Biden heads to Minnesota farm to court rural US voters

This midwestern state is home of Dean Phillips, a congressman who has thrown his hat into ring for the Democrat nomination.

Dean Phillips holds a rally outside the New Hampshire Statehouse after declaring his candidacy last week in Concord. Picture: AFP

President Joe Biden visited a family farm in Minnesota overnight on Wednesday, aiming his re-election campaign at rural America, which voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020.

This midwestern state also happens to be home to Dean Phillips, a congressman who has just thrown his hat into ring as a challenger to Mr Biden for the Democrat nomination.

Barring a huge surprise, Mr Biden is nearly guaranteed to be his party’s presidential candidate in November 2024.

He is launching a two-week offensive during which several members of his administration will crisscross the country to show how the 80-year-old’s economic and social policies “guarantee rural Americans that they don’t have to go far from home to find opportunity”.

His administration will tout Mr Biden’s massive infrastructure program, which the White House says is synonymous with improved internet access, upgraded roads, more reliable electrical systems and better access to health care.

Mr Biden is also expected to talk about his promised support for innovative agricultural systems that are more resilient in the face of climate change, as well as his efforts to develop competition in certain agricultural markets to the benefit of small farmers.

The rural vote could prove crucial in some states next year, but Mr Biden faces a huge challenge in trying to reverse the trend of rural America voting increasingly Republican. According to Pew Research, Mr Trump has overwhelmingly won the rural electorate in the past two presidential elections: 59 per cent of rural voters voted for him in 2016, and 65 per cent in 2020.

AFP