Dem group plans $12M investment in rural areas, with an eye toward 2028
A Democratic candidate recruitment group is pledging to pour $12 million into rural organizing in an effort to make inroads in red America and to lay groundwork for 2028, the organization shared first with Morning Score.
The investment by Contest Every Race in rural areas marks an expansion of the group’s grants program, which gave $1.2 million to local parties in 2024 but has seen a surge in donor interest in the second Trump administration. The group’s grant program, which has given to local parties in 29 states since 2021, is now expanding nationwide in what it casts as the “largest long-term, volunteer-powered organizing initiative aligned with the Democratic Party.”
The investment comes as Democrats for years have struggled in rural swaths of the country, a problem compounded by President Donald Trump’s appeal to working class voters and Democratic messaging some in the party have argued is out of touch. The program — in which local parties typically receive at least $600 a quarter from Contest Every Race — involves tiny sums of money. But it also provides monthly trainings and free texting services, which can go a long way for small, mostly volunteer parties in rural areas.
The group has applications for money from 1,200 local parties across all 50 states — nearly three times the number of local parties the group worked with in the run up to 2024. It said it will work in as many as possible, though battleground states will be prioritized.
https://www.politico.com/news/2025/04/24/dem-group-plans-12-million-investment-in-rural-areas-with-an-eye-toward-2028-00306758