53. Special Episode with Jess Piper
Michelle Rathman: Hello one and all and welcome back to The Rural Impact. I'm Michelle Rathman, and you know, by now, we are the podcast that works hard to connect the dots between policy and rural everything, or at least everything rural that we can think of. All right, today we have a doozy of an episode. I like the word doozy.
It's the best way to describe it because we have a very special guest. But before I introduced that guest, I felt it was important on a very serious note to circle back with you on developments on the rural health policy front, because as you know, since the last time we were together. Congress did what they seem to be experts at during these days, which is kicking the can down the road.
And by that, I mean of course that Congress averted a government shutdown earlier this month, just hours before the funding deadline. And this is after the Senate approved a house passed spending bill. Following that President Donald Trump signing that into legislation which funds the government through the end of September, which might as well be tomorrow in my view.
Okay. The bill largely keeps government funding at levels set during Joe Biden's presidency with a few changes, but for rural hospitals, rural health clinics, and community health centers, which of course, the last few episodes you were totally schooled on. It provided what I liken to a short supply of oxygen.
Okay? So, to help explain the impact of continued funding throughout fiscal year 2025, which is just until September 30th, six months from now I invited Alexa McKinley Abel, government Affairs and Policy Director for the National Rural Health Association to connect the dots for us. So, first up, before I introduce my drum roll guest, here's that conversation with Alexa and on the other side, I've got some exciting news to share with you about a new partnership for the Rural Impact.
And then we'll get onto my, featured interview with an incredibly special guest. Here's that conversation with Alexa McKinley Abel.
=====
Michelle Rathman: Alexa, you know, we are just coming off two back-to-back episodes of my time in DC where I spent time at both the National Rural Health Association Policy Institute and the National Association of Community Health Center's Policy and Issues Conference. And all the buzz was about the continuing resolution, whether or not the government was gonna shut down.
And of course, the big, big elephant in the room is the Medicaid cuts. And so, Alexa, you have a really good update for us post the CR News. And you put out a really good bulletin with some bullet points that I think are really important for our listeners to understand what happened, where are we today, and then from there we'll talk a little bit about what we should be watching for next.
Alexa McKinley Abel: Great, yeah. So, Congress passed the continuing resolution last week. At first the house passed it. They went into recess, essentially forcing the Senate to then pass their version of the continuing resolution. And there was good news in there. So, in terms of funding for the federal government, we're staying flat at fiscal year 2024 levels for the rest of fiscal year 2025.
So that ends September 30th of this year. And then in addition to funding there's several rural health extenders and then other health related extenders that really support our safety net providers, and patients that they serve that were also extended. So, we saw the Medicare Dependent Hospital and low volume hospital payment adjustments extended through the rest of the fiscal year as well.
So again, September 30th, 2025. And for those who are unfamiliar, the MDH and LVH designations are essentially payment bumps to help hospitals deal with the unique challenges of serving rural patients and operating in a rural area. So higher Medicare patient days and lower volumes and being more isolated from other providers.
And then telehealth is another big one that everyone has been focusing on. Telehealth flexibilities were also extended through that same timeline through the fiscal year. One thing I will note is that there had been some talk at the end of last year around changing payment for RHCs or rural health clinics and community health centers for the telehealth services that they provide. And that was not included.
This was just a straight extension of the current Medicare telehealth flexibility. So RHCs and CHCs can be distant site providers, but they're being paid a little bit less than they normally would be for an in-person visit. And then there there's also ground ambulance add-on payments for services provided in rural or super rural areas.
So that payment add-on was extended, again, same timeline. And Hospital-at Home, which really started to launch around the pandemic, was extended again. And a note on that is we at NRHA don't hear about a ton of uptake at Hospital-at-Home in rural communities. But that's not to say it doesn't happen.
There are some excellent models out there. So, it's great to see an extension and continuing investment in this program. So, it can start to grow and reach more rural areas. And then the last thing that I'll highlight are those safety net programs that are facing a mandatory funding cliff. So that would be the National Health Service Corps Mandatory Funding Community Health Centers and Teaching Health Center Graduate Medical Education.
