DES MOINES, Iowa – Democrats once dominated Koochiching County in the blue-collar Iron Range of northern Minnesota.
But in this month's presidential election, President Donald Trump won it with 60% of the vote.That's not because voters there are suddenly shifting to the right, said Tom Bakk, who represents the area in the state Senate.
It's because, he said, Democrats have steadily moved too far to the left for many rural voters.“We’ve got to see if we can get the Democratic Party to moderate and accept the fact that rural Minnesota is not getting more conservative,” said Bakk, who announced last week that he would become an independent after serving 25 years as a Democrat. "It’s that you guys are leaving them behind.”While Democrats.