Democrats Must Listen to Rural Wisconsin
Evers and Baldwin have shown the way, winning some rural areas.
In 2020, Trump increased his support in rural Wisconsin. President Joe Biden flipped only 2 of 23 Obama to Trump counties (Door and Sauk). Biden narrowly won with increased suburban and urban support. It was worse in state legislative races. Democrats lost 2 Senate seats, while gaining 2 suburban Assembly seats. Yes, GOP gerrymandering is a big problem, but it doesn’t entirely explain a shutout in rural areas.
Similarly, Wisconsin Democratic Governor Tony Evers has shown support in rural areas. In 2018, Evers flipped 7 counties that Trump won in 2016. His down-to-earth style has wide appeal. And, Evers has earned approval for his attempts to protect Wisconsinites during the pandemic, despite GOP obstruction. The low-key Evers seems like a regular person not a politician. He advocates pocketbook issues such as healthcare coverage expansion, more education funding and addressing rural priorities. Voters must hold GOP legislators accountable for their roadblocks.
However, there are big problems in rural Wisconsin. Expiration of federal pandemic funding for rural hospitals, coupled with inadequate private insurance payments spells disaster. The Center for Healthcare Quality and Payment Reform estimates that 7 rural Wisconsin hospitals are “at risk of closing”, with 1 at “immediate risk of closing”. The sick and elderly will be in trouble, jobs will be lost and small towns devastated.
Expect nothing from the GOP. However, Democrats are not off the hook. Healthcare is a huge rural problem with acute disparities. The Wisconsin Democratic Party should be banging the drum across the state and organizing listening forums. Rural Wisconsinites will have much to say. Failure to listen and engage will once again marginalize the Wisconsin Democratic Party. It doesn’t have to be this way. Senator Baldwin and Governor Evers have shown the way.
This column was originally published by Wispolitics.com.
Bill Kaplan wrote a guest column from Washington, D.C., for the Wisconsin State Journal from 1995 – 2009.
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Democrats need to start loudly letting the rural residents that their Republican legislative representatives have done nothing for them and really don’t care of their local schools have to close due to enrollment drops or residents have to drive 50 miles for a medical appointment.
Agree with Mingus – the Democrats need to hammer home the point that the GOP’s love for ‘free market healthcare’ means that small rural hospitals and clinics will close because they’re not cost efficient. The biggest healthcare providers are only interested in making money, which means more and more offices and clinics in wealthy areas like Lake Country and Mequon, and closing or shrinking facilities in Arcadia, Clintonville, Ripon, and countless other small communities. What solutions have the GOP offered for these problems?
Local schools in rural areas also aren’t on the GOP care list – they want to give all the private schools money from the public schools while many rural districts are already struggling with aging facilities, teacher and staff retention, and dropping enrollments. GOP solution – shut down the public schools.