So, they receive funding through mandatory funding and also discretionary funding, which is yearly appropriations processes. But the mandatory funding that they received was set to expire, and again, that is extended through the fiscal year. So, we have a little bit of time before we have to deal with extending all of those again, but it's really just, you know, a handful of months.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, I think it's a little bit is the operative, the operative words here, Alexa. Real quick, I wanna touch on the hospital at home. I think one of the things that's a continuing theme where I stand and perhaps you agree is that, um, you know, maybe there's not an uptick because we're not doing a good enough job telling the story.
And I would encourage our listeners to think about that. I mean, if you have a good story to share about the impact of the, how this funding is expanding your reach in your rural community through these programs. Alexa, I think it's imperative to tell those stories and I know that you all have a mechanism in place for people to share those stories that you use then in your advocacy work.
Is that correct?
Alexa McKinley Abel: Yes. So, on NRHA's advocacy webpage, there's now what we call an advocacy campaign, or a survey live, that's called Share Your Story. And you essentially just pick an issue area or a topic that your story relates to, and you write a blurb about it. So, if you or your hospital is operating, as Michelle said, a really successful hospital at home program that's reaching people in rural communities and getting that acute care in their home, you can use that mechanism on our website to tell us about that.
And then we story bank them. Essentially, we save them all into a spreadsheet and use them with your consent when we're talking to policymakers. So, it's really great to refer to when I have a meeting you know, let's say on Medicaid cuts, I go to the Story Bank spreadsheet and pull up all the Medicaid stories we have.
And I can use these anecdotes to really drive home personal stories to legislators.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah. Thank you for that. And the last thing I wanna ask you, Alexa, you're very busy before you go, you know, October, September 30th, October 1st. Really, from my perspective this episode is dropping on 3 -27. It might as well be tomorrow. So, there is, there's no letting up on the gas, as they say. As someone who is very close to these issues and the work that you do on the hill, what can you share with our listeners and especially, I wanna put this out there for those of you who are not in the world of rural health, because your healthcare access in your community matters too.
What is in your advocate's toolkit. What is so important for all of us to be thinking about doing between now and you know, be we can't wait till the end of September because we're gonna be in this very same spot again, closer and closer to those cliffs.
What should we be thinking about and doing from an advocate's perspective to make sure our members of Congress, our policymakers, understand what is at stake?
Alexa McKinley Abel:
That's a great question and really a good segue from the last question about our advocacy campaigns. If you are connected at all with your policymakers, you know, your representative, your two senators, it is really imperative that you reach out to them and talk to them about you know, the extenders that are most important to you and your community.
Or, you know, funding levels, because we have, we don't have a full 25 budget. We're just in a continuing resolution using 24 levels. So, reaching out to them, whether that's through email, whether that's a phone call, whether you travel up to DC and take a meeting with them. And to Michelle's point, don't do that in, you know, the beginning of September.
By then, the groundwork is kind of already laid. We can, things change rapidly in DC but we typically have a sense of where there will be going. You know, whether that's another continuing resolution or an actual, you know, appropriations package or health package. You need to be talking to them and frequently. They should know your name. And then bring those stories, right?
So, if you are a Medicare dependent hospital, talk about what it means for your budgeting process when you are in a series of three months extenders and you can't properly plan because that that money is just going to be a windfall rather, rather than something that makes it into your budgeting process.
And those really specific stories drive it home for the staff who then pass it on to their boss. Or if you're lucky enough to meet with the, the legislator themselves. Those stick with them. And we regularly hear that constituents stories you know, actually matter a lot more than those big national organizations in DC like myself.
They wanna hear from you and the more specific, the more data driven that you can get, the more impactful and the better.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, I agree, and then the multipliers, because you know, Alexa, we're out here, we're talking about how important it's to serve the people and to serve their healthcare needs. And you and I agree that is. That's imperative. But at the same time, we have to consider the audience and what matters to them.
And I think that's something that as every year I age and I'm aging quickly this year that I remind myself so often. Know your audience.
Alexa McKinley Abel: Yes, that's so right. Like, understand what committees of jurisdiction they're on. So are they on Ways and Means, which does a lot of healthcare work. Know what their interests are, know how many hospitals are in their district. That's, that's a really key part of advocacy.
