I don’t feel compassion for Trump voters. Rural people don’t equate to Trump voters. I think we need to be working in rural areas because strategically, we can win elections by getting 3% more of them to vote. When you hear me speak of rural people, I’m not talking about Trumpers. - ThreadSky

piperformissouri.bsky.social • 194 days ago

I don’t feel compassion for Trump voters.

Rural people don’t equate to Trump voters. I think we need to be working in rural areas because strategically, we can win elections by getting 3% more of them to vote. When you hear me speak of rural people, I’m not talking about Trumpers.

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Comments

dogsincali.bsky.social•194 days ago

Jess, is turnout significantly lower in rural areas?

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

And school board races and such though it’s abysmal. Less than 20%.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I think in general, we get 40% maybe a little higher

dogsincali.bsky.social•194 days ago

So lots of opportunity here - I wish we could figure out how to reach people. We have to do better going forward.

I’m glad you are in the fight!

antagotha.bsky.social•194 days ago

If we got more people in cities to vote, that would be more Democratic votes. But that might not be the case in rural areas.

dogsincali.bsky.social•194 days ago

I just checked my county - we had a 73% voter turnout but we get ballots mailed to us and it is so easy to vote that even this number should have been higher. Many states make it hard to vote but we have to better everywhere.

simplyred618.bsky.social•194 days ago

I’m baffled by the Amish vote!! Most have no tv, pretty much 8th grade education level but all of a sudden they have a take in politics🤔NOT TO MENTION ELON BUSSED THEM BY THE BUSLOADS TO VOTE!! What were THEY PAID!!

rph56.bsky.social•194 days ago

I strongly feel that we should strive to feel compassion for all living beings.

omarsultan.me•194 days ago

This is such and important point to keep making.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I think it’s an odd strategy to look at rural spaces and rub their noses in shit when a quarter or a third of them didn’t vote for Republicans.

gjeanie.bsky.social•194 days ago

Yes - It's the not-voting that is the scourge of rural politics. It's the lack of decent local media. It's also poverty, poor education, the sense that there's no reason to hope for something better in your community. It's also pastors telling people that Democrats are Satan.

microwoman.bsky.social•194 days ago

It ties into the lack of social services and senior centers in rural areas. If your only weekly interactions are with a fire + brimstone preacher, your thinking gets a bit warped. Yes, some of these towns are too small, but if they can keep bars alive, they can have a place for their elderly to be.

michaelt2300.bsky.social•194 days ago

I’m in Arkansas and our turnout is always abysmal. Plenty of ppl just don’t vote. And for lots of local and state races, there’s not even a Dem on the ballot to vote for. Lots of counties with just zero presence from the Dem party. But even in a state as red as AR there are progressives here

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I am originally from Arkansas. I think Arkansas has the lowest rate of voter turnout in the entire country.

okblue.bsky.social•194 days ago

Being a blue dot in bright red rural America is kind of like going to Thanksgiving dinner with your loud, conservative relatives every day of the year. Sometimes those blue dots just need a break and know they are not alone. That the Democratic cause is just and that they are not the crazy ones.

dreams-unwind.bsky.social•194 days ago

The DNC put it all on the Chosen One. Not funding down ballot races was just another element of their Entire Losing Strategy.

apaganinarizona.bsky.social•194 days ago

As a rural voter in AZ, thank you. 🌹 I'm surrounded by Trumpers but I know I'm not the only Dem out here!

bviola.bsky.social•194 days ago

I’m sorry you have been experiencing this. Reading your posts over the years (I read you on Twitter) has certainly opened my eyes about the situation in some red states.

