How The Left Wins Back Rural US Voters | Chloe Maxmin & Canyon Woodward | TMR

The Democratic Party is struggling in rural America. However, Chloe Maxmin managed to win a state senate seat on a very progressive, climate-focused agenda in a small town in Maine. How did she do it? She and her campaign manager Canyon Woodward tell us their strategy.

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And we are joined Now by Chloe Maxman Maine state senator and political strategist Canyon Woodward both of whom are the authors of Dirt Road Revival: How to Rebuild Rural Politics and why our future depends on it. Thank you both so much for being here. Thank you. Great to be here. Yeah of course so you know so Chloe you were elected to the state senate in Maine. You have a history of climate activism which we began the show talking a bit about the devastation in Southwest Florida and how hurricane Ian is more acutely felt given the effects of climate change. But talk a bit about your run for Maine State Senate and how you were able to get elected. Because those experiences are really the backbone of your book here. Yes, I grew up in a small town in rural Maine and in 2018 I ran for the state house. And in 2020 I ran for the state senate. And both times Canyon was the brilliant campaign manager. We ran in districts that traditionally have been really tricky for Democrats to win. More Rural and conservative districts and our work has really been about how we connect with folks who are different from us. and how do we really fight for Progressive values in rural communities that are becoming more and more conservative? And Canyon, what did you know about your background that brought you to work on a Maine State Senate campaign, and what made that unique in terms of your work? Yeah I mean I also come from a very small town in the western western tip of North Carolina. Conservative area. And got into organizing actually with Chloe in college. She founded the fossil fuel divestment movement at Harvard. And so we co-coordinated that. And so our background is very much in the climate sphere. And after years of organizing in that space, I think it was becoming super clear to us that the reason we weren't making the progress we needed legislatively was because of the people that we have in the office. And the lack of folks really willing to go to bat on these issues. And so that's what led me to work on the Bernie campaign for both of us. And then and then for us to dive into the state-level in politics in Maine.