Michelle Rathman: Absolutely right. Gosh. Alexa, listen. I want you to come back and join us with these updates because I rely heavily on getting your feeds through our grassroots. So, thank you so much for spending some time with us today, and I really want our listeners to kind of get a sense. I say move is news is happening so fast, and so these are really important developments then.
And again, thank you for your time.
Alexa McKinley Abel: Thank you. Thanks for havingme.
Michelle Rathman: Again, my thanks to Alexa. I'm gonna be asking her back and others to kinda keep us informed because health policy as is transportation and broadband and housing and nutrition, all of these things are, are moving targets and it's important for us and for me, I feel to provide you with recaps and with experts who can really fill in the blanks for us and of course talk to us about the important advocacy work that we need to be doing together to make sure that rural is not left behind.
Uh, in fact if I had a wish for all of us in rural America who are working in rural America is that we get out of survival mode and we really do take a look at funding that provides opportunities for thriving.
Okay with that. Speaking of thriving, I am thrilled to welcome the American Heart Association as a collaborator to the podcast, and I'm excited to tell you why.
Okay. We've talked a lot on this show about health disparities that exist in rural places across the us and with that, we always want to follow up by connecting our listeners with ideas and solutions to help address those disparities, including higher incidents of developing heart disease.
We know this is a factor in rural America. And because people who live in rural communities live in an average of three years fewer than urban counterparts and have a 40% higher likelihood of developing heart disease compared again with their counterparts in small metropolitan and urban areas. A gap that has grown over the past decade.
And because rural communities face a critical shortage of healthcare professionals, including public health workers. Which of course negatively impacts care. Many people are vulnerable to increase morbidity and mortality that could be prevented with appropriate identification and treatment, and that is key.
That is why what I'm about to tell you is such big news because the American Heart Association is doing some really important things about it. As the world's leading nonprofit organization focused on a heart and brain health for all, it launched an impactful Rural Healthcare Outcomes Accelerator Initiative, which aims to provide up to 700.
That's 700 rural hospitals, with three years of no cost access to their acclaimed Get with the Guidelines®, quality programs for coronary artery disease, heart failure, and stroke. Now. In addition, the American Heart Association has launched an incredible rural recognition program for participating hospitals to assist their communications with their commitment to care excellence with their communities they serve. You'll be hearing more about that on an upcoming episode, but here's the part that you need to act on. Okay. So, there is room, as I said, there were 700 spots. There is room for one hundred more hospitals, 100 more hospitals, and the Rural Healthcare Outcomes Accelerator.
So, if you are a rural health leader, if you work in a rural hospital and you're interested about this program, please just visit the Rural Healthcare Outcomes Accelerator website to learn all the details, including eligibility requirements, and you can also connect with an AHA representative who can help you get started right now.
So again, there's no cost, which is great news, but even better, the benefits to your rural health community for participating in the Rural Healthcare Accelerator program will be absolutely priceless. So. If you don't believe me, that's fine, but there are many impactful stories to learn from when you go to the website for details, and I wanna make sure I tell you we're gonna put that link on the Rural Impact website, but you can simply go now to heart.org/ruralaccelerator, that's heart.org/ruralaccelerator, or just go to the heart.org website and type in the word rural. Again, we're gonna put those resources on theruralimpact.com, so we're gonna make it easy for you to find whether you're listening to my voice or you're on the website with a few simple clicks.
Okay, with that said, again, thanks to AHA, but moving on to our main event today, and speaking of heart. My guest today is someone whom I've been following on social media for quite some time, and if you're involved with rural policy and issues such as funding schools, voting rights, addressing the policy roots of poverty, you may or know her name too, but if you don't, you certainly are gonna learn who she is today and you're gonna wanna follow her. I promise.
Her name is Jess Piper. Jess is a former high school literature teacher for 16 years, in fact, until she decided to run as a Democrat in a rural red district in Missouri. Jess is the Executive Director for Blue Missouri and hosts a weekly podcast called Dirt Road Democrat, which can be found wherever you listen to your podcast.
You might wanna add that one to your list to be sure. Jess and I sat down for a wide-ranging conversation about her experience in running for office insights into the many difficult challenges facing Missouri's rural populations, and how she and others involved with the Blue Missouri movement are working to change the, you get what you voted for, dynamic.
