In Rural America, the Messenger is the Message
Introduction
As we approach the final sprint to Election Day, I wanted to update you on the work we’ve been doing at Rural Organizing and RuralVote SuperPAC. To be honest, we are watching the narrative on rural politics change. Our “Boldly Progressive, Proudly Rural” approach to politics is a powerful force in 2024. We see that message echoed by the Harris/Walz ticket as a key element of their economic agenda. And while that might feel like an overnight success, those of us in the rural organizing ecosystem know it’s been a long 12 years of work.
People need to see this powerful narrative to make the most of it. And, as documented below, it's official: yard signs are making a comeback, and our program this year is on the front line of this trend. The response has exceeded our expectations.
This memo outlines the work we have undertaken over the last ten months and the results we are seeing. Our role has been to rebuild a narrative from the bottom up, not by changing our talking points but by changing the narrator. Because in today’s politics, we know that the messenger is the message.
Summary
Yard signs are coming back this year, and our battleground program is at the forefront of this new trend in American politics.
Over the last several months, our team at RuralVote.org has recruited over 4,000 volunteers in 750 towns across five battleground states. Together, these volunteers have already placed 28,000-yard signs!
Our field experiments show that each sign placed in a yard generates between 4 and 6 conversations. Our yard sign program has already generated over 150,000 conversations between friends, family, and neighbors.
Current campaign tactics focus efforts on a narrow geography of voters within a broad ideological spectrum. Our campaigns focus on increasing Democratic visibility in a broad geographic spectrum by recruiting base voters to lead local, distributed visibility campaigns.
Our primary 2024 campaign objective is to expand the Democratic geographical footprint in small towns and rural communities.
