WASHINGTON _ A group of conservative Democratic lawmakers is making an appeal to the rural voters who've mostly abandoned the party by focusing on what they argue are weak points in President Donald Trump's agenda on issues such as trade and health care.
The 18-member Blue Dog Coalition, which has been working to prevent a leftward shift in the Democrats' House delegation, is releasing Thursday what it says is a plan to address economic, health care, infrastructure and veterans issues specific to rural areas.
Presented as a possible agenda regardless of whether Democrats take back the House in the November midterm elections, the five-part plan also gives Democratic candidates running in rural Republican strongholds the outline of a campaign platform.
"For too long, Washington has taken a one-size-fits-all approach to economic policy," Rep. Jim Costa of California, Blue Dog co-chair and a member of the Agriculture Committee, said in a statement. "What works for big cities doesn't always work for rural areas."
The plan envisions "a commonsense, bipartisan approach to revitalizing rural America," which calls for Congress to pass a new farm bill, stabilize health care markets and oppose an escalation of trade tensions, a reference to the president's trade conflicts with China.
While Democrats dominate urban areas, Republicans' hold on rural America has continued to grow.
An NPR analysis of presidential election exit polls found that rural areas went for Trump over Democrat Hillary Clinton by 28 points in 2016. President Barack Obama lost the rural vote by eight points in 2008 and 20 points in 2012. A May 2018 Pew Research Center survey found that Republicans have a 16-point advantage in rural America while Democrats have a 31-point advantage in urban centers.
The plan was spearheaded by Rep. Tom O'Halleran, a first-term Arizona Democrat who won in a district that Trump narrowly carried.
Democrats need to flip 23 Republican-held seats to win back control of the House in the Nov. 6 elections.
Blue Dogs say they expect their membership numbers to grow with the election of centrist Democratic candidates from swing districts. They want to moderate the influence of the party's more progressive wing if Democrats regain control. The coalition has endorsed 20 candidates running in seats rated from likely Democratic to solid Republican by the Cook Political Report.
The other priorities outlined in their plan include lowering prescription drug prices, passing an infrastructure bill, expanding access to broadband internet service and improving health care access for veterans in rural areas. They don't provide details of such proposals or how they would be paid for.
