2025 Fall
Message
From the Chair

In these dark and difficult days for our nation, what can individuals do?

We can work to elect local Democratic candidates to office. I understand that the effort can sometimes feel discouraging in Republican towns and counties. But it’s far more important here than in areas where Democrats are more likely to win. With every door we knock and every call we make, we are defending democracy. Connecting with voters is valuable even when local candidates lose, because every vote we win this year is also a potential vote next year in state and federal elections.

We are the ones--Democrats on the ground in rural counties--who know how to do this. We have flipped rural Congressional districts in 2009 (NY-21, Bill Owens), 2011 (NY-26, Kathy Hochul), 2018 (NY-22, Anthony Brindisi), and 2024 (NY-19, Josh Riley and NY-22, John Mannion). This fall I urge you to support Michael Cashman (https://cashmanforassembly.com/) who is defending a Democratic state Assembly seat (AD-115) in a November 4 special election.

We win by knocking doors, making calls, donating to candidates, and attending any event where we can listen to the concerns of voters. We know that we can’t lead people forward from twenty miles in front of them. We have to meet them where they are and lead them forward from there. We win by working with Democratic committees, Unions, Indivisible groups, community organizations, and by appealing not just to Democrats but also to independents and moderate Republicans.

In our counties, the other side is never far away. They’re our neighbors, our friends, our own family members. We can only win by treating everybody respectfully. Just as the customer is always right in business, the voter is always right in politics. When they’re wrong about facts, it’s not useful to correct them. They’ll just tune us out. What we can do is respond to the anxiety and pain they’re feeling. Feelings are never wrong. We also can’t reproach them for decisions they’ve made in the past. We have to treat them with forgiveness and compassion, not judgement. That can sometimes be hard. But it’s the only way we can win.

Our differences are not as great as we've been led to believe by the forces that want to divide us. Like all voters, majorities of rural voters support the work of local government: public safety, maintaining roads and bridges, economic development in their communities.

Beyond that, they support preserving Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Affordable Care Act. They support veterans. They support Ukraine. They support the Post Office. They support public education. They support raising the national minimum wage. They would welcome good union jobs building housing, wind turbines, solar panels, and improving the electrical grid. They support campaign finance reform. They support higher taxes on the wealthy, to reduce inequality and restore basic fairness to our economy. These are our issues.

As I said in April, New York State is a microcosm of the nation. We have a progressive coastal city, politically mixed suburbs, and a more conservative heartland. When we win across rural New York, we'll know how to win across America.

--Bill Thickstun