Rural Americans are mad--and they gave Democrats a reckoning

Rural Americans are mad. For the last four years, we have felt ignored and abused for an agenda we did not sign up for. Democrats, who claim to be the party of the people, proved they were not, and left us behind. And so, on Election Day, we made our voices heard, with upward of 65 percent of rural voters supporting Donald Trump for president.

The population and voice of rural America is growing. After a decade in decline, from 2020 to 2022, rural America grew, with people leaving their urban communities seeking the opportunity to live the American dream for their families.

With that growth, many in rural communities worried that their values would change – that the liberal ideals espoused by many of the urban elite would infiltrate our communities. But the election showed this was not the case. Donald Trump held on to his margins in rural communities – in many areas, even exceeding them. 

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As we look toward the incoming Trump administration in 2025, America’s political elite need to ask themselves why these rural voters – including farmers, ranchers, and small business owners – showed up to support a new Trump presidency with such overwhelming force. Precincts in these communities are vast, requiring at times up to an hour’s drive to walk in and exercise our right as Americans to vote.

Democrats Joe Biden and Kamala Harris had their chance. They did nothing to support the interests of rural America. They spent billions in taxpayer dollars on "climate-smart" grants to support their green new scheme but those dollars were never felt in most rural communities.

Rural Americans are committed to drive further – often parking their tractors, trucks, construction equipment, school buses or even garbage trucks to cast their ballots. Many took unpaid breaks from their work. But for these Americans, voting was important. It was an opportunity to send a clear message to those in Washington who, so often, dismiss the values and challenges of those in "fly-over" country.

What Democrats failed to calculate, throughout the 2024 election campaign, is that rural communities are made up of families whose income would have been decimated by their policies. Tax proposals, like taxes on unrealized capital gains and doubling the number of individuals paying inheritance tax, would have ended the possibility of passing a thriving business to a new generation. Democrat policies incentivize companies to move operations offshore, costing American jobs and investment capital.

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And while Democrats were proposing higher taxes, our purchasing power shrunk, with regulation, out-of-control spending, and a misguided climate agenda leading to rampant inflation. According to an AP VoteCast survey, 96% of voters said "high prices for gas, groceries, and other goods" impacted their vote. Nowhere is this truer than in farming and ranching communities, where every single element of agricultural production is affected by energy costs. And when our costs go up, so do prices consumers face at the grocery store.

American agriculture has also experienced the loss of international markets and the income that comes from being able to sell our products to consumers around the world. Under the Biden-Harris administration, we had no discernible "salesperson" for U.S. agriculture, and it showed. Democrats did not prioritize international trade, and so the agricultural trade balance cratered, going from a surplus to a deficit over the last three years. On the current trajectory, the U.S. will suffer its fourth year of negative agricultural trade balances. This trend is unsustainable.

 A farmer uses a barn to show support for Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump on August 10, 2024, near Charles City, Iowa.   (Scott Olson/Getty Images)

On Election Day, rural Americans examined the last four years. We looked at where we were when Donald Trump left office and where we are now. And the answer was clear: Democrats, Joe Biden, and Kamala Harris, had their chance. They did nothing to support the interests of rural America. They spent billions in taxpayer dollars on "climate-smart" grants to support their green new scheme, but those dollars were never felt in most rural communities.

So, we chose a president who would. Donald Trump’s sound energy policies will make America energy independent and keep our rural communities thriving. He prioritizes the American worker and American introduction, working to sign trade deals that will open new international markets. And he will implement tax and fiscal policies that will help our communities grow.

My message for Democrats: It may be time for a little self-reflection. Rural Americans have been called names – "deplorables," and worse by Democrats — for years. But at the ballot box, we have power, and our voices cannot be ignored.

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Kip Tom is a farmer from Leesburg, Indiana, and was ambassador to the United Nations for Food and Agriculture during the Trump administration.