Winning in Places Where the Democratic Party Is Dead

Lately, I’ve been writing about the doom and gloom that is the Democratic Party. But that’s no way to end this challenging year. So, I thought I’d share some optimistic findings from my upcoming book, “The Billionaires Have Two Parties, We Need One of Our Own” (available by March, I hope).

I think we all can agree that rural America—the bedrock for MAGA—is a lost cause for the Democrats. Remember the red flashes on our TV screens as rural county after rural county overwhelming went for Trump in 2024? Nationally, there were 20 Congressional districts in which the Democrats didn’t even run a candidate in 2024, and overall, there were 132 districts that the Republicans won by 25 percent or more.

But while rural America may be a lost cause for the Democrats, it’s an area of opportunity for a new working-class political formation.

Why do I think a working-class candidate would do well in these overwhelmingly red districts? Because of what we found in our YouGov survey of 3,000 voters in four key industrial (and surprisingly rural) states.

Our data shows that voters in flaming red rural areas in Michigan, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin are willing to support a new working-class political organization dedicated to a very progressive economic platform.

We asked the following question:

Would you support a new organization, the Independent Workers Political Association, that would support working-class issues independent of both the Democratic and Republican parties? It would run and support independent political candidates committed to a platform that included:

• Stop big companies that receive tax dollars from laying off workers who pay taxes
• Guarantee everyone who wants to work a decent-paying job, and if the private sector can’t provide it, the government will
• Raise the minimum wage so every family can lead a decent life
• Stop drug company price-gouging and put price controls on food cartels

That’s a very radical idea and a very radical platform, clearly more progressive than what any congressperson is currently willing to support, except for maybe Sen. Bernie Sanders. Yet we found that 57 percent of the 3,000 respondents supported this new organization, which doesn’t even exist!

The survey also collected information about voters living in five areas: Big city, Smaller city, Suburban area, Small town, and Rural Area. Let’s zoom in on rural areas, where 585 of the 3,000 respondents (19.5%) live. Trump won in these rural areas with 51 percent of the vote in 2020 and 61 percent in 2024.

How did our Independent Workers Political Association do? Surprisingly well.

Voter Support for the Independent Workers’ Political Association

Rural Republicans: 50%

Rural Independents: 50%

Rural Democrats: 77%

This is good news for working-class advocates like me. The spoiler argument goes away because in these areas the Democratic Party hardly exists. A new workers’ party would rapidly become the second party, not the third party, challenging the Republicans.

The door is wide open to try something new. But that requires that a core group of labor unions come together to experiment with running working-class candidates in a few of these rural districts, ideally this cycle.

The idea has yet to catch on, although a few labor leaders like Shawn Fain of the UAW seem interested. Let’s hope more support emerges soon, because a rural red district with no Democratic Party is a terrible thing to waste.

Happy Holidays!