Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, speaks at Telesz Farms in Volant, Lawrence County Oct. 15, 2024 (Capital-Star photo)
VOLANT —At a soybean and dairy farm in Lawrence County on Tuesday, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president, made the campaign’s pitch to rural voters, drawing on his upbringing in rural Nebraska.
“I learned a lot of things on those family farms,” Walz said. He said some of his warmest memories are from living on a farm, including learning to drive at about age 10, he joked. Growing up in a rural area “was being on the land and understanding what it meant.”
Family farms, Walz added, are part of a “proud tradition of feeding and fueling this country. Our rural neighbors are foundational to America’s success.”
Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic nominee for president, announced a policy plan for rural communities on Tuesday, with a focus on supporting small farmers and ranchers.
The initiative calls for adding 10,000 health care professionals in rural areas, expanding telemedicine, keeping rural hospitals and pharmacies open, and reducing the number of “ambulance deserts,” which Walz mentioned during his remarks.
“There’s large places in America right now, if you dial 911, it’s very difficult to get to an ambulance right on time,” he said. “Our EMTs are in short supply. We want to make sure that we’re cutting that gap and expanding telemedicine and access to affordable, quality healthcare for everyone in every part of this country.”
He added that protecting independent pharmacies is crucial for rural health care. “Consolidation between pharmacy benefit managers and the closing of small independent rural pharmacies not only took jobs from small communities, they made it more difficult for you to access the medicines you need at affordable prices,” he said.
Trump, Walz said, does not respect rural communities. “And I’ll tell you what, they take a hell of a lot of their voters for granted by the policies they put out that don’t do a damn thing for rural Pennsylvania, rural Minnesota or any place in this country.”
Kenneth Heitger of Beaver County, at a rally for Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic nominee for vice president in Volant, Lawrence County Oct. 15, 2024. (Capital-Star photo)
Because of Trump’s policies that favored larger farms over smaller ones, Walz said, the U.S. had had “near record farm bankruptcies in 2019.” Data from U.S. bankruptcy court filings show there were nearly 600 Chapter 12 family farm bankruptcies that year, up 20% from the year prior, and the highest number since 2011.
“Donald Trump might be able to afford to go bankrupt once, twice, three times, four times, five times, six times,” Walz added, “but farmers get to do it once, and then the farm’s gone for the next generation, and then the community’s lost another family, and sure enough, the businesses downtown start to close.”
Republican National Committee spokesperson Anna Kelly pushed back on Walz’ comments about Trump’s record. “Rural Americans have long felt left behind by Kamala Harris’ weak, failed, dangerously liberal policies to cripple our economy, impose red tape on our farmers, and create uncertainty through measures like their burdensome WOTUS rule,” a Clean Water Act provision. “Harris can try to rewrite history, but it’s too little, too late – rural voters are tired of being failed by Democrats, and they are lining up to support President Trump.”
Walz said he wouldn’t trade his rural upbringing for anything, which he said was in contrast to Trump’s running mate, U.S. Sen J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), as evidenced by his 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy.
“Senator Vance, he became a media darling. He wrote a book about the place he grew up, but the problem was, he was trashing that place where he grew up, rather than lifting it up. He’s a venture capitalist, cosplaying like he’s a cowboy or something.”
Walz made a couple of stops in rural southwestern Pennsylvania on Tuesday, ahead of an evening rally at Acrisure Stadium in Pittsburgh. He and running mate Vice President Kamala Harris have been campaigning in more rural parts of the state in recent weeks to appeal to “persuadable” undecided voters.
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The Harris campaign’s plan for rural Americans points to several initiatives Harris announced previously that it said would help people in rural areas, including lowering the cost of childcare, providing up to $25,000 in down payment assistance for first-time homebuyers, and increasing the small business tax deduction for startup expenses to $50,000.
In addition, the rural plan calls for investments in American agriculture in the form of improving access to credit, land and markets, and building new streams of income for small and mid-sized farmers.
Rick Telesz, owner of the farm where Walz spoke Tuesday, voted for former President Donald Trump, the GOP nominee for president in 2016, and ran in the 2022 Democratic primary for the 16th Congressional District seat held by Republican Mike Kelly. He garnered national attention in 2019, when he spoke out about then-President Trump’s tariffs on China and how they had hurt U.S. farmers.
Telesz introduced Walz on Tuesday as someone who understands the needs of rural Americans and family farms.
“Just like my brothers, my dad, my uncle and myself, he grew up working on his family farm, and he shares experiences of throwing hay bales and driving tractors,” Telesz said. “This guy understands what it is to live in a small town. He understands what it means to sit at that kitchen table and talk about the issues that affect our families.”
Kenneth Heitger, 43, of Beaver County, came to hear Walz speak Tuesday to hear his plan for rural voters. He said he’s supporting the Harris-Walz ticket because he sees them as moving the country forward, but sees Trump as a candidate “trying to hold us back and take away things from people that we fought for for so long.”
Heitger said he also wanted to be certain Walz was someone who could work across the aisle on policy. “I like that they have a plan for everything,” he said of Harris campaign, “and it’s not just the ‘concept of a plan.’”
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