I’m a rural organizer in Mo, and I worked on passing Medicaid Expansion. FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, stop criticizing rural Mo for not voting in favor of Med Ex at a high enough margin. It’s oversimplifying and minimizes a decade of hard work. Graphic from Holly Ragan Bickmeyer.

111k texts, over 24k phone conversations, and your standard yardsign all-nighters won this as much as STL and KC carried it. It’s not about any one individual or organization but this was a huge movement that is being largely ignored. #MOVEMo is a major major reason this passed.

This campaign was also staffed by local organizers. Without the lifetimes of experience and understanding that comes from growing up and living in rural Mo we cannot reach them. It took neighbors talking to neighbors. Out of state talent is important too, but we need locals.

We had a lot of out of state/town expertise which was beyond critical, it could not have been won without it. It also takes the transformative conversations that only Missourians can have with each other. And we have been been. This is long term, hearts and minds stuff.

One group doing fan-freakin-tastic work is @RiverRatDem. It is important that we counter the messaging here that Democrats and leftists don’t exist in rural areas. Rural conservatives think of “coastal elites” who look down on them when they think of Dems and we’re fighting that.

This kind of “fuck rural Mo voters” attitude is understandable but only serves to underline opposition messaging that there are no Dems/leftists here. It’s not true and it’s not helpful. I get it, it is frustrating, oh trust me I get it. But being flabbergasted gets us nowhere.