Nebraska Democratic Party Chair Jane Kleeb said Monday both Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and former Vice President Joe Biden lack a plan to attract rural voters to their presidential campaigns.
“Rural voters right now are facing what they have for the past decade, that the economy in rural communities is declining, rural hospitals are closing, schools are closing,” Kleeb said in an interview with The Hill.TV’s “Rising.”
“What you didn’t see Sen. Sanders’s team, and quite frankly Joe Biden didn’t do this either, or any of the other candidates for that matter … they did not have a real-world strategy with actual campaign folks on the ground in these communities connecting with voters on a one-on-one basis,” she added.
Kleeb also said that candidates only address rural voters directly when campaigning in Iowa, noting that rallies in other states were held in cities.
“This is my constant message to candidates — you can’t expect a voter to come to your side because they agree with you on the issues, you actually have to make sure that they feel like they’re being heard and their issues are being not only targeted in your white papers … but that you actually have campaign staff and infrastructure in those communities,” Kleeb said.
Biden has a significant lead over Sanders in the 2020 Democratic primary race. Sanders said last week he would be reassessing his campaign after Biden continued to build on his lead.
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