Dom Holmes, 28, has learned something important in 10 years of organizing progressives in rural Pennsylvania: You can't just show up when you need people to turn out to vote. You have to sit and listen to them.
In recent weeks, when he's stopped to listen, he's gotten an earful about the tax and spending bill the Republican-led Congress passed in July.
“Folks are especially worried about how that’s going to impact them at the local level,” he said. They're particularly "outraged," he said, about cuts to food stamps and Medicaid and the likely damage to rural hospitals. “Folks should be aware of what the impact ‒ immediate and not ‒ will be on them and they should know who brought that impact to their community; who brought it home to them."
His message is being echoed by rural organizers across the country who told USA TODAY that now is the time to talk with rural voters about the cuts in the GOP's landmark law ‒ and who voted for them.
Rural Democrats see implementation of the GOP tax and spending law, combined with other changes from the Trump administration that they say will directly harm rural communities, as a moment Democrats can use to rebuild their brand in what has been MAGA country for a decade.
