There are 67 members of the Minnesota State Senate, and 8 of them represent the big cities of Minneapolis and St.Paul. As one would expect, they’re all democrats. And according to the Minnesota Farmers Union’s tracking of legislators votes on issues of importance to farmers and rural folks, those 8 big city democratic senators voted for farmers 94% of the time. There are 20 senate districts in Minnesota which are over 50% rural according to the Census Bureau, and republicans (mis)represent 12 of those districts. Those 12 republican rural senators voted for farmers only 81% of the time!

The 8 democratic rural senators voted for farmers 92% of the time, a statistical tie with the big city democrats. Actually, the democratic senators never voted against farmers, every single one of the votes counted against them was due to missing a few votes due to conflicts with other meetings or health issues. In contrast, the rural republicans frequently voted against farmers and their own rural constituents.

Look at the actual votes, and the republican’s blaming of big city democrats for rural America’s ills is pure BS… Big city democrats are actually doing a better job of standing up for farmers and rural folks that the rural republicans are!