It’s no secret that the Democrat Party has given up on rural America—or what many like to call, in their condescending way, “flyover country.”
And the feeling is pretty much mutual. Go to any rural town—from Cortez, Colorado to Lake Wales, Florida, and everything in between—and you’ll find plenty of “Trump 2024” flags fluttering in the breeze. But despite the party’s arrogant, coastal elite, which has written off the rural “backwaters” and bidden them good riddance, some Democrats are beginning to realize that this attitude is only hurting them in the long run.
On America’s Newsroom, Fox News host Bill Hemmer interviewed Chloe Maxmin, a Democratic state senator from Maine, and at 29 the youngest lawmaker in the state’s history. Herself from a rural area, Maxmin is one of the few in her party who recognizes the danger posed by her party’s choice to remain indifferent, or even actively hostile, to the country’s rural populations. As the co-author of “Dirt Road Revival: How to Rebuild Rural Politics and Why Our Future Depends On It,” Maxmin has some interesting ideas about the problem.
“You say going back to 2010 is when Democrats abandoned rural America,” Hemmer said in the opener to his interview with Maxmin.
“You know, I’m a Democrat,” Maxmin explained. “I grew up in rural Maine, and over the past couple of decades, we’ve really seen Democrats lose footholds in rural America. And that’s my community, that’s my home. I’ve won and run two races in rural America, in districts that Trump won, and I’ve talked to people who voted for Trump, knocked on over 20,000 doors, and just heard all of the common ground and the deep need for change that’s coming from rural folks.”
Hemmer then went on to point out that “we’re blessed with beautiful countryside,” but that most of the country is red (i.e., Republican or Republican-leaning), which doesn’t bode well for the Democrat Party. Moreover, rural and therefore Republican turnout was up significantly in the Ohio primaries that saw J. D. Vance clinch the Republican nomination for U.S. senator—and none of this portends a good outcome for the Democrats in November.
“I guess the question is ‘why?'” Hemmer asked. “What did the [Democrat] Party leaders not see in rural America as you make your case?”
“One of the things that I’ve experienced,” Maxmin responded, “in my campaigns in rural Maine, is that so many folks just haven’t been talked to by Democratic campaigns or Democratic canvassers, and so there’s this lack of direct experience within the Democratic Party of what rural folks are thinking and feeling. These are my neighbors, they’re the people who raised me, and they deserve a seat at the table in the Democratic Party.”
Maxmin conceded that the party now focuses most of its energy on city-dwellers, although that wasn’t always the case.
“About a decade ago,” she explained, “rural voters, there was no partisan lean, and now rural folks are going over 16 points Republican. There are so many different forces that have gone into that dynamic, from young folks leaving to just a lack of Democratic infrastructure in rural America, but one of the things that I think is that we just need face-to-face conversations, where we can have honest conversations, where we can agree to disagree, but at least start to build some kind of relationship that enables us to understand one another.”
It’s sensible advice, but it remains to be seen whether the Democrat Party heeds it. The disdain harbored by party elites for rural America is, at this point, pretty obvious and poorly concealed. So expecting them to abandon identity politics and to consume their requisite slice of humble pie while cultivating an interest in the more down-to-earth concerns of rural populations, is probably too much to ask anytime soon.
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9 thoughts on “Dem lawmaker explains how her own party has left rural America in the dust”
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Yeah my family owned a farm in south GA. And we were all “southern democrsts” up until about 10 years ago we are all Republicans now except for a couple knuckleheads no plan to return to the evil nonsense of the demonrats
Update Chloe Maxmin is recent Harvard Grauduate Educated in Environmental Studies, who is a one term Maine State Senator not seeking reelection, as she was going to lose. Obviously, a Green New Deal Supporter. She is going to attend Law School to fight for the Environment. Clearly, not planning on staying a rural girl. Enjoy the City Life.
She is a member of the Marxist Democratic Communist Party. Talking with Democrats isn’t going to work. Switching parties is the only solution. She’s doing this to get publicity as she is probably about to lose. Great campaign “my party hates you but vote for me”. Loser.
The best hope for the country is that Joey, the Squad, Pocahontas and the rest of the clown car regime don’t figure it out. We need to build a veto proof majority so we can make Joey totally ineffective come November!
Dems understand that the major cities control most of the states, because that is where all the population and votes are. Control the major urban areas and surrounding suburbs and you control the country and elections. Sadly, Democrats control most of our large cities
Purely intentional, as rural Americans don`t vote dem!
The Dems are all about identity politics – trannies, faggots, lezzies, BLM, trannies. They want free money for college kids to pay off their loans, including med students and law students who make high salaries. Rural folks do not dislike trannies and faggots. They just think about other stuff.
This is easy to explain. The Democrats find it easier to manage the populations of high-density locales. Poor inner-city people have been encouraged over the years to create larger families so they could collect more money, food, and housing (projects) to make them dependent on the government for survival. This endeavor also created feral children without family support systems to give them a loving environment to thrive in. And when parents of some of these kids try to get them into a better school, the Democrat-supported Teachers Union fights against school choice. If these children were better educated, they might realize the Democrats used them for their votes, and when the election cycle is over the politicians leave the neighborhoods with nothing.
Maybe it’s really because people in rural areas see what you scumRats do in big cities and don’t want or need any of your corruption and lies to plague their cities,that exactly is an honest answer to your question,,,,,,,FJB,,,,,,
sympl1