Democrats Lost Rural America. This Former Rodeo Star Thinks He Can Win it Back.

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*“The national party hasn’t been engaged with a good message,” Mr. Sutton said. “They haven’t been relating to people in the Midwest. It used to be fighting for the little guy.”

In a normal year, this would all be fodder for a Nice Try campaign that ended with a 20-point loss. But Democrats here are starved for a win, and a bitter Republican primary has left some conservatives angry with Ms. Noem’s campaign. A handful of Republicans who supported the South Dakota attorney general, Marty Jackley, in the Republican primary have now publicly signed on with Mr. Sutton.

The Cook Political Report recently declared the race a “toss-up” — rather than a Republican layup. Assessing the true state of the race in a thinly populated rural state like South Dakota is difficult. Partisan surveys from Democrats have showed a tight race, but there have not been any independent public polls of the race so far.

“After four decades there’s this perception that a Democrat just can’t win,” said Tom Daschle, the former Senate majority leader from South Dakota who lost his seat in 2004. “This year that’s changing.” . .

But some conservatives said they were giving Mr. Sutton a close look. They said that Mr. Trump’s trade policies were hurting their farms, and that Republican policies had done little to bring down their health care costs.

Hope Block, a finance officer in Groton, S.D., said she would support expanding Medicaid — a position favored by Mr. Sutton and opposed by Ms. Noem. Wayne Wasilk said his 100-cow dairy farm was struggling, and he liked what he had heard from Mr. Sutton.

“Nobody has the farmers’ and ranchers’ back right now,” Mr. Sutton said.

As much as farmers are worried, the rest of the state’s economy is humming. Overall unemployment is 3 percent, and there might not be enough discontent for voters to break with the Republican Party.'>>>

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/10/21/us/south-dakota-rodeo-billie-sutton.html?