Politicians have left rural Americans behind.

It started in the 1990s when Washington signed trade deals that emptied our factories. It was made worse when the cities and suburbs were wired for the internet and rural America was forgotten. It will get worse when urban America receives access to advancing technologies, but rural America is told to wait.

It is little wonder that rural America feels aggrieved by empty storefronts on town squares, closed factories that used to pay a living wage, and many now living paycheck-to-paycheck in low-wage jobs that don’t offer health insurance.

We Need to Preserve Rural America. High-speed internet should be accessible to every state and county in America for the same reason that every state and county has electricity. To be told we have to live without the infrastructure provided to urban America is to be told that rural Americans are second-class citizens.

Rural America deserves access to affordable and accessible health care, doctors in every county, modern medical facilities, quality hospitals, and access to telemedicine technology.

Farmers must be allowed to make a living through trade agreements that profit them and eliminate certain taxes and tariffs that cripple them. The United States should take advantage of our nation’s vast resources to become self-sufficient and not reliant on authoritarian regimes like China, Iran, and Russia to supply our energy needs and feed our people. 

Rural America is the heartland of the greatest country on earth. As Senator, I will represent the needs of rural Iowans in order to create a prosperous future for all.