How to Place Rural Communities at the Heart of the Anti-Trump Movement How to Place Rural Communities at the Heart of the Anti-Trump Movement
Rural activists are ready to take their place and play their part in the coalitions that are forming.
Oct 27, 2025 / Column / Anthony Flaccavento
Republicans’ “Big Beautiful” Medicaid Cuts Spur Rural Organizing Innovation Republicans’ “Big Beautiful” Medicaid Cuts Spur Rural Organizing Innovation
Taking away healthcare coverage isn’t just “morally wrong and politically suicidal,” in Senator Josh Hawley’s apt phrase. It’s also putting pressure on rural members of Congress.
May 30, 2025 / Erica Etelson
What’s—Still—the Matter With Kansas? What’s—Still—the Matter With Kansas?
As recent events bear out, when Thomas Frank lamented, “We’ll have to drag the Democrats kicking and screaming to victory" in 2017, if anything he was understating the challenge.
Nov 27, 2024 / Column / Erica Etelson
Democrats Dismiss JD Vance at Their Peril Democrats Dismiss JD Vance at Their Peril
Calling the Ohio senator "weird" may feel satisfying. Pundits have dismissed him as a drag on the ticket. But the smarter play would still be to steal his thunder.
Sep 6, 2024 / Column / Erica Etelson and Anthony Flaccavento
The Missing Pieces of the Democrats’ Rural Offer Could Fill a Barnyard The Missing Pieces of the Democrats’ Rural Offer Could Fill a Barnyard
Rural America looms large in the 2024 election. So why is it such a small piece of the Progressive Caucus agenda?
Aug 13, 2024 / Anthony Flaccavento
Paul Krugman May Not Know How to Reverse the Decline of Rural America. But We Do. Paul Krugman May Not Know How to Reverse the Decline of Rural America. But We Do.
The countryside has been neglected for decades. A Rural New Deal would reverse that with capital and creative solutions writen by and for rural Americans.
Jun 12, 2024 / Erica Etelson and Anthony Flaccavento
It’s Not Too Late for Democrats to Win Back Rural Voters It’s Not Too Late for Democrats to Win Back Rural Voters
Putting together a Democratic majority in 2024 requires winning back some portion of the rural working class. The good news is that it can be done. Here’s how.
May 17, 2024 / Column / Erica Etelson and Anthony Flaccavento
Here’s What a 21st-Century Rural New Deal Looks Like Here’s What a 21st-Century Rural New Deal Looks Like
A strategy for building a rural-urban working-class coalition.
Apr 23, 2024 / Katrina vanden Heuvel
In West Virginia, Can the Left Win Back “Trump Country”? In West Virginia, Can the Left Win Back “Trump Country”?
Not until coastal journalists stop viewing rural people as an exotic species.
Oct 16, 2023 / Richard Eskow
Covid Has Left Deep Wounds in America’s Rural Communities Covid Has Left Deep Wounds in America’s Rural Communities
The virus tore at the bonds of solidarity in rural areas like Vermont's Northeast Kingdom. Many of the scars have yet to heal.
May 23, 2023 / Anne N. Sosin