ABOUT THIS REPORT AND RECORDED WEBINAR
Between February 03, 2023 and April 7, 2023, RuralOrganizing.org launched a project to collect, evaluate, and prioritize the struggles and successes of rural campaigns in 2022. To this end, we conducted 50 “2022 Exit Interviews” with progressive rural organizers, candidates, and civic leaders. This report takes our compiled qualitative data and shares the resulting set of conclusions and recommendations.
Four key findings were identified in our research: First, rural campaigns are crippled by a lack of funding. Second, building a coalition between party organizations and movement builders on rural issues during the off-cycle builds the infrastructure that proper funding can mobilize during the election years. Third, progressive candidates in rural areas must incorporate those local issues into their platforms and messaging. Fourth, policy and issues are not enough to win rural campaigns; Messaging must tap into emotion and connect to move the people to act.
On Thursday, April 20th, Dani Cook, who headed the Exit Interview project held a briefing to present on the lessons learned to the RuralOrganizing.org network.
CONTACT
If you’re interested in our team presenting about this topic, please e-mail us at campaigns@ruralorganizing.org
