“Losing them is the motif of my entire career.”

Rickey Cole, a farmer and former two-term chair of Mississippi’s Democratic Party, on the Democratic loss of rural voters over the last two decades. In 2001, when Cole first served as party chair, Democrats controlled 7 of 8 statewide offices and both legislative chambers; now Republicans hold all eight statewide offices and large majorities in both legislative chambers. (The Conversation — Sept. 9, 2024)