Things are moving at breakneck speed; the news is mind-bending, historical, reverberating, opening new chasms and widening old ones. You’re living that reality with me. You don’t need my take on it.
So instead of talking about how everything feels like it’s on fire, I wanted to tell you about a Democratic nominee who is turning down the temperature … by showing up.
I live in Missouri, which is a complicated state for a whole host of reasons. It’s solidly red now, but was blue not so very long ago. Barack Obama lost Missouri by just 3,000 votes in 2008.
Now we have a Republican supermajority. Six of our eight Congresspeople are Republican. We have two Republican U.S. Senators.
We don’t have a single elected statewide Democrat.
But we do have Elad.
I first met Elad Gross during his first run for Missouri Attorney General in 2017. Or maybe it was early 2018. It’s been so long – and he’s been such a constant, energizing, motivating presence – that I honestly can’t recall.
He started showing up in earnest then. He’s not stopped.
He’s running for statewide office, and trust me – he runs statewide, and always has. Whether it’s a small town parade, or a suburban picnic, or a Democratic club’s pie contest, or a statewide convention, or, even more commonly, in the dimly lit church basements that always smell a little like canned green beans where the local Democratic wards meet on Tuesdays (for some reason Democrats always meet on Tuesdays)… Elad is probably there.
But while he’s a perennial presence in Democratic circles, Elad’s very special gift, beyond having boundless energy and a willingness to drive long distances, is his ability to have meaningful conversations with conservative voters.
He joined a video call I co-hosted a few weeks ago from his car, which looked to be parked in a rural, gravel lot. A local conservative radio station had invited him to a debate watch party. He accepted.
Elad always accepts.
From his parked car, Elad told us about the event, and about how he was the only Democrat who had been invited (and perhaps the only Attorney General candidate of any party that had been invited). He had lots of stories.
One stood out.
A fellow wearing a Trump hat had approached Elad, and complimented him on driving an American-made car. Elad responded that the car wasn’t just American-made, it was Missouri-made. That opened up a wide-ranging conversation, where they talked about the man’s family members and friends – many of whom had lost opportunities and jobs because so much is being extracted from our state. They lamented all that has been lost.
“Well, at least we agree on that,” Elad said.
The man responded – “I’ll bet we agree on a whole lot more.”
As Elad told us that story, he paused for a second to let that comment from a rural, Trump-hat wearing MAGA Republican sink in. After their conversation was over, the man fanned out into this ultra-conservative crowd and returned to Elad’s campaign car three times, each time bringing a different friend to introduce to the Democrat with the Missouri-made car.
And the event wasn’t yet over.
“A lot of people don’t know what party I’m in,” Elad confessed. Because he talks about the job of the Attorney General (and how it’s not being done by its current occupant) people are won over by the policy and the message and the energy – regardless of their politics. They’re won over by the idea of a public official actually working for Missourians, rather than teeing themselves up for their next campaign. (For reference, both of our U.S. Senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmidt, were Missouri Attorney Generals immediately before running for Senate; they hollowed out the office, eliminating divisions and decimating staff while they focused on their Senate races.)
Case in point: Elad recently spoke at an event held at a shop called “Trump HQ.” (That’s obviously not your typical Democratic audience.) After hearing his stump speech, a man in the audience called out:
“Just please tell me you’re not a RINO!” (Republican In Name Only.)
Elad responded, “I’m happy to say that would be impossible, sir, because I’m a Democrat.”
Thereafter, a woman apparently tried to convince Elad to change his party affiliation. He declined, good-naturedly.
Democratic nominee for Missouri Attorney General Elad Gross and his dog Liberty Belle (a puppy mill rescue) at Trump HQ in Warsaw, MO
Maybe it seems surprising that someone would so easily confuse a Democratic nominee’s message with a Republican’s. But because we’ve ceded territory for so long in so many rural spaces, this is the first time a lot of people have personally heard from a Democrat.
In fact, plenty of folks believe that progressive policy positions are Republican policy positions.
That may shock you, but we see it here in Missouri all the time, where progressive policy positions like recreational marijuana and Medicaid expansion pass easily on statewide ballot initiatives, while Republicans sweep statewide offices. (Republicans have responded not by adopting those progressive positions – which are obviously supported by a majority of Missourians – but by trying to gut the initiative petition process and make it harder for everyday Missourians to have their voices heard.)
But this disconnect between what rural voters believe and the positions held by the party they affiliate with isn’t unique to Missouri at all. It’s even reflected in a recent poll of rural voters in ten states, commissioned by the Rural Democracy Initiative.
The poll asked voters which economic policy they supported. The choices were a “middle-out” economic policy (the Democratic economic policy) or a “top-down” economic policy (the Republican economic policy).
The vast majority – 58% – supported the progressive “middle-out” policy.
But when that same middle-out economic policy was presented – this time branded as a Democratic policy position – support dropped by 20 points (38%).
That’s not all. When asked about a policy platform that included “ensuring tax fairness, protecting Medicare and Social Security, and supporting abortion rights,” nearly two in five rural voters thought that obviously Democratic agenda was a Trump/Republican agenda.