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

Rural voters receive messaging differently. They are interested in different things. The ones with money probably worked their ass off physically. Think union factory workers but insert non-union gas, construction, mining, etc. So they have that “I earned this you aren’t taxing it” mentality w/o…

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

The union “we work together to make things better for everyone” viewpoint.

king4aday.bsky.social•194 days ago

And plenty of city folk don't vote at all which is just as bad as voting for Trump. So they need to step down off their high horse

kolat06.bsky.social•194 days ago

I was running a campaign in southeastern minnesota this year. We did some work with the coordinated campaign this year. One of the people from Chicago was baffled when I told them that we were trying to focus on independents in our district. There were simply by numbers, not enough democrats.

kolat06.bsky.social•194 days ago

They did not understand that only talking to democrats was not a winning strategy in our district

dhlunique.bsky.social•194 days ago

Bingo. We'll not convince the Trumpers to change their minds. We do need to ensure that others realise that they do matter and that their vote matters.

dognutz.bsky.social•194 days ago

Fk them, they got us here

phoegonix.bsky.social•194 days ago

Easy to feel helpless in a sea of red. A lady I work with was surprised when I said Trump is a rapist - she hadn't heard!!! I'm not rural, but Oklahoma is pretty rural overall, and it's really easy to just not heartless about things.

stealthbomber.bsky.social•194 days ago

While I don't disagree with you, I tend to think that we would be better served by making it easier for them to vote. For many people, taking an entire day off to go to their polling place is an unfair burden.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

It’s a huge burden.

genxal.bsky.social•194 days ago

Intellectually you're correct. But, My family are soybean Farmers from Northwest Ohio. They voted for Trump last time and they voted for Trump this time even though they were severely affected by the soybean tariffs.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I passed a beanfield for months that had a Harris sign up. We all have individual stories, but we can’t throw away an entire demographic.

genxal.bsky.social•194 days ago

We could probably debate this back and forth for a little while. Has to do with resource allocation. Democratic party throw millions of dollars at Northwest Ohio? no. But aoc's Trump voters And the 10 million Democrats who stayed home? Which one has better juice with the squeeze?

genxal.bsky.social•194 days ago

Intellectually they shouldn't have voted for him. When he said straight up he was going to tariff. They already have been hurt and I don't think they have really recovered from the first round. It's not politics now. It's culture.

grahamclester.bsky.social•194 days ago

For Trumpers I've spoken to it's very tied up with their religious beliefs and faith communities. You cannot reach most of them for the same reason that you cannot persuade them about evolution. Some are nice people but the mindset is generally impenetrable.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I don’t try to convert Trump voters. It’s a waste of time.

grahamclester.bsky.social•194 days ago

It *is* a waste of time as a rule but when I have one sitting in my living room I always try to find some soft spot nonetheless.

illinoisjen.bsky.social•194 days ago

I live in NW Illinois. It's very Red but Lauren Underwood is rep for a portion. I unfortunately am now not in her district w new map 2 yrs ago. My MAGA rep runs unopposed. I feel abandoned by Dem party. I strongly feel the Dems in Illinois need to branch out of Chicago the next few yrs.

illinoisjen.bsky.social•194 days ago

And by abandoned I just feel they should try harder is all to reach out, branch out. Then obviously do the same in more than just the states like Wisconsin, AZ, Pennsylvania. They need to hit the roads, now!

amiemcwayne.bsky.social•194 days ago

Years…and the DNC will never change. The biggest boondoggle IMO, was buying ads on MSNBC. SMH

amiemcwayne.bsky.social•194 days ago

I have screamed this for YEARS. Grassroots to local newspapers and radio stations in rural areas. We live in rural AL where there is no cable access. Not everyone is on social media so they don’t know/care about what is happening TO them.

v2-0.bsky.social•194 days ago

It's so true that rural people don't equate to Trump voters. That's a stereotype fostered by the lazy media, which have never given an accurate or complete picture of who are the Trump voters.

antagotha.bsky.social•194 days ago

Some areas vote 80-90% for Trump so not a lot of potential in those areas.

mdenger15.bsky.social•194 days ago

And, if minimum wage and reproductive rights ballot initiatives can pass here in Missouri, it isn't the policy platforms that are the problem. Dems need to overhaul their messaging and media strategies to more effectively and persuasively reach and persuade more voters.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

Thank you.

mdenger15.bsky.social•194 days ago

When it comes to policy, the Dem platform is far more preferred than the R. But R's have already backed D's into corner that they're trying to escape because they waited until too late in the cycle. This is a classic marketing, messaging and media challenge. Not a policy or candidate quality issue.