Considering that up and down the Missouri ballot, there are no options and therefore no opportunity to make different choices. Again, something this organization is working hard to change. So, with all that said, here now is my conversation with Jess Piper, Executive Director for Blue Missouri. I am definitely ready.
I know you are too, so let's go.
=====
Michelle Rathman: Jess Piper, it is a real pleasure to have you, and I say that, but I really, really mean it. I've been following you for a long time. I told you earlier, I think you are a badass in the best possible way. Thank you for joining us and welcome to The Rural Impact.
Jess Piper: Well, thank you. I'm so happy to be here, Michelle. And anything that says rural I am, I'm down with. Let's go.
Michelle Rathman: Well, I appreciate that. You know, again, I've been following you for a really long time and I wanna kick off this conversation discussing something that you wrote earlier in March. By the time this drops, it'll be a few weeks later, and then you published on your excellent Substack. So, I'm gonna plug that 'cause I want people to follow you there.
Uh, your substack is called 'The View from Rural Missouri' and the piece was called 'Speaking to Working and Rural Folks,' and I hope someone is listening, is how you end it. So Jess, we have listeners. And for those who don't know you or your courageous story, and I mean a super courageous story, can you share some of your background, the place you come from, and how you became to be a candidate to run for state office in Missouri?
Jess Piper: Well, I never meant for any of this to happen. My name is Jess and, and I live on the Iowa line on the Missouri side. I live in corn fields and bean fields in a town of 480 people. And I was an American literature teacher for 16 years. And got involved in politics after Trump because I was as surprised as anybody else when it happened.
And I know people think that's crazy that all of us out here are Trumpers, and that is absolutely not the fact. But in 2020, I went to vote for Joe Biden and there was no Democrat on my ballot, you know, down ballot. So, I couldn't vote for state rep or state senator or anything, and I was just tired of that happening.
I know a lot of people say about rural spaces, you get what you vote for and I'm here to tell you I've got no one to vote for. I couldn't change my lot in life if I wanted to. So, I came home and told my husband, if nobody else is gonna do it, I'm gonna do it. Unfortunately, in the state of Missouri, you cannot be a teacher and run for office.
So, I stepped away from my career, ran as hard as I could. For two years, I raised more money than any state representative candidate across the entire state in this tiny little district. Um, because, you know, I said the things I said. And I ended up losing, by a lot, but we haven't elected a Democrat in 32 years and we have never elected a woman.
So, I kind of knew what I was up against, but you know, I really learned a whole lot of things during that run. And now I'm the Executive Director of Blue Missouri, and we fund down ballot democratic candidates in Missouri.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, it's wonderful. You know, they say if you can't find a glass ceiling to break you, you make one of your own and break that and that's what you're doing. I watched a video of you, which we'll talk about in a few minutes as well and kind of, when I say courage, it takes a lot of courage to knock on doors.
And to introduce yourself to those who might not be so welcoming. So, in one of the pieces that you wrote Speaking to Working in Rural Folks. And I wanna make a distinction, you know, Jess, on this podcast, we really focus on the quality of life and its relationship to policy. And not in the individual politician.
But what we're seeing here are so many policies, especially now in 2025, that are just depleting resources for rural. And so, it is imperative for us to have these courageous conversations, even with folks who might not be interested to listen. So what, I wanna read something that you wrote and we can on the other side of that, talk about it.
So you wrote." I am gonna tell you how Democrats can talk to working people and rural folks. But first, understand you have to come back to these people. Do what Bernie is doing. Go to the people you have to physically show up. My tiny rural town has been decimated over the decades. My town is not an outlier.
My community and most rural communities across the state voted for Trump and Republicans down ballot. There are issues that transcend political stripe, though schools, roads, hospitals, utility prices." So Jess, let’s go there. Roads, hospitals, and utility prices. But first I do wanna talk about schools because you were a teacher, as you said, I think it's important for people to understand the landscape of rural education in your state.
It's not good.
Jess Piper: No. Because of 20 years now, we have had a Republican, a GOP super majority for 22 years, and in that time we have over 30% of our schools now on a four-day week. They can't afford to turn on the lights, they can't afford to pay the teachers. And most of those are in rural spaces. And in my part of the state, if you don't have tax money from a wind farm, then your schools on a four day week because you don't have that extra tax base.
