Very interesting post. I would love you and Simon Rosenberg to talk about this. Cuz I wonder if the DNC’s lack of long term organizing and investment in rural precincts delivered our comeuppance. Too much rich elite influence/oversight and not enough trusting and support for local parties/ grassroots to meet folks where they are.
Investment has to be more localized and 365!
One point on this..... I saw Gov Walz in Winston Salem NC, for a rally. But only 2 local candidates were on stage. But there was a TON of down time! Dead mics! Why why why why? rapper Common & Walz were fun but hardly any local candidates on STAGE!
These are the folks that locals know..... to your point. Tragic Lost Opportunity.
This was a terrific post! I learned a lot. I live in a small town in Missouri. The school is the hub. Not involved anymore since I’m older and kids are gone no connections.
Things are changing here. (4 day school week, religious christian school opened recently) I plan on trying to connect better, maybe volunteer at the school. It’s about relationship building. Thank you!
Making inroads by volunteering sounds like such a great idea since you are right there. So sad about four day school week. I remember that came about during Trump years, right? So it's just so odd that school-centric towns would want to bring him back. And I heard they MO voted for choice and higher minimum wage for the state, so it's such a disconnect.
Thanks for the insightful article, which confirms what I’ve come to understand. I doorknocked in PA for Harris-Walz and, while that was rewarding, it was nowhere as meaningful as doorknocks I did in my own community for our local/national candidates. Your discussions with the residents of Robertson County also help me understand how one’s vote for President doesn’t mean the voter supports or knows about everything that the candidate is pushing. Your work illustrates how political organizers need to think of voters as people first, not just as votes. Much gratitude!
Did you mention to any of the people you spoke to that Trump is for vouchers? I'm guessing not or you would have mentioned it in the piece. Such a powerful piece. I am left wondering if it's the teachers or who it is that were the 20% there who did not vote for Trump. And why the 80% voted against their own interests. It would be interesting to find the 20% and speak to them. Are they openly not voting for Trump. How do we get connected with such a community to help move the needle? Do you feel you couldn't try to get more involved there because it's not your state? Will you try to find a community like this to approach in Ohio?
Thirty years ago, as a young marketing/business development manager, I worked for two companies that upgraded school district’s HVAC, lighting and windows for increased energy efficiency. Kentucky was one of the few states at the time that allowed for energy efficiency improvements to public facilities to be paid for out of the energy savings over a ten year period.
Kentucky had just gone through county school district consolidation. Rural communities in most counties lost their schools. They would consolidate two or more middle schools or high schools in the county down to one each, on the same campus in the county seat. They left the elementary schools in place to minimize the commuting time for younger kids, but the disruption to most of the counties in the state was ENORMOUS. These schools are exactly as you observed—-the identity and the point of pride for rural Kentucky communities (and in every other state in the country)..
What happens to these communities if their public school funding is diverted to private schools? These communities will wither further. This private school voucher scam will destroy rural communities all over the country and we should all be concerned. Thanks for the story, I’ll be sharing.
Community matters. And so does year-round organizing.
I am postcard writer for Northeast Arizona Native Democrats. The postcards written by all the volunteers connect the geographically-disperse voters to their local full-time native orgainizers who are on the ground in their communities. It is highly labor-intensive and (with the cost of postage) expensive, but it delivers results!
From a recent email from NEAZ Native Democrats, tribal voters living on Sovereign lands voted:
* for Democrats at an 80+% rate helping to elect Ruben Gallego
* to protect women's access to healthcare (Proposition 139) at a rate of 70% (8.5% higher than state-wide)
* cast votes up and down the ballot with an impressive 97.2% of voters casting votes in county
level races
* to reelect a White Mountain Apache tribal member as County supervisor by increasing turnout on tribal lands by 1.6% over 2020.
There are also excellent programs that focus on African American communities (e.g.,Center for Common Ground/Reclaim our vote) which don't limit themselves to a couple of months before an election.
I know everybody is exhausted, but please don't disengage from activism.
Not disengaging. I am glad to read this because I had heard that a significant percentage of native voters went to Trump too. But your note sounds sunnier. NEAZ is great. Thank you!
This is fascinating if a bit depressing and also thought provoking...
... so I will ask a few rhetorical questions that came to mind:
1- How do people in Robertson County, Kentucky (RC) get current information about the rest of the state, the country, and the world? Do they have broadband Internet, good cell service, or do they rely primarily on broadcast digital television and newspapers? If the latter two, what do they watch and read these days?
2- Was RC once more vibrant than it is today? Were there industries that have left? Where do people in RC work these days? Are they church-going people and do they still have small local churches, or do they attend megachurches?
3- Were there any visible signs of the IRA (roadworks, etc.)? Did the ACA or other Federal programs ever get mentioned whether positively or not? I did see that KY joined the Medicaid expansion offering via a state-run program, but are beneficiaries in RC fully aware of this?
4- Do young people from RC leave the county for the metropoles in the region or perhaps further away? Is there a living tradition of military service? Do those who leave come back to live there?
There are other factors that might illuminate reasons why the vote for Trump was so skewed in relation to support for one of the most fundamental social innovations in American history, universal public schooling when, in fact, the GOP and the incoming administration seems to not value that legacy... but I can understand that they are questions one hesitates to ask.
