Today, the NYT offers up yet another screed about Democrats abandoning the voters in rural America. The authors, two Democrats who won a state senators' race in backcountry Maine, seem to think knocking on 20,000 doors and listening to voters concerns is the way to win elections. In a perfect world, that may be so, but in a rural world dominated by Fox News and populated by elderly voters who would prefer you to get off their lawns, their campaign is more a one off than a blueprint for a successful strategy.
For years, congressional Democrats have pushed rural based programs to help mostly Republican areas. They have gotten little or no credit from the natives. The GOP runs on culture war issues like same sex marriage, abortion, immigration and crime and though voters consistently say they are more interested in the economy, that is not the way they vote. In my own congressional district, the execrable Elise Stefanik will be re-elected again this year despite having done nothing for the district except to try and take credit for infrastructure spending courtesy of the Inflation Reduction Act which passed with no republican votes.
This is the reality of rural America.
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