Well, guess what? A lot of people are attacking now green energy and I'm like, okay. Perfect. One thing that was able to keep us open, but Missouri is 50th in the nation for starting teacher pay. We are 49th in the nation for educational funding. I had a master's degree in 16 years of experience, and I walked away making $41,000 a year.
And after, after my teacher retirement, I had $2,300 in my pocket every month. That's it. And so, a lot of our schools are like revolving doors for brand new teachers, and the reason is because they might be making $33,000 a year. They might have $1,400 in their pocket a month. And so, what we're asking of teachers is not moral and it's not tenable.
I mean, they can't, they can't work in this environment and pay for, to live. So, we're not paying them you know, living wages. And it's really detrimental to our kids. But the whole point of doing that over these years has been for people, politicians who defunded schools to turn around and say, look, look how bad they're doing.
So why don't you take your money? We'll give you a voucher. You could take it to a private religious school. Well, one, there's not private religious schools in rural spaces. Right. And two. Now you're defunding the only place that every kid can attend kids with, you know, disabilities, poor kids, all these things.
These kids that are in marginalized communities now, their public school is defunded. So, just to self-fulfilling prophecy, pull all the funding away. Say it doesn't work, privatize it, go about your business, right?
Michelle Rathman: Yeah. And now you know, create a national registry to anonymously report any teacher you wish because of what you're, what you know, what you heard, think, feel. So, you did an interview with the Flatland, which is a nonprofit news organization, and you talked about kind of going back, it being easy to talk to people about good roads, better schools and so forth.
And then you talked about something about identifying as a democrat as a factor into your conversations. And I wonder if you could expand on that and what your experience has been to kind of, defray whatever that means to people, to get to the heart of those conversations that we hope people are really thinking about, but maybe not always.
Jess Piper: Yeah, honestly, out in these spaces. Like I said, I live in a town of 480 people. I don't have a place I can buy a gallon of milk, but there's four churches here. So, both parties really left my state. But the Democrats really did, they were like, it's too red. Don't even, don't even try there. So, in that absence, you know, people have stepped in to make everyone think that they are a certain way that they're a Republican.
So, when I would knock on doors, people would agree with me with everything I was talking about, and I would hand them, you know, my literature and they'd say, well, are you a Republican or Democrat? And I'd say I'm a Democrat. And oftentimes they would hand me back my literature or they would say, you seem nice, but I can't vote for you because I'm a Christian.
There's just a whole there's a whole host of things going on. But a lot of it is honestly because no one has been here doing the work. Nobody's been knocking doors. I would knock a demo. And so you have to know in places like mine, I don't just knock the doors of Democrats because you can't win mathematically like that.
So, I knocked a lot of Republican doors. They were very nice. In general, I never felt fearful for my safety or, or anything like that. I am a white woman you know, which does make a difference in its of itself, you know? But the problem is that I would knock a door of a Democrat. They would say, I'm the only one on the block.
And I'm like, actually, I just talked to your neighbor two doors down, who is also a Democrat? They don't even know each other because there's no Democrats, right? Nobody is out and about. I think there's 24 counties in Missouri with no, no club at all, with no infrastructure for a Democratic party or a nominee.
Michelle Rathman: Jess, I have a question for you. I've been thinking about this a lot. I've been having conversations with other folks talking about you know what people see in the media and so forth. And one of the things that I explain to people is in many of the communities I go to, one of the first things I do is identify their sources of news and information, because that tells me a lot, uh, the dwindling of local newspapers, the onslaught of Sinclair Media, if you will.
And I encourage our listeners to look that up. If you don't know what I'm talking about, we won't get into it. What role do you think that particular issue, that topic of news deserts has to play and what those in your community and those that you were knocking on doors, what role does that play and where do you see us being able to, is there a way to fill that void?
Jess Piper: It's massive. We live in information cycle silos. I still live in a community where we do have local newspapers, but the problem is they give space to every one of my locally elected officials. They're all Republicans. So, you're getting the newspaper that is giving you local news that you need, but it also has a Republican bent, even if they didn't mean for that to happen.
