Rickey Cole, 58, is a farmer and the former two-term chair of Mississippi’s Democratic Party. If anyone understands rural Mississippi voters – and their shift from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party – it’s Cole.
“You learn from losing,” the lifelong Democrat said.
He should hope so.
In 2001, when Cole first served as party chair, Democrats controlled 7 of 8 statewide offices, including governor and attorney general, and both state legislative chambers. Twenty years later, Republicans hold all eight statewide offices and a massive 79-41 majority in the state House and 36-16 majority in the state Senate.
Mississippi, the nation’s fourth-most rural state, defines “rural” as any county with fewer than 50,000 residents or a town with a population of 15,000 or less. In the 2023 election, 51% of Mississippians lived in communities meeting this criteria.
Though Democrats still have an edge in urban centers such as Jackson and Vicksburg, the slow and repeated loss of rural voters is the cause of Cole’s woes.
“Losing them is the motif of my entire career,” he told me.
A losing tide
Cole and Mississippi are not alone.
Democrats have been losing rural voters across the U.S. since the 1960s. But the party has hemorrhaged these voters since 2000.
In 1992 and 1996, Democrat Bill Clinton won 49% of the rural vote in both elections. But by 2008, that number had declined when Barack Obama only took 43% of rural voters.
Four years ago, that number collapsed even more. In 2020, Joe Biden captured about 35% of the rural vote.
The Democratic Party’s collapse in rural America has fueled support for Donald Trump and his “Make America Great Again” movement.
Rickey Cole, 58, is a farmer and the former two-term chair of Mississippi’s Democratic Party. If anyone understands rural Mississippi voters – and their shift from the Democratic Party to the Republican Party – it’s Cole.
“You learn from losing,” the lifelong Democrat said.
He should hope so.
In 2001, when Cole first served as party chair, Democrats controlled 7 of 8 statewide offices, including governor and attorney general, and both state legislative chambers. Twenty years later, Republicans hold all eight statewide offices and a massive 79-41 majority in the state House and 36-16 majority in the state Senate.
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