Kleeb (Literally) Writes the Book on Winning Rural Voters

Don’t tell the head of the Nebraska Democratic Party that Democrats can’t win in rural states like Nebraska.

Jane Kleeb has literally written the book on how to change that landscape. 

Harvest the Vote is the do’s and don’ts of getting Democrats elected in ruby-red Republican states like Nebraska.

Kleeb: The Democratic Party continues to fail rural voters. They don’t invest in red-rural states; they don’t invest in Democratic candidates. Rural people aren’t just racists which is what I hear from people on the coasts.

NCN: Isn’t it too late? It’s been since 1964 that this state voted for a Democrat for President.

Kleeb:  850 Democrats were on the ballot in 2018, 73 percent won their elections.

Kleeb: We punch above our weight.

Kleeb telling a room full of Democrats last fall that local wins in 2018 means it’s time to think bigger.

Kleeb: And we know now that we have to take that power to the next level, we have to elect Democrats statewide.

As she signs the 224 page hardcover she knows recent history is not on her side.

The last Democrat elected statewide was Senator Ben Nelson in 2006, 14 years ago, and unlike a lot of unsuccessful Democrats running border to border Nelson is pro-life.

NCN: Is it possible to win statewide with a pro-choice Democrat?

Kleeb: It is possible to win statewide with a pro-choice Democrat as long as they are very clear with their message that we welcome pro-life voters as well. We have a lot of pro-life voters in Nebraska, I think the stat is 60 percent depending on which poll you’re looking at but that same number of voters also wants to make sure abortion is safe and legal.

NCN: You’re doing that as the Governor is out proclaiming time and time again that Nebraska is a pro-life state.

Kleeb: Look I think Governor Ricketts is a total hypocrite. He’s signing proclamations about being pro-life and then on the other hand he’s blocking Medicaid expansion which will literally save lives. And I’m tired of it and I think the men in our state who continue to tell women that we should not have access to safe and legal abortions is something that just will not resonate with women voters and Republican women voters.

Which takes us to a statewide Senate race where incumbent Republican Ben Sasse, at last report, has 2-point-seven million dollars in the bank, compared to his Democratic opponents’ 26-hundred dollars.

Kleeb: Going up against Senator Sasse, who literally has endless pots of money and now has even more endless pots of money because he’s thrown his values out the window and does anything President Trump asks him to, yes beating him is not going to be easy but we have five candidates in that primary and we’re going to fight for that seat.

NCN: But fighting and winning are two different things.

Kleeb: He promised, his one reason for going to Washington DC was to make health care affordable. He’s done nothing. 

As she insists big Democratic wins in Nebraska are coming, she looks back to what she’s best known for nationally: her ongoing fight against the Keystone XL pipeline.

Kleeb: Nobody would have ever guessed that a bunch of farmers and ranchers and tribes and liberal environmentalists would have come together to form an unlikely alliance to stop the Keystone pipeline but we did that because we were standing with rural people when they needed somebody the most.