"There is no way to cast a blanket statement on rural voters."
Minnesota's Nevada Littlewolf recruits, trains, and coaches rural and urban women to run for elected office.
In this week’s “Meet a Rural Organizer” series, we feature Minnesota’s Nevada Littlewolf. Nevada is one of the wisest and fiercest leaders I know, and sharing her knowledge on organizing in rural communities is part of the reason I started this series. Currently the Executive Director of Women Winning, Nevada is involved with grassroots Minnesota politics statewide, both in rural and urban areas. Nevada served on the Virginia (MN) City Council from 2008-2018, is a citizen of Leech Lake Nation, and has spent the last 25 years kicking ass for justice and equity.
The Cocklebur conducted this interview with Nevada over email. Meet a Rural Organizer features rural activists, advocates, and leaders who fight for the places they love. The interview has been lightly edited for length and clarity. Nevada supplied the photos for this story.
The Cocklebur: So, tell me something good about rural organizing in your part of the world.
Nevada Littlewolf: Right now, we are hearing a lot about reproductive rights and reproductive justice issues. Minnesota remains the only state in the region with safe and legal access to abortion healthcare and birth control. Women and children-bearing people in our rural regions have always experienced challenges related to access to reproductive healthcare. Despite the recent Dobbs Decision that ended rights provided by Roe v. Wade and new legal threats to medication like mifepristone, Minnesota has held ground. In 2022, bolstered by this single issue, Minnesotans voted their values and created the first-ever pro-choice Trifecta securing the House, Senate and Governor’s office. This Trifecta went on to deliver the PRO Act codifying abortion access into state law. They also passed a shield law to protect women and child bearing people who travel to Minnesota to seek an abortion. Everyone has a fundamental right to reproductive healthcare.
The Cocklebur: What are the issues driving the talk at the schools and gas stations and nursing homes and such?
Nevada: This is the quiet year for top-of-ticket elections, so everything is local (which is the way I like it, as a former City Councilor). Folks know that next year’s Presidential may not give them great options, so local races feel more real and connected. In towns and cities across Minnesota, people know their school board members and city representatives; they know their Mayor and Commissioners because they are together in the community every day. There’s big city elections of Minneapolis and Saint Paul for City Council and lots of local elections across the state. Duluth could make history this year by having its first-ever all woman City Council; Saint Paul could be the same. In a time of such political divisiveness, people really want to feel a connection to leaders who will cut through the nonsense and do what’s best for people.
The Cocklebur: What is one of the keys to successful rural organizing?
Nevada: It’s all about relationships. Always.
The Cocklebur: And now you get to tell everybody your take on the things that political pundits and consultants get wrong about rural voters.
Nevada: Minnesota is a purple state. Yes, we have Prince, but also we are politically purple. We are a mixed bag with lots of views on how politics should be, who leaders should be, how vocal or reserved, how progressive or how conservative, and whether you say “duck, duck, goose” or “duck, duck, gray duck”. There is no way to cast a blanket statement on rural voters.
We are also homeland to the Dakota and Ojibwe with 11 sovereign tribal nations reaching all corners of our state. The Twin Cities is home to the second largest urban American Indian population in the country, in addition to the high level of diversity from new American, immigrant, and refugee communities. Minnesota remains over 70% white and has some of the worst racial disparities in the country. We have been a leader in refugee resettlement, and have welcomed more than 100,000 refugees since 1970.
The Cocklebur: Rural organizers are generally starved for financial resources. Make the case for investing in rural organizing as a means of winning issues or elections in overlooked rural places.
Nevada: Rural communities are rich and full of abundance. While maybe economically distressed, the human capital is very strong. Organizing in rural communities means you have the opportunity to find common ground and elevate voices that are often not heard. Rural voices offer solutions.
The Cocklebur: Any local leaders or up-and-comers doing rural work you'd like to highlight?
Nevada: Khayman Goodsky is working out of Duluth, MN. Khayman is a two-spirit filmmaker and arts organizer who works across rural and tribal communities. Khayman is Aanishinaabe has been active in the movement to elevate Native artists and filmmakers. She has been actively engaging conversations with the LGBTQIA+TS communities since she was a child and creating safe spaces in rural places.
The Cocklebur: Now you get to recommend a book, a song, and a something to watch on a screen.
Nevada: Here’s a couple books I’ve been reading in the last year: all about love by bell hooks, The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee by David Treuer, The Sum of Us by Heather McGhee and Real Change by Sharon Salzberg. I like a mix of justice, healing practice, and regenerative solutions with good ol’ nerdy history and research.
The Cocklebur: Closing statement. Brag about your organization/self/work.
Nevada: I am a citizen of Leech Lake nation and Anishinabekwe. I am the Executive Director of Women Winning. We work to support, train, endorse, and elect prochoice women across Minnesota at all levels of public office. I served in the Virginia, MN City Council on northern Minnesota’s Iron Range. I am mother to two adult children and have a large extended family. I have been doing rural organizing my entire life and won’t stop now.
Women Winning is holding its 41st Annual Luncheon on June 12th in Minneapolis, MN to secure your ticket, email brettina@womenwinning.org or go to our website: www.womenwinning.org.
The Cocklebur covers rural policy and politics from a progressive point-of-view. Our work focuses on a tangled rural political reality of dishonest debate, economic and racial disparities, corporate power over our democracy, and disinformation peddled by conservative media outlets. We aim to use facts, data, and science to inform our point-of-view. We wear our complicated love/WTF relationship with rural America on our sleeve.