Tuesday was another fascinating exercise in democracy and while there is much to analyze, the significant takeaway is this: Rural America continues to turn a brighter shade of red as the rural/urban electorate seemingly grows further and further apart. The expanding rural/urban divide could even be seen in not-so-rural states like Maryland who shockingly elected only their second Republican Governor in nearly 50 years. This is entirely because the voter turn-out was low in Baltimore but high in eastern and southern Maryland, the rural portions of the state.
Yesterday’s election has two other significant underlying stories:
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The Hispanic vote, didn’t show-up in high numbers, but nevertheless was overwhelmingly for Democratic candidates – 63%. This means that very little inroads were made for Republicans despite the strong efforts by Reince Priebus, chairman of the Republican National Committee, to gain diversity in candidates. Without significant changes in this vast voting bloc, Republicans should be worried about losing their gains in 2016.
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We expected the Republicans to take the Senate, but let’s not let that overshadow the House. The Republicans now have 246 House seats (and some are yet to be decided). This is their largest majority since WWII! To paraphrase Charlie Cook: elections go in waves, and the waves are always bigger than just a few races.
So, what does the Republican take-over in the Senate mean for NRHA’s rural agenda? Let’s look at the changes in chairmanships…
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Senate Finance - Wyden (D-OR) will lose his Finance Chairmanship to Orin Hatch (R-UT). Hatch is from a rural state, but hasn’t always been the champion of rural health issues that NRHA would like to see. We will need a strong ground-game with Utah’s rural providers to convince the new Chairman to step up his game.
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Senate HELP - Harkin (D-IA) retires from Senate HELP and either Lamar Alexander (R-TN) will or Mike Enzi (R-WY) will take the gavel. (Enzi has seniority and can choose the Chairmanship if he wants.) Both are fairly strong rural health advocates.
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Senate Approps - - Mikulski steps down and Cochran will likely take the chair (Shelby (R-AL) is next in line but likely will go to chair the Senate Banking Committee.) This is good news - - and the equally good news is that Sen. Moran will likely become the Subcommittee chair of L-HHS. (This is the one Senate Committee where subcommittees are a big deal.) Both are strong rural champions. Hopefully with Cochran and Moran we can firm up funding for rural health safety net programs, such as Flex grants, NHSC, AHECs, etc., etc.
What is our biggest hurdle with a Republican takeover? NRHA’s legislative agenda in the new Congress is big, bold and will cost money. NRHA’s advocacy staff is committed to play offense and do all that we can to prevent further cuts to rural providers and stop rural hospital closings. It’s an aggressive agenda with a price tag. Republicans are reluctant to spend money and budget offsets are always tough.
That’s where you come in. Join your newly-elected officials and colleagues Feb. 3-5 in D.C. for NRHA’s Rural Health Policy Institute. Rural America elected many of the Republicans in the House and Senate. Take credit for that and demand from them an agenda that is good for rural America.