bb3579.bsky.social•194 days ago

The Dems are 40 years behind in rural messaging

mdenger15.bsky.social•194 days ago

Thanks for the follow. This shouldn't be as hard as Dems are making it. R's control the message and the media and have Fox. Dems wait for election cycles when attitudes have already been shaped. Dems need an always on messaging and media strategy to win voters before the election dogfight begins.

domitiaenobaria.bsky.social•194 days ago

Refusing to connect repro rights with the lady who explicitly and constantly spoke about them is a CHOICE.

dreamalotmusic.bsky.social•194 days ago

sunflowerfella2.bsky.social•194 days ago

the most rural counties of Nebraska have vote-by-mail only, and have much higher voting rates. And Repubs won't extend that to the whole state, because it gives them a built in advantage, a higher rate of voting in the reddest areas.

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

I grew up in WV. I was an auditor for the state legislature. I watched as the state turned red. I’d watch the legislature shoot down all these proposals that would benefit those addicted to opioids. Shoot down proposals that would give miners other options. We wrote a massive report quantifying…

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

The damage mining barons had done to the state.

But it was “providing clean needles will result in more junkies.” “You can’t put that treatment center in my county.” “Bob Murray paid for that house out of his own pocket (aka insurance fraud but said with a tear in the delegate’s eye.)” …

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

Can 3% be converted? Sure. But there is a lot, a lot of BS messaging to break through (as you know.)

People vote against their own self interests because they hear what they want to hear. And the GOP will give them the easy lie instead of the hard truth every day of the week.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I can’t tell someone else what their self interest is, but I can tell them about a democratic message if I am funded and can get into their community. That’s a huge part. We already have organizers on the ground who are using their own money desperately trying to reach their neighbors.

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

We need someone running the DNC who knows we attack this problem at the root and not at the top branch.

Problem is, as you know, is that isn’t sexy. A Congressperson on MSNBC attacking Trump might draw eyeballs…someone sitting in a community center in Barboursville WV isn’t. So the $ goes…

icedbrew2.bsky.social•194 days ago

No group does more damage to this country than state legislatures. We need to spend a lot more resources at that level. If we reallocated half the money we give presidential candidates to state legislatures I think we’d gain much more ground.

sidshroyer.bsky.social•194 days ago

The simultaneous Trump/Musk takeover craziness and the Anthem/United Health response shows an awakening that could be profound ... rich people ain't us, they're screwing us

cat-on-a-leash.bsky.social•194 days ago

Jess, may I DM you with an idea for a campaign-professional work connection you might benefit from talking to in Missouri? It’s within my own employer’s corporate environment so I don’t want to cough up any more than that.

dannyc12.bsky.social•194 days ago

Fair

arabellasays.bsky.social•194 days ago

A third of eligible voters didn’t vote. They are the ones we need to reach. Avid Trump supporters won’t be swayed but the disengaged and disillusioned can be.

piperformissouri.bsky.social•194 days ago

I have said it for a couple of years now. There is no way to reach someone who has voted for Trump three times… it’s a waste of breath. They just have to find out for themselves.

arabellasays.bsky.social•194 days ago

Exactly. And it’s hard to grasp how small a shift is needed to make major changes in the results. I recommend Nick Powers’s YouTube series on why your vote matters - even in Red states. There’s one for most states. https://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLgN9f7KfljAUVsAJ1TiU9BvlKHNNZQKA6

slipperlobster.bsky.social•194 days ago

I feel compassion for those legitimately lied to. I don't feel compassion for people explaining away civil and criminal convictions, attempted insurrections, vile rhetoric, coded (and sometimes out-in-the-open) dog-whistles for racism/sexism/extremism.

I don't feel compassion for most Trump voters

lucyksy.bsky.social•194 days ago

If they voted for Drumpf, and they did, they are Drumpf voters.

joninvegas.bsky.social•194 days ago

I think you’re right, and I hope the Democratic Party will pay more attention to rural areas in 2026 and beyond.

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