Tom Vilsack: Why Democrats Don’t Get Rural America

Tom Vilsack has much to say about Democrats and rural America. And for good reason. He’s the longest-serving Democratic agriculture secretary in history, having claimed the office tucked along the National Mall for eight years under former President Barack Obama and now concluding four more years in the post in the Biden administration. Frustrated with the Democrats’ defeat, and what he sees as the lack of attention and credit for what his department has done for America’s farmers, Vilsack wanted to set the record straight. Rural communities have grown in population in recent years, Vilsack wanted folks to know. There is a good news story to tell about innovations in the ag economy. So why haven’t Democrats received political credit for it, only seeing their losses across rural areas deepen in the last four years?