Midwestern states have seen differing levels of success in rural parts of their districts or states. Using the vote share that each candidate received from majority-rural counties – counties where the rural population is more than 50% of the total – as a proxy for rural support both district- and statewide, Walz’s performance has decreased among rural voters since he last ran for reelection to Congress in 2016. It does not exceed the support other candidates in the Midwest received from similar rural-majority counties.

I calculated the percent of the population living in a census-defined rural bloc for Walz’s former congressional district and the state of Minnesota. I then calculated the percent of Walz’s vote share that came from rural-majority counties in each of his past three elections, one for Congress and the other two for governor.

Like other Democrats in districts across the nation, Walz struggled to win rural voters in his congressional district – Minnesota’s First District – and statewide. Neither of those are majority-rural constituencies, but even when just looking at the most rural areas, Walz never won a majority. In fact, his largest losses running for reelection as governor in 2022 were in rural communities. That year, Walz captured just 38% of the vote in rural-majority counties across Minnesota.

Some might see this as evidence that no Democrat could do well in rural America. If not the folksy Walz, then who, they might ask?

Just look next door.

In Walz’s own Midwest region, other Democrats have performed strongly among rural constituencies. U.S. Sens. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin and Amy Klobuchar of Minnesota performed nearly as strong as their Republican opponents within the most rural parts of their electorate. Even Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer outperformed Walz’s rural numbers.

* * * 

A recent Washington Post poll on the two vice presidential nominees’ popularity shows that Walz has secured a marginal geographic advantage among voters across the U.S. In urban areas, about 20% of voters dislike Vance more than like him. Among rural respondents, just 14% of voters dislike Walz more than like him. Walz, however, is still less popular than popular among rural voters, while Vance is viewed favorably, on average.

But it is worth remembering that the most popular candidate to ever win rural America neither hails from a rural America nor pretends to. Donald Trump’s appeal lies not in his personal connection to rural life but in his ability to tap into the sentiments of rural discontent and align them with his broader political message. Trump has shown that the politics of rural identity do not easily translate to simple identity politics.

Jacobs opines that Walz' job is not just to present a "rural-friendly image."  

It’s addressing the deeper issues that motivate rural voters, such as economic insecurity, perceived cultural marginalization and distrust in government. Symbolic gestures – and camo hats – alone are not sufficient to sway their support.

You'll see more on Walz' attractiveness to rural voters in my prior post, based on a story in the LA Times, here.

On Walz' old congressional distirct in south central Minnesota

Jess Bidgood writes in her column in the New York Times today about Tim Walz' former congressional district and how its politics shifted in the years since he was elected to represent it in 2006.  Here are some excerpts:   

Walz beat an incumbent by nearly six percentage points to flip the district in 2006 and won it again by nearly 30 percentage points two years later. But as the rise of Trump drove more rural Republicans to the polls to vote for him, Walz hung on by less than one percentage point in 2016. Over the years, he and the First District seemed to draw apart from each other; he lost the district, which has been slightly redrawn over the years, when he ran for re-election in 2022.

“Greater Minnesota turned a darker red in more recent years,” said Amy Koch, a former State Senate majority leader and a Republican. “We’ve become so geographically dug in now.”
Disillusioned voters

The district had been held by a Republican for 12 years when Walz, a high school teacher in Mankato, first won the district in 2006. The growth of the city of Rochester, formerly a Republican stronghold that is home to the Mayo Clinic, helped give him a shot there amid the unpopularity of George W. Bush, the president then, said Blois Olson, a Minnesota political analyst.

Doug Schultz, an 81-year-old former dairy farmer who was catching up with a friend near the petting zoo at the Nicollet County Fair, said he remembered meeting Walz during that campaign at a parade in nearby New Ulm.

“Wherever he saw a crowd, he stopped and he gave us a sermon, and the parade kept on going — I don’t think he ever finished the parade,” Schultz, a longtime Republican, said.

It didn’t win him Schultz’s vote — but Walz did win over Mike Anderson, a farmer from Windom, Minn., which was part of the First District at the time. I spoke with Anderson at Farmfest, where he told me he has since become deeply disillusioned with Walz. Walz took liberal votes as a congressman, but as governor he has signed numerous bills that many voters in this conservative region believe tugged the state too far left.

“He’s very liberal. His spending is beyond control,” said Anderson, pointing to Walz’s support for stricter emissions standards and electric vehicles.

Collecting some of the best coverage of Tim Walz' rurality

First, the day after Harris selected Walz, Sarah Smarsh published this in the New York Times, "The Demcrats Have Needed Someone Like Walz for Decades."  I'm featuring some key excerpts below:  

What a relief...to see emerge on the national stage the Minnesota governor and Democratic vice-presidential candidate Tim Walz, who embodies the earnest, humane, rural people who shaped me and the prairie populism that shaped the progressive foundations of the Great Plains.

* * * 

With due respect to political statistics, which convey real and important trends, the rural white working class is not a monolith. Among them remains a large and consequential minority of sensible people who even in their vulnerable economic state remain unmoved by charlatans blaming immigrants while amassing corporate wealth.

In recent decades, the Democratic Party has made little direct appeal to them, such that Mr. Walz’s rural background seems downright transgressive on the top ticket. As evidence, some (often coastal) pundits now struggle to find a word for a vice-presidential pick raised in small-town Nebraska beyond “folksy,” since their language about his place of origin has for so long reflected geographic and class biases. “Trump country.” “One of the square states in the middle.”

* * * 

[F]or all the loud racism, homophobia and jingoism of today’s Republican Party — which indeed has dominated elections outside metropolitan areas — the real rural America is diverse, full of immigrants, people of color, gay and transgender people and native peoples, and even straight white folks who happily work and live alongside them.

