After stinging election defeats, DNC eyes rural voters as key to 2026 midterm success

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Outgoing DNC Chair previews rural voter outreach ahead of 2026

Outgoing DNC chair Jaime Harrison gave an exclusive preview of Democrats' strategy for winning the 2026 midterms — a path the party says hinges on winning over rural voters

FIRST ON FOX— The Democratic National Committee (DNC) plans to focus much of its campaign efforts on winning over rural voters in the 2026 midterm elections, according to the party's outgoing chairman— a sprawling effort they hope will help the party engage with and educate new voters, and loosen what many see as President Donald Trump's ironclad grip on many red state voters.

The new strategy was previewed exclusively to Fox News Digital by outgoing DNC Chair Jaime Harrison ahead of the DNC's slated vote Saturday to select his successor as next party leader.

In an interview, Harrison said the strategy, which has been weeks, if not months in the making, is designed to refute many of Trump's campaign trail claims on the economy, health insurance and taxes for average Americans.

Rather, Harrison said the aim is to tie Trump more closely to these policies and to make the case to voters directly that Trump is "using rural America, and giving rural voters nothing in return."

"An examination of Trump’s second term agenda and first administrative actions reveals that rural families and the resources they rely on are in greater jeopardy than ever before," the DNC said in a preview of its new election strategy memo, shared exclusively with Fox News. 

"One can conclude, Donald Trump is using rural America and giving rural voters nothing in return," the memo continued.

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The stage is prepared ahead of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago. (David Paul Morris/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Trump's rhetoric has long been praised as refreshing by voters, who resonate with what many said they see as his unorthodox, anti-establishment bona fides. However, there is a difference between Trump as a presidential candidate and Trump as president. It is "him just saying things and not having the power to implement them," compared to being back in the Oval Office, Harrison said. 

The DNC's effort, however, will seek to challenge that assumption by highlighting victories secured by former President Joe Biden in his first term, including tightening CAFE fuel economy standards for gas-fired vehicles, investing in EV manufacturing and battery supply chains, cracking down on PFAS contaminants and pollution, and allocating billions of dollars in clean energy and climate spending.

Trump has vowed to undo many of these policies after retaking control of the Oval Office.

To date, he has made good on his promise. Trump used his first week in office to sign hundreds of executive orders and actions, a dizzying flurry of orders that, among other things, sought to crack down on immigration, unleash U.S. liquefied natural gas exports and freeze all congressionally approved spending, if only temporarily.

Democrats, for their part, have sought to use Trump's vice-grip on the post-inauguration news cycle to double down on their efforts to appeal to voters and prepare for the midterms, no matter how far-off they might seem.

This includes focusing on issues like healthcare coverage and medical providers, both of which have suffered "major" disparities in rural America, and where doctors have exited en masse amid a flurry of hospital closures and a dearth of insured patients.

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People register to vote during a Republican voter registration in Brownsville, Pennsylvania, in 2020. (ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images)

Many of the Republican-led states that did not opt to expand Medicaid saw wide hospital closures, higher out-of-pocket costs for prescriptions and much more limited access to opiod recovery or substance abuse programs, Harrison said.

Rural communities are also seeing more limited access to doctors, emergency treatment centers and a lack of access to important medication, as Biden-era programs wane.

"These things are going to have a detrimental impact on rural America," he said.

Still, Harrison acknowledged that the Democratic Party also needs to do its part to meet voters where they are at in 2026, just months after the party's humbling defeat in the 2024 presidential election.

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DNC chair Jaime Harrison was pressed on whether former President Joe Biden was "bullied" out of the race. (Screenshot/NBC/Today)

However, changing hearts and minds will not happen overnight, he said.

Rather, it will require many conversations from state party leaders at the local level, who can both identify key issues for voters and help recruit good candidates for the upcoming election cycle.

"I think what we have to do is paint a picture for the American people of all the things that we rely upon— all the things that are necessary and needed in these communities, and that sometimes we don't even know are [programs] that the federal government is funding," Harrison said.

 "Those things are in jeopardy under this administration."

Rural scene near Janesville, Wisconsin. (Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

"We want to let people know these things aren't just happening by happenstance. It's happening because Donald Trump is taking this radical right wing extremist agenda and trying to implement and therefore impacting the quality of your life."

The DNC's effort will also spell out to voters what they say will happen if these policies are rolled back, in accordance with Trump's plans, Harrison said. 

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"The second thing is having our cannons— we go out, and we work with our state parties, and recruit candidates to run in 2026," he said of candidates who are well-positioned to speak to the communities they are representing.

In Harrison's view, this will also help explain to voters how Trump's drastic cuts or reductions will impact their communities specifically. 

"And then we continue to have that conversation, one-on- one, in small and larger groups with the people in those communities," he said. "And that is how we put ourselves on a much stronger foot going into the 2026 midterm election. "