Friend, progressive rural voters are not unicorns. They exist. (Just ask fellow Missourian and Dirt Road Democrat Jessica Piper.)
They just don’t always know that we exist.
Part of the problem is that rural voters hear and see a lot more from Trump and Republicans than from Democrats. Because Democrats have left huge rural areas uncontested and unsupported for cycles, we’ve omitted ourselves from the conversation. But our absence sends a message all on its own.
The Rural Democracy Initiative poll puts it well: “[T]he absence of the Biden campaign may be leading many rural voters, including rural Democrats, to feel less positive to Biden or less certain the Democrats care about people like them.”
That’s the message folks get. You’re not here? You must not care.
Not showing up in rural spaces is hurting us.
We may agree on policy, but it doesn’t matter if you don’t show up.
Plenty of folks right now are saying that we need to turn down the temperature, and they’re not wrong. But they usually leave out how we go about doing that. Or their advice – which is usually some kind of introspective self-censoring – misses the mark.
Friend, we don’t turn down the temperature by omitting this word or that phrase. We turn down the temperature by listening. We turn down the temperature by showing up, and actually seeing one another. We turn down the temperature by being in the same rooms – not to criticize or debate each other – but to find and appreciate the things we have in common.
I follow Elad’s campaign closely, partly because he’s a friend and a good person, but partly because he’s showing everyone else how it’s done.
There are so many things we agree on. As Missourians, as Americans, as humans – if we can only be brave enough to cut through the noise. In a country that’s gone tribal, Elad is the voice reminding everyone that there’s not so much space that separates us – and that it’s really those who want to keep us so far apart from one another that we should be wary of.
There is nothing that those who have abused their power and our country fear more than the American people overcoming our differences and getting our government working for us. Sometimes we’ll leave a conversation disagreeing on an important issue, but it’s the promise of a future conversation, another opportunity to learn and grow from each other, that makes our country work. ~Elad Gross
It’s far harder to believe the incendiary rhetoric about Democrats when your frame of reference is a friendly fellow who looks a bit like Harry Potter and has a dog named Liberty Belle. A guy who is earnest, often brings pie, and happens to be a civil rights attorney. A guy who cheerfully shows up for rooms of 12 or 1200 people – and brings the same enthusiasm to both.
And a guy who listens – really and truly listens. Seemingly, with his whole heart.
Nobody said turning down the temperature was easy to do.
But we should support the people who make it look that way.
Let’s get to work.
Small Deeds to Do for the Week of July 16, 2024
Here’s the part where – if you are so inclined – we roll up our sleeves and engage in what I like to call Action Therapy. Each Tuesday I share a few “small things” – usually a Small Thing to Read, a Small Event to Attend, and a Small Call to Make or Action to Take. You can tuck these actions into your week with ease – and know that you’re doing something today to make tomorrow better.
Small Action to Take, Today, July 16 from 6-8 pm central
Did I convince you to become a booster for Elad? I sure hope so. You can sign up to volunteer here: https://www.eladgross.org/volunteer. Elad’s already got 2,500 volunteers – so you’re in good company!
If you want to get started tonight (yes, tonight!) you can join a virtual phone bank for Elad from 6-8pm tonight here: https://www.mobilize.us/eladgross/event/642426/
Follow Elad on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EladGrossMO
On Twitter: https://x.com/bigelad
Campaign website: https://www.eladgross.org/
Small Thing(s) to Read
As you know, Timothy Snyder is one of my favorite authors. His perspective on the assassination attempt is grounded in history, and provides a lot of context and clarity. If you’re not already following him, may I suggest you do? And if you have not yet read it, you can find his most recent essay here.
And you know I can’t help myself: Rural Democracy Initiative has published the results of their poll, which showed that rural folks are far more progressive than you might think. If you’re wonky like me, you like a good chart! So here’s the summary analysis, complete with questions and charts.
Small Event to Attend: TONIGHT! 6-7pm central (H/T Jess Craven!)
Join Jessica Craven of Chop Wood Carry Water for a Climate Action Party: Fix the Farm Bill
The U.S. Farm Bill is our last big opportunity for federal climate legislation in the foreseeable future. The U.S. will spend $648 billion on farm subsidies, loans, and more, compared with $369 billion on energy and climate change in the Inflation Reduction Act.
But passage of this critical legislation before the end of the year is increasingly uncertain with serious negative consequences, and conservative legislators are trying to use the Farm Bill to preempt local pesticide regulations, significantly reduce SNAP funding (previously known as food stamps), remove climate guardrails from conservation programs, and redirect IRA funding to programs favored by Big Ag.
Now, more than ever, climate activists need to speak up to ensure that climate-friendly and other critical provisions of the Farm Bill are preserved.
In this Action Party, Farm Bill experts will unpack which actions have the greatest impact and why it is critical for all of us to advocate for them. RSVP here: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/climate-action-party-fix-the-farm-bill-tickets-929435264897
Thanks for reading, friend – I’m glad to see you here! If you love what I do and you want to support it, consider becoming a paid subscriber on substack. It means a lot!
Small Deeds Done 