Dem
47
GOP
53
When J.D. Vance went off to Pittston, PA, last week to talk to 250 workers, that was the starting gun for the administration's attempt to sell the BBB to the public. Vance talked about the tax cuts (no taxes on tips or overtime). Well, Democrats are also going out there to talk about the new law. They will also talk about tax cuts—the big ones for millionaires and billionaries. They will also talk about how the bill is going to cause an estimated 12 million people to lose their health care.
There will be a strong focus on rural areas, since many of them will be hardest hit—for example, when the only hospital in the county is forced to close. Democrats rarely venture into rural areas because they are full of Trump voters who have been trained to despise Democrats. But now the Democrats have a concrete message: Republicans don't care about you; look what they did to you.
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) has already been doing this for months. He has been traveling all over the country telling people that their health care, nutrition, and education will be sacrificed to allow billionaires to get a big tax cut. He has held big rallies in Idaho, Lousiana, Montana, Oklahoma and Texas, among other red states The other Democrats are carefully noting what he has been doing and how well it has been received.
Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-CO) said he wasn't sure how much traction Sanders would get in red states. Now he is sold on Sanders. He said: "My hat's off to [Sanders], just because I think the frustrations people have in not just rural areas, but in red states, even in the cities in red states, is real. The most important thing we can make sure to provide is realistic hope." Bernie, who is not even a Democrat, is teaching the Democrats what they need to do.
Rep. Melanie Stansbury (D-NM) has been touring the rural counties also included in her Albuquerque-based district. She said people were crying when she explained what the bill meant for them. Congress usually takes off August and many Democrats are going to be spending a lot of that time talking to people in rural areas in or close to their districts. Not all representatives have rural constituents, but every senator does. (V)