Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear speaks with reporters outside an event at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago on Aug. 20, 2024. (Jacob Fischler/States Newsroom)
CHICAGO –– Democrats should focus on pocketbook issues to win back rural voters, speakers including Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear said at a Rural Council meeting at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday.
Beshear urged the group of rural Democrats to reject social issues and a left-right ideological framing. Most voters, he said, were not worried about political labels, but about jobs, health care, transportation, school quality and safety.
The Republicans dominating rural districts and states, Beshear and other speakers said, were not delivering on those issues.
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“With Republicans going through the extreme ends that they are on every issue, now is our time to both run and govern on those issues that matter the most,” he said. “And when we do that, we don’t move a state or the country to the right or the left. We move it forward for every single American.”