Thread by @abreezeclayton

For the past three months, I’ve worked with @RuralOrganizing on a project conducting exit interviews with #rural organizers from across the country this past cycle to learn what happened. We talked to 70+ organizers and here’s what I learned:

dailyyonder.com/the-missing-li…

First, I should note how vital it is we collect data on what happened after an election. Too often, organizers, who are constantly engaging the grassroots, are let go afterwards and their volunteers/connections/experience/ideas go with them...

Campaigns SHOULD care about what organizers have to say. So should the Democratic Party as a whole. For this project, we focused fully on recommendations that can be made to every sector of the political sphere: campaigns, 501c3s, 501c4s, candidates, etc. But I have more to say—

—specifically when it comes to electoral campaigns. After talking to rural organizers who came off of electoral campaigns this past cycle, here are some of my recommendations to anyone looking at running a campaign in a rural district:

1) Organizer goals should differentiate according to turf. There is a difference between working in urban, suburban, & rural communities. Yet, personally, every campaign I’ve worked on, has expected rural organizers to pull the same weight as their urban/suburban counterparts.

It’s not feasible. And we have to stop treating it like it is. I talked to organizers who were constantly doubting themselves and their abilities because they couldn’t compete with the goals of the campaign. I’ve had bosses that have understood this, and some that didn't.

But if you’re a field director who has never worked in a rural area, talk to someone who has before you set those goals. The mental health of your rural organizers depends on doing that research.

2) Messaging. I can't say it enough, when candidates don't have a rural platform but have a rural part to their district, how can they expect those voters to think a candidate really sees them?

“Republicans celebrate rural voters whereas Democrats ignore them."

A robust rural platform is essential to winning rural voters, and it needs to be more than overviews and blanket statements. Be specific, make a plan, and train your organizers to talk about said plan.

3) In March of last year, no one knew what campaigns would turn into. We didn't know we wouldn't be knocking doors and we certainly didn't know that we'd effectively turn statewide organizing efforts into call centers. In rural communities, COVID made it hard to show up.

But showing up in rural communities is the only way to effectively win them. We couldn't gain trust and talk people out of the disinformation they were hearing via Fox News on the phones. Rural organizers struggled more with Trumpism than anyone else, yet had little support.

4) Hiring local talent matters. Investing in training local people matters. What I would love to see the Democratic Party do in rural areas is a run an outreach and organizing training program. Young, rural people exist. Start with high schools and teachers, get the word out...

...about a fellowship opportunity to learn how to organize on behalf of Dems. Natural organizers exists in rural communities. They just didn't grow up with the civic infrastructure to understand how to get involved with a political campaign or that organizing is a job.

5) Uplift, organize, and train county parties. An effective county party is what I believe to be the place to start in rural communities. Rural county parties have it hard. They're trying to recruit members, but also convincing those people to come out publicly as a Democrat.

6) Rural policy issues that were named as most important to rural voters: job creation, access to hospitals and affordable care, broadband connection, anti-corruption, economic stimulus, racial equity, education quality, easy pathways to citizenship, small business assistance...

affordable housing, childcare access, and clean energy...just to name a few.

Needless to say, I learned that we have so much more to do in rural communities as a party. I'm really proud of every single #rural organizer who put their hearts and souls into organizing these places so many of us luckily call home. Thank you for your work. It matters.

These are just the highlights, and I'm looking forward to discussing more in the coming weeks. Rural places and people deserve this type of critical thought and analysis. I'm grateful to have been part of it. Read the full report here:

#ruralmatters

actionnetwork.org/forms/rural-20…

I'd love to hear YOUR thoughts/comments/feedback. Please feel free to DM/reply back! This report isn't all-encompassing, and I am thrilled that RuralOrganizing.Org see the value in continuing this project year after year. We have so much to learn from our rural spaces. 🤠