It happens naturally because all of our electeds are Republicans. So, you sort of, you sort of stay in this cycle, right? Fox News is big. You know, when I was knocking on doors I could hear it, you know, blaring inside on the tv. My own parents, where went down that rabbit hole. My dad, I wrote an essay about my dad.
My Daddy Died of MAGA and he did, and it was, it was terrible. It was one of the worst things I have experienced because he was apologizing on his deathbed about Facebook posts. And I was just so mad, so angry that this happened to him. My mom is still, you know, on the Trump train, it's problematic and it, it has a whole lot to do with the information that they're getting.
And like I said, local news organizations like even, you know, reporters, I'll give you this example. There's a small little radio station in Kirksville, Missouri, and they ran a story about a ribbon cutting with my congressman. He was there cutting a ribbon for a project that was completed with ARPA funds.
He voted against ARPA funds. But because these journalists are covering 10 different stories and usually they're so young anyway, they didn't have time to go back and look or ask the congressman, “Hey, how did you vote on this?” They just saw him there. They were invited and they, they talked about it.
So, I called that station. I said, Sam Graves voted against ARPA funds. And they were like, “oh my gosh.” Well, the next day they ran another story saying he showed up here, but he voted against it. And so that's what a lot of us, that's all we have to do. They weren't being mean-spirited or trying to spread misinformation.
They didn't have the time to do the work that they should have.
Michelle Rathman: And that's something that's plaguing this country all over the place, and as a result, people are misinformed. I talk often about the difference between disinformation manufactured for the purpose of misinforming, and then there's just misinformation. I think there's so much of that.
You wrote a piece that, again,
I'm really loving your blog and I, and I hope your community members are reading it, but you wrote a piece called, 'I Know Exactly What They're Doing,' and you wrote that Missouri, as you said earlier, has been running your, your state for two decades at least. It was the pilot project of Project 2025. So, let's talk a little bit about this, because again, I've been talking about Project 2025, from, again, a policy perspective.
If people, if you haven't read it, it's still not too late to go back because it really is the playbook of what's happening right now. But Missouri kind of mastered it, did they not? And so, it worked there.
Jess Piper: We did. And it has worked here and a lot of our districts are gerrymandered and so we keep getting folks that we don't, that aren't, you know, necessarily working for our benefit. We have unpopular legislation that we have to, to turn over with the citizen initiative petition process.
And now they're like, oh, by the way, we're gonna undo that. So you can't, you know, petition Missouri government. We had a complete abortion ban and we were the first state to overturn a complete abortion ban. They came back in January, guess what? First seven or eight bills were to reinstitute an abortion ban.
And they were like, we're gonna give you, we're gonna put it back on the ballot. We just voted on it. We just passed it. Right. So, there's all kinds of issues
Michelle Rathman: Jess, where does that stand today? Where does that, where does that case stand today?
Jess Piper: So what they'll have to do is put it back on the ballot. And they have done this to us before and they actually won their position by putting it back on the ballot. The problem is for us to put something on the ballot, like we had to get 180,000 signatures, which meant we had to get about 300,000 because several are gonna be undone.
And we did it, and then we passed it. But now our lawmakers to put it back on the ballot, do not have to gather one signature. Nothing. They're able to just put it on there and then confuse people or flat out lie with ballot candy is what we call it to, to make people vote against their self-interest. So, a couple of years ago we passed an anti-gerrymandering bill and it was called Clean Missouri.
It passed with 60 something percent. They put it back on the ballot the next year of Republican lawmakers, and the first line said, “Lawmakers cannot accept gifts over $5.” That had nothing to do with gerrymandering, but people saw that, and they were like, I like that. Of course we like it. Of course, they marked it. It was overturned within months. And so, they constantly work against us. You know, we have book bans. Our Secretary of State just said that, you know, people can't access certain book sites because of porn. And I'm like, if you think children are going to book sites to look for porn, they're, you don't know children.
Right? But they
Michelle Rathman: Or their parents or their or other, you know, Jess, this is the part that confounds me so many parts of this, is that part of it is this this, this era of government is too big. Keep it out of our lives. And then on the other hand, government controls every part of our lives. And so that is, such a disconnect for me.
