WASHINGTON �� Agriculture Secretary and former Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack has a message for Democrats: Don't take the rural vote for granted.
"If the Democrats are interested in winning statewide races, winning presidential races, winning gubernatorial races, winning congressional seats, they can't get crushed in rural areas," Vilsack said in an interview. "And what's really frustrating is, they've got a pretty good message, if they delivered it."
Vilsack's decades-long ties with Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton made him a finalist for her vice presidential pick this year, although she ultimately selected Sen. Tim Kaine of Virginia.
Rural voters backed Donald Trump over Clinton 62 percent to 34 percent in the presidential election, according to exit polls. That compares with 61 percent for Republican Mitt Romney and 37 percent for President Barack Obama in 2012.. That helped give Trump the narrow margins in Wisconsin, Michigan and Pennsylvania that won the election for him.
Since then, how to appeal to small-town, predominantly white working-class voters has become a theme of Democratic Party soul-searching. The life and career of Vilsack, who grew up in western Pennsylvania and served two terms as Iowa governor, spans the region that flipped to Trump this year.
In the interview, Vilsack pointed to several accomplishments during his eight years serving the Obama administration. Poverty rates fell in rural areas. Population declines in those areas stopped and there was federal support for programs that help workers and families adjust to a transitioning economy.
But Vilsack gave two reasons for Democrats' struggles: the uncomfortable fit some rural voters have in today's party, and the relative weakness of pro-government against anti-government lobbies.
"People in my party don't know how to talk to folks in rural areas," said Vilsack, who briefly ran for the 2008 Democratic presidential nomination before deferring to Clinton. "It's hard for us to articulate a message that crosses the different silos of a diverse party. We've got a message for this group, and that group, and this group, but if you're not a part of that group, asking what's in it for me, you don't quite get it."
Meanwhile, labor unions and other constituencies that have helped Democrats for decades have become weaker than their counterparts.
"If you had to have someone on your side in a political campaign, setting aside whether you agree with them or not, would you want to have the Sierra Club or the NRA?" he said, referring to the pro-gun National Rifle Association. "Those institutions that are supportive of government are not as strong, not as tough, not as disciplined as those who sort of protect people against government."
Losses in traditionally Democratic Rust Belt states have prompted Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, to challenge House Minority Leader Representative Nancy Pelosi. Former Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean has said he'll try to regain that party post, in part to restore a "50-state strategy" for nationwide appeal he says the party has ignored.
