Porter McNeil, an Illinois-based communications consultant, was Illinois Communications Director for the Kerry-Edwards’ presidential campaign. He assisted with the 2021 “factory town” report (American Family Voices & 21^st Century Democrats) and was re-elected in 2024 to a seat on the Rock Island County Board.

In August 2000, fresh from the Democratic National Convention, Al Gore and Joe Lieberman flew overnight from Los Angeles to begin a four-day Mark Twain-style boat ride on the Mississippi River. 

Their “Setting Course for America’s Future” trip charted a political path across the sand bars of Wisconsin, Iowa, Illinois and Missouri and critical blue-collar swing counties. That trip represents one of the Democratic Party’s top challenges in 2026 and 2028. The path to 270 and a congressional majority in Congress runs through rural regions and working-class factory towns across the Midwest.

Porter McNeil is an Illinois-based political consultant. He was Illinois communications director for the Kerry-Edwards 2004 presidential campaign and worked for Axelrod & Associates. He assisted with the 2021 “factory town” report referenced in this column. He’s currently a member of the Rock Island County Board. Follow him on Twitter @PorterMcNeil.

Looking to 2024, Democrats have a path to winning back the U.S. House that involves an all-of-the-above strategy, reaching urban, suburban, rural, and progressive working-class voters in forgotten areas. 

For a lesson in knitting together a diverse coalition of working-class, urban, suburban and even rural voters, review Senator Raphael Warnock’s re-election bid in Georgia. For a master class in reaching the working class, look at last year’s campaigns of Senator John Fetterman in Pennsylvania and Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer. For a blueprint in blue-collar outreach, review Marie Gluesenkamp Perez’s race in Washington’s third Congressional district.

All of those campaigns successfully energized the Democratic base and employed the politics of persuasion.