![Nathaniel Blankenship, a crew member in a job program with Coalfield Development Corporation, works to remodel a 1920s-era warehouse into office space in Williamson, West Virginia.](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/rural-jobs-ap.jpg)
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 / Rethinking Rural / Erica Etelson and Anthony Flaccavento
![Bruce, after arriving in the middle of the night, waits to enter a Remote Area Medical (RAM) mobile dental and medical clinic on October 7, 2023, in Grundy, Virginia.](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/GettyImages-1722975842.jpg)
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
![Sarah Lloyd works on her farm in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/GettyImages-1228115177-1.jpg)
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
![west Virginia statehouse, capitol, economic bill of rights](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/10/west-virginia-statehouse-AP.jpg)
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](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/C56BFE4E-FFEB-4602-98F3-260039748CE8.jpg)
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
![An Arkansas girl in migrant camp near Greenfield, Salinas Valley, Calif., 1939](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/LANGE-arkansas-girl-getty.jpg)
How Reading “The Economist” Helped Me to Stop Worrying About White Supremacy How Reading “The Economist” Helped Me to Stop Worrying About White Supremacy
A recent viral sensation identifies the migration of poor whites as the cause of the problem—letting the rest of us off the hook!
Apr 21, 2023 / Sarah Taber
![Rep.-elect Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-Wash.) smiles after drawing her number in the room lottery for new members of House.](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/12/mariegluesenkampperez-ap.jpg)
Democrats Can Win Rural Seats if They Listen to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez Democrats Can Win Rural Seats if They Listen to Marie Gluesenkamp Perez
Washington’s new congresswoman talks working-class appeal and the failure of the party elite.
Dec 14, 2022 / Q&A / Nick Bowlin
![Democrats Must Do Better in Rural America](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/polling-place-getty.jpg)
Democrats Must Do Better in Rural America Democrats Must Do Better in Rural America
If this midterm was a success for Democrats, it is a retreat from what they ought to expect.
Nov 17, 2022 / Anthony Flaccavento, Erica Etelson, and Cody Lonning
![Biden Rural Americans](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/09/GettyImages-1241276491-img.jpg)
Student Debt Cancellation Will Help Rural Communities Too Student Debt Cancellation Will Help Rural Communities Too
Critics of Biden's forgiveness plan falsely call it a wealth transfer to the “urban elite.” In 2020, nearly 6.5 million rural Americans owed an average of $35,000 in student loan d...
Sep 27, 2022 / StudentNation / Reed Cleland
![How to Kill a Rural Hospital](https://www.thenation.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/Features3B.jpg)
How to Kill a Rural Hospital How to Kill a Rural Hospital
In Gallup, New Mexico, doctors and community members are rallying to save Rehoboth McKinley Christian Hospital.
Aug 23, 2022 / Feature / Cecilia Nowell