CHICAGO –– Democrats should focus on financial issues to win back rural voters, speakers including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at the Rural Council meeting at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday.
Beshear urged a group of rural Democrats to reject social issues and left-right ideological framing. Most voters, he said, were not concerned about political labels but about jobs, health care, transportation, quality schools and safety.
Beshear and other speakers said Republicans, who dominate rural counties and statehouses, are failing to deliver on those goals.
“As Republicans move through the extremes they belong to on every issue, now is our time to both run and govern on the issues that matter most,” he said. “And when we do that, we’re not moving the state or the country to the right or the left. We’re moving it forward for every American.”
The event, one of dozens of official gatherings for party delegates and candidates held a few miles from the United Center’s nationally televised event, was permeated with the idea that rural campaigning is not Democrats’ robust suit, as well as with suggestions that rural issues may be falling outside the mainstream of an increasingly urban Democratic Party.
“I think we are the bravest Democrats in America,” said former Senator Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota.
But speakers also offered hope that the party could reverse a decades-long trend of losses in rural areas, including in November’s presidential election, largely through the selection of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as Kamala Harris’ vice presidential running mate.
Several speakers said Walz has a unique ability to reach rural voters.
“I challenge Republicans to say we are an elitist party,” Heitkamp said. “I challenge them to say we don’t know and we don’t have people in the party who care about rural America. I challenge them to say we are not a rural party.”
Beshear admitted he was considered as a vice presidential candidate alongside Harris, for which he is grateful.
“I am proud that a governor from rural America has run for vice president,” he said.
He did, however, call Walz a “great governor” who will make a “great vice president.”
Speakers urged Democrats not to leave rural areas without a chance to win but to participate in every election.
“We need to continue to organize and invest in red states and rural America,” said Caroline Gleich, a U.S. Senate candidate from Utah. “Because we can and we will win.”
Not supported by Republicans
Beshear, Heitkamp and other speakers said that despite dominating rural elections, Republicans have failed their rural voters.
Republicans in the U.S. House of Representatives have been stalling on passing a up-to-date farm bill, a once-every-five-year law that would authorize farm subsidies and education programs, Heitkamp said. A bloc of far-right Freedom Caucus members never votes for a farm bill because of its price tag, despite its importance to rural communities, she said.
Former President Donald Trump launched trade wars that have undermined the ability of U.S. farmers to export and hampered the response to the COVID-19 pandemic, said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Xochitl Torres Small.
Torres Small won a seat in the New Mexico House of Representatives in 2018.
“I was elected during a time when Donald Trump was president,” she said. “In the midst of trade wars that were losing money to farmers, in the midst of rural hospitals that were worried about closing their doors because Donald Trump waited too long to recognize the COVID crisis.”
An alternative democratic message
It was clear from the event’s coverage that an overtly partisan message could discourage rural voters, who are often not strongly politically engaged.
An significant assumption was that the Democrats’ shift to the left on social issues this century might distract from messages that rural voters might find more attractive.
Beshear, a popular Democrat who twice won gubernatorial elections in a Republican state, began his speech by calling himself a “proud pro-choice governor” and a “proud pro-diversity governor” before describing the nonpartisan nature of his position.
“We run as proud Democrats — and people, aren’t we proud Democrats?” Beshear said, drawing cheers from the crowd. “But the minute we take those hats off, we serve every American.”
“This is our chance, yes, to be proud Democrats, but to show everyone in this country, Republican, independent, Democrat or otherwise, that there is a place for them in this campaign,” he said. “That there is a place for them here.”
Heitkamp, on the other hand, while expressing support for LGBTQ rights, showed some ignorance of the subject, stuttering over the phrase “LGBTQ+ neighbors.”
Speaking to reporters after his speech, Beshear said Harris and her agenda reflected the views of people who attended the meeting.
“Kamala Harris represents working people,” he said, praising her recently released economic policy plan. “The plans I see are plans that will work for everyone.
Warmest welcome to Gwen Walz
Walz’s wife, Minnesota First Lady Gwen Walz, made a surprise visit to the event.
The audience welcomed her warmly as she spoke about growing up in a tiny town and how she met her husband when they were both public school teachers.
She also told a story that was intended to showcase the values typical of a tiny town.
As a high school English teacher, she tutored a star football player coached by Tim Walz. The student, who had once been a troublemaker in class, continued tutoring and eventually graduated.
“Tim Walz and I see education and we see people, one person at a time, making a difference, one person at a time, and allowing that to spread,” she said. “We can’t underestimate the power of seeing and recognizing individuals.”