Okay. So, moving forward. I mean, I love the fact that you are really working to engage people, bring 'em into the fold, get curious about policy, give them the courage and the resources they need to run, and, and there's a lot of great organizations out there. What are you finding in terms of just the enthusiasm, if you will?
What's the current climate for people wanting to dip their toe in the water and say, you know, I can make a difference. And, and how does your organization support that?
Jess Piper: Well before, before the election, there was a whole lot of excitement with Kamala behind it. But now it's made it more difficult and people running in rural areas already face things that other people don't. Like I said, I lost my career. It's very common. People have to take out their retirement to run because there's no money to fund down ballot candidates.
And I think it's really important for your listeners to understand that. People will sometimes think that, okay, I'm running as a Democrat. That means the Democrats fund me. No it doesn't. It absolutely does not. In general, the DNC, the National Party does not fund states like Missouri, 'cause we're too red.
And then my state party looks at districts like mine and will not fund them because
Michelle Rathman: That seems a bit counterintuitive, Jess.
Jess Piper: Well, this is what it comes down to 'cause people always wanna do flippable races, right? They wanna give to flippable races. If that worked, Missouri would be blue because that's all we've done, the Democrats have done for two decades.
But instead what's happened is we do not have one Democrat elected statewide, not one. And it's because that model is a failure because we are not, we're leaving rural spaces behind. We're leaving any space that isn't, you know, within four or five points of flipping behind. And the state gets redder, redder, redder.
And it's just, it doesn't work. And so that's where I started working with Blue Missouri. And what we do is fund the most red, the most rural district. We ask people to fund candidates who we know are very unlikely to win, and that is a hard sell for people. But, but when you think about it, just like you said, that other model doesn't work at all.
This is flipping it on its head and saying it's gonna take a long time. It might take two or three cycles, you know, per district to get this done. But guess what the Republicans did? They did it. They waited. They did cycle after cycle after cycle of losing until they finally got it. They got the presidency, they captured SCOTUS.
I mean, they've got the Senate, they've got the house, and this is all because they took a long time knowing it would pay off eventually. Where Democrats are like, Hey, let's think about this in a two year cycle. It doesn't work like that. You know, I was a teacher for a long time. You have to plan way ahead.
We start, we start building on what kindergartners learn, so that by the time they got to my American Lit class as juniors, they knew how to write, they knew how to read. It takes a long time.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah, I said to some of my circles that you know what's happening right now with the defunding of schools, the mass firings at every single agency, so many rural serving organizations. Getting, you know, on the chopping blocks, if we think that this happened overnight, we are sorely mistaken. They came with blow torches and bulldozers and, you know, we came with leaflets.
And so, you know, I can see why it would be challenging. Well, I think it's a great strategy, what you're doing, and I, and you know, hopefully, and we'd love to keep having conversations with you to understand, you know, incremental conversations. If you can slowly start to seep through that, that wall of distrust and disinformation, then you're, you know, maybe a quarter of the way there.
So, moving forward you know, I think. For me this morning I just, you know, sat and looked at the woodpeckers out my window, and I'm finding new ways to find little spots of joy. What encourages you? What inspires you moving forward? You keep, you're keeping at it every day. What is that? How is that, where is that coming from?
Jess Piper: Well, I work at home and my husband and my daughter aren't home until like 5:30 every afternoon. And so I have all this time to myself and it's easy for me. Like you were saying, it's easy for me to doom scroll and just be disheartened, but I speak a lot too. And so every time I go out, I am energized and my whole thing, I was a cheer and dance coach for a while when I was a teacher, and so I know how to hype a crowd. And for me to get in front and tell them the things they already know, but give them paths forward and say, you know, we're linking arms, we're standing up, we're talking back.
We are gonna draw a line in the sand. No more you're not gonna do anymore. And to see their eyes light up, to see them catch on fire themselves is, it helps me keep going. And I am seeing, you know, there'll be young people at the places I go, there are older people that are running these, you know, democratic organizations who are reaching out, trying to bridge the gap, you know, with younger folks.
But I thought honestly, after Trump was elected in '24, I was like, I don't know what's gonna happen to what I do. I don't know if people will be like, there's no point in doing anything anymore. They're not. Like, they're just, they're like, please come. Please talk. We need to, to do better than we've done before.
