Francis Wilkinson, Columnist

Obama's Coalition Included Rural Whites

In 2008, Obama lost Missouri by 3,600 votes. Clinton lost it by a half-million.

January 6, 2017 at 2:30 PM UTC

Francis Wilkinson is a Bloomberg Opinion columnist covering US politics and policy. Previously, he was executive editor for the Week and a writer for Rolling Stone.

They were everywhere.
Photographer: Michael B. Thomas/AFP/Getty Images

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From a Democrat's perspective, the political map of Missouri looks like a blood-red sea with three little blue boats -- Columbia, Kansas City, St. Louis -- bobbing on the murderous waves. Donald Trump won the state by 19 points on the strength of rural, exurban and suburban votes. It's a pattern that was repeated across the Midwest.

Roy Temple was chairman of the Missouri State Democratic Party during the 2016 election. He is a partner in the political multimedia advertising agency, GPS Impact. I spoke with him, via e-mail, about his experience in a state that has moved more securely into the Republican column in recent years.