Democrats tend to do well in urban areas, while Republicans tend to do well in rural areas. But winning back at least some rural voters is essential for Democrats to win statewide elections. New York Times editorial board member Farrah Stockman found Democrats in rural Ohio testing a new message.
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FARAH STOCKMAN: I'm Farrah Stockman, and I'm a member of the New York Times editorial board.
Right now, in many parts of rural America, the Democratic Party is virtually disappearing.
Democrats are doing well in cities, but losing badly in small towns and rural areas. To win statewide elections, they need to win back at least some rural voters. To do that, Democrats need to revamp their image. They need a new message that will help them win.
I recently visited one place where they might find one: Shelby County, Ohio, about 90 miles west of Columbus. There are more than eight to one registered Republicans there, so many of Shelby County's Democrats keep a low profile.
While I was there, one woman told me that it's a scary place for Democrats – she actually refuses to put up political signs on her ranch for fear someone might shoot her horses.
I went there to talk to this guy who is trying to revive the Democratic Party and change this dynamic.
Chris Gibbs audio clip: Everyone on the planet is trying to find the secret, the silver bullet, to revitalize rural America.
Stockman: His name is Chris Gibbs and he's a farmer.
Gibbs Clip: Ah, same time, 6:30. I'll go back and check on the cows again.
STOCKMAN: Chris was actually the last person anyone would have expected to lead the effort to bring back Democrats here, because he was a Republican. And he wasn't just a Republican. He was the Shelby County Republican leader for seven years, up until 2015.
He voted for Trump in 2016, hoping for the best, but after Trump was elected, the tariff war with China began and his soybean crop lost a lot of value. So he made a political turn. He wrote a scathing op-ed for his local paper. After that, he became alienated from the Republican Party he had been in for most of his adult life and lost most of his friends.
So he started turning his attention to the Democratic Party, and last year he was elected leader of the Shelby County Democratic Party.
Clip of Gibbs: I speak the traditional Republican way. I don't speak the MAGA way. And what I understand is that traditional Republican values ​​are consistent with the values ​​of the existing Democrats in this county. Period. And all I have to do is prove it. I have to prove it anyway.
STOCKMAN: Chris Gibbs's view is that Shelby County Democrats can be described as traditional Democrats. They're not all radical socialists. He's keen to rebrand the party as the party of traditional American values, the party that values ​​freedom, the party that values ​​work.
I saw this firsthand at the Shelby County Democratic Party's annual spring dinner, held at the Sidney Elks Lodge. Sidney is the county seat of Shelby County.
The lodge had a large moose head mounted above the door and was a place where farmers would gather to discuss calving season.
There were a lot of former Republicans in the room.
Stockman clip: Would you say you're also a former Republican, or…
Attendee Clip: Yes, I'm a former Republican. I voted for Reagan.
Stockman: It was very interesting to see so many of the locals saying, “This is the first time I've ever called myself a Democrat.”
Clip of attendee: They hate the party of Donald Trump.
Stockman: “Or it doesn't really answer the question of which party I lean to.”
Clip of Gibbs: People are scared. They're scared to stand up and say, I'm a Democrat, I believe in Democratic principles. They're scared of that. I'll tell you something. I'll end it here tonight.
STOCKMAN: Chris Gibbs was able to bring in a local celebrity, former Congressman Tim Ryan, to be the keynote speaker.
Clip from Tim Ryan: Freedom is a fundamental value here in the United States.
STOCKMAN: Tim Ryan has the same idea of ​​trying to rebrand the Democratic Party in Shelby County and in Ohio as the party of freedom. And he's said in his speeches that the party platform is essentially a platform of freedom.
Clip from Ryan: Are you talking about women's issues? It's a freedom issue. This is the ultimate intrusion of government into the lives of its people. What's going on with social media? We are allowing these corporations to trick the minds of our young children, to release dopamine in their heads, to stay on these machines forever. You are taking away our children's freedom.
Stockman: There's a big movement in rural America to make liberty the focal point of the party's rebranding. There's a group called Democrat 101 that promotes a universal creed based on liberty, justice, and opportunity. And county-level Democrats across the country have adopted this creed and used it as a way of explaining why the Democrats are the party of traditional American values.
Whether freedom can be a winning message is a really interesting question. I think the jury is still out on that point.
In Sydney, we went to a restaurant called “The Spot” where everyone goes for pie – they're famous for their pies – and the whole time they were playing Fox News, they were reporting that Democrats are either socialists or Hamas-supporting terrorists.
I also went to a barbershop full of young men, and that to me highlighted what may be the biggest challenge for the Shelby County Democratic Party. Everyone in the barbershop was in their 20s and either had no interest in politics or were obsessed with Trump. And I remember one of the 20-somethings in the barbershop saying, “Yeah, the Democratic Party is pretty far to the left now. It's not the party it used to be.”
After I wrote the story, my editor asked me to go back to Chris Gibbs and ask him, “What are they saying about the young people in the barbershop?” I called him back and explained what I had heard in the barbershop, and he acknowledged that this was difficult, but he said, “If we do our job now, young people will take a second look at the Democratic Party, because the values ​​of the Shelby County Democratic Party are what they were raised with – the values ​​of their parents.”
He really feels that if they do their job, the youth will give the party another chance. I hope he is right.
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This episode of “The Opinions” was produced by Jillian Weinberger. Edited by Alison Bruzek and Kaari Pitkin. Mixed by Pat McCusker. Original music by Pat McCusker, Carole Sabouraud, and Isaac Jones. Fact checking by Mary Marge Locker. Audience strategy by Shannon Busta and Kristina Samulewski. Executive producer is Annie-Rose Strasser.
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