Then there's this, from Hailey Branson-Potts in the Los Angeles Times: 

Walz has deep rural roots, which could prove a counterpoint to Vance, whose political ascent began with his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which chronicles his upbringing in Middletown, Ohio.

Harris cited Walz’s rural bona fides as one of the deciding factors in choosing him as her running mate.

“One of the things that stood out to me about Tim is how his convictions on fighting for middle-class families run deep,” Harris said in a statement. “It’s personal.”

Often appearing in public in T-shirts and ball caps, Walz brings an amiable, Midwestern-dad sensibility to the ticket.

Walz, 60, was born in rural Nebraska and went to high school in the tiny town of Butte, where he graduated among a class of 25 students. He told the New York Times that the class included 12 cousins, so “finding someone to date was kind of a problem.”

After his father died of cancer when Walz was 19, his family relied on Social Security survivor benefit checks to make ends meet, according to the Harris campaign. He used his GI Bill benefits to help pay for college.

In 1989, Walz graduated from Chadron State College in Nebraska with a bachelor’s degree in social science education.

Dionne Searcy, a New York Times reporter who grew up in rural Nebraska, filed this fact-packed story a few days ago, "From Walz, a Rosier View of a Midwestern Upbringing.  As the headline suggests, it features something of a contrast with J.D. Vance as a product of rural America:  

The Midwestern back stories presented by the two major-party vice-presidential candidates are strikingly different. One is a grim tableau of addiction and poverty in the once-thriving industrial Midwest, as recollected by the Republican vice-presidential nominee, Senator JD Vance of Ohio. Another is a glowing portrait of rural America offered by Mr. Walz...

* * * 

In many ways, the difference in how each candidate is employing his identity is part of the fun-house-mirror state of U.S. politics. Mr. Vance, a Yale Law School graduate, has labeled Mr. Walz, a graduate of tiny Chadron State College in Nebraska, an elite. Camouflage merchandise signaling support for hunting and guns — once chiefly the domain of Republican campaigns — is now peddled by the Harris team, too.

* *.*

His rural persona makes him likable to a broader audience, even one that may not vote for him, said former Senator Bob Kerrey, Democrat of Nebraska. For instance, Boyd County, Neb., the home of Mr. Walz’s high school alma mater, voted 87 percent for Mr. Trump and is likely to vote similarly this year, Mr. Kerrey said. But in a politically divided nation, likability is important, he added.

* * * 

Mr. Walz adopts the country boy stereotype, waxing in speeches about his love for football and mountain oysters, or deep-fried bull’s testicles, a dish served in some parts of Nebraska and other rural areas.

Another terrific story is this by Guy Trebay from today's New York Times Style section about the sartorial signals Walz is sending: 

A Nebraska native with a gun license and workwear in his closet, Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota is, of course, now also the Democratic candidate for vice president of the United States. Whether in a blocky sports jacket and tie or a T-shirt and Red Wing boots, Mr. Walz brings to the Democratic ticket a kind of down-home lack of fuss that is seldom seen anymore in politics.

* * *

To a large extent, his look distinguishes him from the triple-pleat trousers favored by Beltway dinosaurs or the stretchy Suitsupply uniforms preferred by many male young guns in the nation’s capital. Even among his competitors in the race for the vice-presidential nomination — Gov. Josh Shapiro of Pennsylvania and Senator Mark Kelly, Democrat of Arizona and a former astronaut — there were more regulation navy suits to be seen than chore coats. And that may be no coincidence.

* * * 

Relatable in appearance, the 60-year-old candidate has often dressed for news conferences in T-shirts or ball caps that would not be out of place on the checkout line at Hy-Vee.

* * * 

“You almost have to go back to Michael Dukakis to find someone like Walz,” Mr. Egan said. “He doesn’t own a house. He has no stocks. He gets a teacher’s pension. Compared to a lot of folks on the political scene, that’s pretty basic, if that’s what we mean by authentic.” 

Don't miss the rest of this story, which features a lot of rich rural-ish detail, sartorial and otherwise.

Rural-ish Minnesota Governor Tim Walz gets the nod as Harris' VP nominee

The New York Times ran this story last night about why Harris picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz.  I'll just highlight the rural-related bits here, beginning with a direct quote from Walz: 

In Minnesota, we respect our neighbors and their personal choices that they make, even if we wouldn’t make the same choice for ourselves.  There’s a golden rule: Mind your own damn business.

That's something he also mentioned in his Ezra Klein interview last week.  The New York Times continues:  

[Walz] saved his harshest words for Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance of Ohio, whose background he sarcastically compared with his own.

The story quotes Walz: 

Like all regular people I grew up with in the heartland, JD studied at Yale, had his career funded by Silicon Valley billionaires and then wrote a best-seller trashing that community.

Walz added that he couldn’t wait to debate Vance “if he’s willing to get off the couch and show up.”

That last line was a cheeky reference to a false online rumor that could open Walz up to criticism at a moment when the Harris campaign is working hard to fight disinformation.

The story says this about Harris' introduction of Walz at their first joint rally, in Philadelphia on August 6:  

Harris ... describ[ed] a man who had a small-town upbringing in Nebraska before becoming a high school teacher and a football coach who turned a winless team into state champions. Then, his students encouraged him to run for office. It’s a remarkable tale that could be a “Friday Night Lights” plot, and the crowd loved it. 

* * * 

Harris described him as a hunter, a gun owner and the best marksman in Congress. And she sought to use him as evidence for a campaign she says is intended to reach Americans in red and blue states alike — although Republicans are already working overtime to depict him as too liberal for much of the country.

Here is the Los Angeles Times coverage of the Walz selection, noting his rural roots.