Republican columnist says some Democratic presidential candidates 'disdain' rural Americans and their values

Scott Jennings

We recently wrote about an op-ed from an Arkansas woman who was frustrated with the conservative bent of rural America. As a bookend to that, here's an op-ed from a Republican political adviser who says Democratic presidential candidates are killing their party's chances in rural areas. (Here's a recap of what the candidates had to say about rural America in last night's debate.)

"I’m not sure what’s more jaw-dropping — the disdain Democratic presidential candidates have for rural Americans and their values, or their willingness to make it a centerpiece of their campaign to unseat Donald Trump," Scott Jennings writes in his regular column for the Louisville Courier Journal.

Democrats' blindness to rural values cost them the 2016 election, Jennings writes, saying that this year's candidates are doubling down on the sentiment: "Beto O’Rourke’s plans to confiscate guns from law-abiding citizens and to put churches out of business, combined with Elizabeth Warren’s stinging insult that conservative religious people are too ugly to find a suitable mate, are good reminders that the national Democratic Party has simply abandoned rural and Middle America."

Democratic candidates' failure to respect rural values will mean religious African Americans won't show up for them on Election Day, Jennings writes.