Excellent report this morning ☕ David, I am applaud by the blatant Grift and exploitation of the people who got swindled here. I hope they demand a Refund. Thank You and will reStack ASAP 💯👍
Very interesting post. I would love you and Simon Rosenberg to talk about this. Cuz I wonder if the DNC’s lack of long term organizing and investment in rural precincts delivered our comeuppance. Too much rich elite influence/oversight and not enough trusting and support for local parties/ grassroots to meet folks where they are.
Investment has to be more localized and 365!
One point on this..... I saw Gov Walz in Winston Salem NC, for a rally. But only 2 local candidates were on stage. But there was a TON of down time! Dead mics! Why why why why? rapper Common & Walz were fun but hardly any local candidates on STAGE!
These are the folks that locals know..... to your point. Tragic Lost Opportunity.
This was a terrific post! I learned a lot. I live in a small town in Missouri. The school is the hub. Not involved anymore since I’m older and kids are gone no connections.
Things are changing here. (4 day school week, religious christian school opened recently) I plan on trying to connect better, maybe volunteer at the school. It’s about relationship building. Thank you!
Making inroads by volunteering sounds like such a great idea since you are right there. So sad about four day school week. I remember that came about during Trump years, right? So it's just so odd that school-centric towns would want to bring him back. And I heard they MO voted for choice and higher minimum wage for the state, so it's such a disconnect.
Thanks for the insightful article, which confirms what I’ve come to understand. I doorknocked in PA for Harris-Walz and, while that was rewarding, it was nowhere as meaningful as doorknocks I did in my own community for our local/national candidates. Your discussions with the residents of Robertson County also help me understand how one’s vote for President doesn’t mean the voter supports or knows about everything that the candidate is pushing. Your work illustrates how political organizers need to think of voters as people first, not just as votes. Much gratitude!
Did you mention to any of the people you spoke to that Trump is for vouchers? I'm guessing not or you would have mentioned it in the piece. Such a powerful piece. I am left wondering if it's the teachers or who it is that were the 20% there who did not vote for Trump. And why the 80% voted against their own interests. It would be interesting to find the 20% and speak to them. Are they openly not voting for Trump. How do we get connected with such a community to help move the needle? Do you feel you couldn't try to get more involved there because it's not your state? Will you try to find a community like this to approach in Ohio?
Adding also that I am wondering if they voted for Beshear?
Thirty years ago, as a young marketing/business development manager, I worked for two companies that upgraded school district’s HVAC, lighting and windows for increased energy efficiency. Kentucky was one of the few states at the time that allowed for energy efficiency improvements to public facilities to be paid for out of the energy savings over a ten year period.
Kentucky had just gone through county school district consolidation. Rural communities in most counties lost their schools. They would consolidate two or more middle schools or high schools in the county down to one each, on the same campus in the county seat. They left the elementary schools in place to minimize the commuting time for younger kids, but the disruption to most of the counties in the state was ENORMOUS. These schools are exactly as you observed—-the identity and the point of pride for rural Kentucky communities (and in every other state in the country)..
What happens to these communities if their public school funding is diverted to private schools? These communities will wither further. This private school voucher scam will destroy rural communities all over the country and we should all be concerned. Thanks for the story, I’ll be sharing.
Community matters. And so does year-round organizing.
I am postcard writer for Northeast Arizona Native Democrats. The postcards written by all the volunteers connect the geographically-disperse voters to their local full-time native orgainizers who are on the ground in their communities. It is highly labor-intensive and (with the cost of postage) expensive, but it delivers results!
From a recent email from NEAZ Native Democrats, tribal voters living on Sovereign lands voted:
* for Democrats at an 80+% rate helping to elect Ruben Gallego
* to protect women's access to healthcare (Proposition 139) at a rate of 70% (8.5% higher than state-wide)
* cast votes up and down the ballot with an impressive 97.2% of voters casting votes in county
level races
* to reelect a White Mountain Apache tribal member as County supervisor by increasing turnout on tribal lands by 1.6% over 2020.
There are also excellent programs that focus on African American communities (e.g.,Center for Common Ground/Reclaim our vote) which don't limit themselves to a couple of months before an election.
I know everybody is exhausted, but please don't disengage from activism.
Not disengaging. I am glad to read this because I had heard that a significant percentage of native voters went to Trump too. But your note sounds sunnier. NEAZ is great. Thank you!
This is fascinating if a bit depressing and also thought provoking...
... so I will ask a few rhetorical questions that came to mind:
1- How do people in Robertson County, Kentucky (RC) get current information about the rest of the state, the country, and the world? Do they have broadband Internet, good cell service, or do they rely primarily on broadcast digital television and newspapers? If the latter two, what do they watch and read these days?
2- Was RC once more vibrant than it is today? Were there industries that have left? Where do people in RC work these days? Are they church-going people and do they still have small local churches, or do they attend megachurches?
3- Were there any visible signs of the IRA (roadworks, etc.)? Did the ACA or other Federal programs ever get mentioned whether positively or not? I did see that KY joined the Medicaid expansion offering via a state-run program, but are beneficiaries in RC fully aware of this?
4- Do young people from RC leave the county for the metropoles in the region or perhaps further away? Is there a living tradition of military service? Do those who leave come back to live there?
There are other factors that might illuminate reasons why the vote for Trump was so skewed in relation to support for one of the most fundamental social innovations in American history, universal public schooling when, in fact, the GOP and the incoming administration seems to not value that legacy... but I can understand that they are questions one hesitates to ask.
Excellent report this morning ☕ David, I am applaud by the blatant Grift and exploitation of the people who got swindled here. I hope they demand a Refund. Thank You and will reStack ASAP 💯👍