Rural America is Untapped Political Potential

Ralph Lauren and AOC

I have a thrifting problem. I blame it on my grandma. She was born into dirt-floor poor poverty in Harlan, Kentucky. She was the middle of twelve kids. I spent summers with grandma and she taught me to make bologna gravy and fried chicken and to appreciate thrift stores and yard sales.

I like looking for treasures right under my nose —they are there if I just spend the time looking.

My thrifting problem is better now that my walls and tables are covered with enough treasures to make me feel good and whole — I have slowed down. I can pass a Goodwill and not feel the need to go in. I have defined and refined the things I will thrift these days: dishes, paintings and art, books, interesting knick-knacks, and tweed. I love tweed. Likely from a life-long obsession with the British Royals and Princess Diana.

I also love brands I wouldn’t be able to afford if they weren’t on the thrift store shelves and that’s how I got myself into a bind. A literal bind.

I noticed the blazer as soon as I walked past. It was a beautiful muted brown tweed. I looked at the tag and it was vintage Ralph Lauren. Score.

I looked it over for snags or holes and it was free of both, but it did look a bit small — I decided to try it on in the aisle. I slipped my left arm into the blazer and it was solid construction, but as I suspected, a little snug. I reached my right arm back to slip it into the other sleeve and realized I was right. It was too small.

In the act of reaching back, though, I pulled something in my right arm and now I was stuck in a blazer with one arm in and another arm flailing over my head. In a Goodwill aisle.

So this is how I go down…in a bind. Fighting to get my arm out of a blazer. Good god, how embarrassing.

I tried not to panic and finally pulled my arm free from Ralph Lauren’s death grip, but the damage was done. Whatever I did, whatever contortion I got myself into that day, has haunted me for months.

I can’t make certain movements with my right arm and it’s a hassle…it also takes my breath away and leaves me bent over in pain for a few seconds if I accidentally make the wrong move. I know I should do something about it, but I also know it’s likely something that would require surgery or physical therapy or both and those things sound painful.

I continue to suffer because I don’t want to take the time to work through something that only bothers me occasionally.

Related: I am thinking of the way the Democratic party can address something that causes them occasional pain every two and four and six years. The rural vote. Or the absence of rural voters picking the Democratic nominees.

The Democrats are in a bind. Flailing. It’s embarrassing to watch.

The fact that Democrats can’t get the rural vote causes split-second decisions at the end of each national campaign. The Democrats often decide at the last minute that they should at least attempt to sway rural voters, but it’s always too late.

Too little. Too late.

National media continues to spin the reasons Dems can’t win in spaces like mine, but it’s pretty easy to see. Democrats aren’t here doing the work. They come in every four years for about six weeks and then pack up until the next cycle.

Come back to rural America. Stay here even after the election. Put up a fight. Contest every seat.

Democrats can influence elections by turning out a small number of rural voters. There is data to prove it and I have talked about it for years. I see the untapped potential when I knock rural doors and talk to my neighbors.

The biggest bloc Democrats can tap is rural America.

A research brief from the University of New Hampshire’s Carsey School of Public Policy shows that it’s mathematically possible for very small changes in the choices of swing-state rural voters to affect presidential elections. Using voting data from swing states over the past four presidential election cycles, UNH researchers looked at how modest changes in the percentage of rural votes cast for the Democratic nominee could sway the election.

How much would a small incremental change of plus or minus 3 percent in support in rural areas over 2020 levels have influenced the outcome of the 2024 election? Enough to make the difference between victory and defeat in several of the battleground states.

Even though rural voters represent a modest share of all voters in battleground states, small changes in the voting behavior of rural voters could have major implications for the outcome of elections.

Read that again…a three percent increase in rural votes can influence the outcome of presidential elections. And some politicians are starting to see the light.

AOC saw my post on the topic and ran with it. Now, if only other progressives in the party would listen and read the data and pay attention to down-ballot races, especially in rural areas. Race after race. District after district. We could make so much progress.

Run everywhere. No seat uncontested. Make the Republicans have to put up a fight to keep a seat. Make them work for rural votes. It’s the very least we can do.

The Republicans have most of the electorate they will ever have. They are making inroads with some demographics, but to counter these inroads, we just need to engage in rural America. Just get three percent more folks voting for Democrats and then get them to the polls.

Republicans win when we stay home.

Republicans also have the advantage of not being tied to the truth which is difficult to counter, but turning out more in rural spaces will help. Republicans lie with impunity, but we can better address the lies when we have folks in their own communities talking to their neighbors. We can see progress when we support down-ballot races. This can turn out rural folks that can swing elections at the top of the ticket.

It’s a numbers game. We should remember that. We are leaving rural votes on the table for no reason…the Republicans pick them up.

Back to the thrift store: I bought the Ralph Lauren blazer and with the help of a tailor, it will fit like a dream. I thought it wasn’t for me, but it just needed a few adjustments…a few small tweaks. A little attention. It is worth the investment.

A treasure right under my nose. No flailing with 1/2 inch of extra space.

I think the Democrats should remember that rural spaces can change races across the country with little money. Rural spaces are ripe for political engagement. These spaces just need a little bit of investment.

*I always think about the fact that Wyoming and California have the same amount of Senators. Why are we not all over Wyoming?

If I could speak to those holding the power in the party, I would remind them of the bind they are in. They are flailing. I would remind them that there is a huge amount of untapped potential right under their nose.

Like an out-of-the way thrift store find, rural America is the treasure right under our noses. Votes are there if we’ll just spend the time looking.

~Jess