Rural Voters and Top of Mind Policies with Isaac Wright and Dr. Carrie Cochran-McClain

Season #7

In the second episode of our seventh series, "Courageous Conversations About the 2024 Election-Rural Issues Impacting Real Lives," Michelle begins the episode with Isaac Wright, Co-Founder of the Rural Voter Institute. Isaac is a founding-partner of Forward Solution Strategy Group, a company primarily focused on public affairs and issues. As co-founder of the Rural Voter Institute, Isaac gathered data and dialogue with rural and small-town voters on foundational political worldview and topical issues of the moment providing better strategies for Democrats campaigning in Americaā€™s heartland.

During this first part of the episode, Isaac shares the catalyst for forming The Rural Voter Institute, their work focused on collecting and analyzing rural vote gap data, the influence of media on shaping opinions and perceptions, barriers that rural voters face accessing information related to policy, as well as advice for keeping conversations focused on policy. Isaacs walks through the 2024 Blueprint for Rural and Small-Town Voter Communication, and also shares insights into real issues for rural voters.

In the second part of the episode, Michelle speaks with Dr. Carrie Cochran-McClain, who serves as the Chief Policy Officer at the National Rural Health Association (NRHA). Carrie joined NRHA staff in 2020 where she is the head lobbyist for the association and is responsible driving the policy agenda for rural health for the 21,000-member organization.

During this conversation, Carrie and Michelle begin by looking at rural health policy and the issues NRHA and rural health leaders and organizations are tracking. They also discuss recent rural policy wins and bipartisan efforts on policies that impact rural health challenges and disparities. Carrie closes the discussion by sharing how listeners can tell their stories, connect to officeholders, and influence policy change.

Show Resources:
https://www.ruralhealth.us/advocacy/rural-health-policy-documents
https://www.lwv.org/
https://www.ruralvoterinstitute.com/