Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz looked at home on stage at a family farm in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 15 during an afternoon campaign stop.
The event followed the morning announcement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Walz’s “Plan for Rural America,” which emphasizes affordable healthcare and support for small farmers.
Walz donned a red buffalo-plaid flannel and ball cap to talk with rural Pennsylvania voters about his own small town roots and what a Walz-Harris administration would mean for rural communities across the country. Walz emphasized his rural roots and repeatedly used the word “we” to build affinity with rural voters, a bloc that Donald Trump won 2 to 1 nationally in 2020.
Walz, who grew up in Butte, Nebraska, population 400, said his rural upbringing taught him that neighbors are there to help each other, not to be at each other’s throats about politics.
“We also learned to drive when we were 10,” Walz said to the crowd. “And I learned how to tune a 79 International Harvester Scout that’s still running.”
His speech was peppered with rural anecdotes and jabs at the Republican presidential ticket. But he also nailed down some of the details of Democrats’ rural plan.
Supporting agriculture was at the top of the list.
“We need to make sure that the next generation of farmers is ready to thrive,” Walz said. He referred to the average age of a U.S. farmer – 58 years old – and said that a Harris administration would make it a priority to support beginning farmers and ranchers by making sure agricultural monopolies “aren’t here to pull that land out from under these folks.”
He also mentioned President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides grants to small and mid-sized farming businesses to install renewable energy and implement conservation projects. Walz said laws like these are “golden opportunities” to rejuvenate rural America.
While his comments on the Farm Bill were brief, Walz also voiced frustration at Republicans for stalling the passage of this legislation for the second year in a row, a move that has dismayed farmers and rural advocates alike.
“[Donald Trump] doesn’t know a damn thing about farm policy,” Walz said. “But the people behind him do, and they’re the folks that are concerned about one thing: tax cuts for the wealthy at the top to make sure corporations can get bigger.”
Another key focus in Walz’s speech was rural healthcare.
He talked about his ticket’s plan to recruit 10,000 rural healthcare professionals, protect independent pharmacies from closure, and build 3,000 new rural pharmacies. Other plans include halving the number of people living in ambulance “deserts” (places with inadequate ambulance service) and expanding telemedicine to ensure access to affordable and high-quality healthcare.
Walz also highlighted the Democrats’ plan to expand Medicare to include at-home healthcare and dental and vision care.
“These are the real things in life,” Walz said. “What’s real is a few years ago when my mom finally got the hearing aids she needed. She’s a lot more fun right now.”
The vice presidential candidate also didn’t shy away from gun talk. “Nobody’s coming for your guns,” Walz said of Harris’ support for requiring background checks for all gun purchases.
“But we are going to make sure that your kids can go to school without being shot dead in their classroom,” he added.
Both Walz and Harris are registered gun owners. He appeared to highlight this fact as an appeal to rural voters, who own more guns than urban or suburban residents. One reason is that hunting plays a bigger role in rural culture, which Walz made sure to address – at the beginning of his speech, he talked about spending last Saturday pheasant hunting in Minnesota.
“If you never hunt pheasants, I’m telling you, you need to get into this,” Walz said. “The dogs are in the field, you’re on the land that’s been in your family for a long time and you’re getting to participate in something that we all love so much.”
Claire Carlson of Portland, Ore., is a staff correspondent and Lane Wendell Fischer of Ellis, Kansas, is digital editor of Daily Yonder, where this story was originally published. For more rural reporting and small-town stories visit DailyYonder.com.
From The Progressive Populist, November 15, 2024
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The Democratic vice presidential candidate says the Kamala Harris administration will support beginning farmers and defend rural pharmacies from closure.
By CLAIRE CARLSON and LANE WENDELL FISCHER / The Daily Yonder
Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Walz looked at home on stage at a family farm in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania, Oct. 15 during an afternoon campaign stop.
The event followed the morning announcement of Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris and Walz’s “Plan for Rural America,” which emphasizes affordable healthcare and support for small farmers.
Walz donned a red buffalo-plaid flannel and ball cap to talk with rural Pennsylvania voters about his own small town roots and what a Walz-Harris administration would mean for rural communities across the country. Walz emphasized his rural roots and repeatedly used the word “we” to build affinity with rural voters, a bloc that Donald Trump won 2 to 1 nationally in 2020.
Walz, who grew up in Butte, Nebraska, population 400, said his rural upbringing taught him that neighbors are there to help each other, not to be at each other’s throats about politics.
“We also learned to drive when we were 10,” Walz said to the crowd. “And I learned how to tune a 79 International Harvester Scout that’s still running.”
His speech was peppered with rural anecdotes and jabs at the Republican presidential ticket. But he also nailed down some of the details of Democrats’ rural plan.
Supporting agriculture was at the top of the list.
“We need to make sure that the next generation of farmers is ready to thrive,” Walz said. He referred to the average age of a U.S. farmer – 58 years old – and said that a Harris administration would make it a priority to support beginning farmers and ranchers by making sure agricultural monopolies “aren’t here to pull that land out from under these folks.”
He also mentioned President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, which provides grants to small and mid-sized farming businesses to install renewable energy and implement conservation projects. Walz said laws like these are “golden opportunities” to rejuvenate rural America.
While his comments on the Farm Bill were brief, Walz also voiced frustration at Republicans for stalling the passage of this legislation for the second year in a row, a move that has dismayed farmers and rural advocates alike.
“[Donald Trump] doesn’t know a damn thing about farm policy,” Walz said. “But the people behind him do, and they’re the folks that are concerned about one thing: tax cuts for the wealthy at the top to make sure corporations can get bigger.”
Another key focus in Walz’s speech was rural healthcare.
He talked about his ticket’s plan to recruit 10,000 rural healthcare professionals, protect independent pharmacies from closure, and build 3,000 new rural pharmacies. Other plans include halving the number of people living in ambulance “deserts” (places with inadequate ambulance service) and expanding telemedicine to ensure access to affordable and high-quality healthcare.
Walz also highlighted the Democrats’ plan to expand Medicare to include at-home healthcare and dental and vision care.
“These are the real things in life,” Walz said. “What’s real is a few years ago when my mom finally got the hearing aids she needed. She’s a lot more fun right now.”
The vice presidential candidate also didn’t shy away from gun talk. “Nobody’s coming for your guns,” Walz said of Harris’ support for requiring background checks for all gun purchases.
“But we are going to make sure that your kids can go to school without being shot dead in their classroom,” he added.
Both Walz and Harris are registered gun owners. He appeared to highlight this fact as an appeal to rural voters, who own more guns than urban or suburban residents. One reason is that hunting plays a bigger role in rural culture, which Walz made sure to address – at the beginning of his speech, he talked about spending last Saturday pheasant hunting in Minnesota.
“If you never hunt pheasants, I’m telling you, you need to get into this,” Walz said. “The dogs are in the field, you’re on the land that’s been in your family for a long time and you’re getting to participate in something that we all love so much.”
Claire Carlson of Portland, Ore., is a staff correspondent and Lane Wendell Fischer of Ellis, Kansas, is digital editor of Daily Yonder, where this story was originally published. For more rural reporting and small-town stories visit DailyYonder.com.