Postindustrial Contributor Mark Yonkman says that if Democrats want to win back rural voters, candidates and their teams need to talk about issues that actually matter to them.
Regulations related to farming and voting are among the most critical issues to rural communities, according to Yonkman, who grew up on a family farm in northern Michigan, then spent decades working as an attorney before returning to his agricultural roots.
He also implored Democratic candidates to add people with rural backgrounds to their staffs.
“Try to find somebody that has at least some connection to rural [america] or agriculture and put them on their team.” said Yonkman in our latest conversation.
Yonkman insists there are voters Democrats can court in rural America, especially among women and younger voters.
“A lot of people [candidates] come up here and just complain about Trump and I tell them not to do that,” he said, suggesting instead that candidates focus on kitchen-table issues.
For more insights from rural America, watch our conversation and subscribe to the Postindustrial YouTube channel!
