Maine’s top rural development officer, Rhiannon Hampson, highlights the significant funding for infrastructure projects in the past year, including the Ticonic Bridge replacement and Presque Isle airport enhancements.

Biden’s 2024 reelection depends on crediting economic gains, which is harder in rural areas due to frustrations among older, whiter voters.

Biden’s campaign will target rural voters, who make up 30% of the electorate in swing states North Carolina, Georgia, and Wisconsin, 22% in Pennsylvania, and 61% in Maine.

Democratic officials, local politicians, activists, and academics believe that years of neglect of rural areas, cynicism about government spending, and divides over abortion and education give Biden an uphill struggle.

The rural-urban split is essential to Biden’s efforts to win back rural America, home to one in five Americans who voted massively for Trump and the Republicans in the last two presidential elections.