Voter outreach in rural counties is also crucial for Democrats

This article is a friendly reminder that to win a Presidential campaign in Georgia or similar swing states your campaign needs to reach out to rural voters as well, and more importantly that those efforts do make a difference. In Georgia in 2020, for example, Joe Biden was netting a noticeably higher level of support in rural counties than Hillary Clinton had against Trump in 2016. Senator Raphael Warnock's successful Senatorial bid for a full term can likewise be attributed in part to rural county outreach. The Harris/Walz team is building on that approach. 

Voter outreach in rural areas is something analysts like Martin Longman (of Progress Pond) has advocated for years. I am sure he is far from alone. Yes, it is true that many of these rural counties will not flip Democratic, but by reaching out to those silent Democrats, the odds that they turn out to vote improve, thus improving the odds that a Democratic Presidential candidate will win a highly competitive state. And let's not forget the potential benefits down-ballot. There are local, county, and statewide offices that may be winnable for Democratic candidates that would have been hopeless without that outreach. It is worth the effort, and I say this speaking as someone who has either lived in rural counties or lived in cities with maybe 80,000-90,000 in population surrounded by farmland and ranch land for the last roughly three decades. We want to be seen and heard.

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