So that keeps me going.
Michelle Rathman: Yeah. You know, I have a passion for making sure not another rural hospital closes this in this country and we're looking it over like another seven, you know, 700 and something rural hospitals teetering on the edge and on life support, and that's why I keep doing it every day. So like you, you know, you have a purpose, you have a cause, you have a mission, and you've got some good supports around you to keep going.
All right, Jess, so some things I want our listeners to know. First of all, where can they find you? Where are you spending your time? How do they get to you? And tell us a little bit about your blog.
Jess Piper: So I deleted Twitter. I left 160,000 people
Michelle Rathman: Oh my gosh.
Jess Piper: on read and I'm, I'm on Blue Sky now. It's Piper for Missouri. That's what I am on Facebook, that's what I am on Instagram. And then on Substack, it's The View from Rural Missouri. And you know what? I mean I'm not saying anything that's groundbreaking, it's just that people aren't used to hearing rural people talk the way I do, and so I always like to remind folks.
This is who we were. This is who we always were. My grand great grandparents and grandparents were Democrats. They believed in FDR. They believed in good government and what it could do for people like small farmers, like small business owners, like schools and roads and hospitals.
And we've gotten away from that because Democrats have basically said, “We don't need these people. We can, you know, we can win elections with urban and suburban people,” and they're finding out that is not true. That is not true at all. And so, people when they find my blog, they're like, oh my gosh, like I'm a unicorn. But Michelle, I'm not, and you know this because you're in rural spaces too.
I'm not, there's a lot of progressives out here we need folks to vote for, and we need the Democrats to come back and knock the doors and tell them why they should vote for people who have their best interest at heart.
Michelle Rathman: And break through, break through that soundbite, that very dangerous soundbite barrier, and really help people understand. You know, Jess, I find that asking questions and really listening helps to get to the place where you can at least feel like you've had a relationship with somebody. So instead of telling people what they are or what they should do, I say never should on anybody. Nobody likes that.
Ask them questions. Are you happy with the quality of your life? Are you happy with the quality of your schools? And, and see what kind of answers you find. Well, the highlight of my day is talking with you, Jess, thank you so much. I hope that you'll come back and join us. Keep us posted.
We're gonna make sure that everything that you write is linked to our website and we wanna make sure that people subscribe to what you're doing and make sure that they take a look at, at ways that they can maybe engage in your organization. Invite you to come speak 'cause I'm sure they would like to have you.
Jess Piper: I would love that. Thank you, Michelle. Thanks for what you're doing and thanks for having me.
Michelle Rathman: It's my pleasure. All right, stay tuned. We'll be right back with the closing thoughts for me here on The Rural Impact.
=====
Michelle Rathman: My thanks to Jess Piper for taking time to sit and talk with me. I learned so much and she was very inspirational to me. And I wanna encourage you to visit her and subscribe to her on Substack because her writing is very eloquent and she has such an interesting way, an eloquent way of stating the facts.
So again, thanks to Jess. Also, thanks to Alexa from the National Rural Health Association for that important policy update was important for us to kind of close the loop on that since the last time we talked. I also wanna extend, again, my deep appreciation to the American Heart Association for their partnership, and remind you once again to visit our website at theruralimpact.com for details about their outstanding program, specifically designed for critical access hospitals.
And while you're there, while you're at our website why don't you just take 30 seconds to subscribe and consider writing a review and rating us wherever you like to listen? We do appreciate that. I received such a lovely note on LinkedIn the other day from a listener, and I just so appreciate that.
And I also really wanna thank those of you who are making donations, cannot thank you enough for thinking enough of us to, to make that donation. It really does help us continue to bring more content to you. And I also wanna make sure that I thank Brea Corsaro and Sarah Staub as always, for their remarkable work behind the scenes, could not do this podcast without them.
And the last thing I wanna say very sincerely from my heart. Many people around us, you might be feeling it as well. The, these are some pretty challenging times we find ourselves in and policy shifts have many of us feeling like we're walking on shaky grounds. And that is all the more reason to do everything we can to take good care of ourselves and to the best of our ability, those around us.
So again, thank you for joining us and we're gonna see you again on a brand new episode of The Rural Impact.
