After Kate ran for TN Senate in 2022, this gap became even more apparent as most national organizations refused to support her campaign in favor of already blue strongholds (with some exception). The focus was mainly on Tennessee’s urban districts with rural candidates left to fend for themselves with little support. Harvesting Democracy will close this much needed gap by supporting Tennessee’s state and local candidates running in majority rural districts.

We have to redefine what it means to win in rural areas. It isn’t always going to be a flipped seat and sometimes it takes several needle moves before the seat will flip. But those seats will never flip unless we start investing in those districts. And the majority of the seats in the Tennessee Legislature include majority rural districts, which means without a rural strategy Democrats won’t be successful on election day or passing legislation.

And if we want more Democratic candidates running at the state level, then we have to invest in progressive candidates running at the local level. We have to recruit and support candidates running for school boards, city commissions, county commissions, etc. And progressive candidates elected at the local level can stop the book bans and as well as the dismissal of teachers for introducing Black voices into classrooms that are currently supported by Republican extremists serving on school boards.