01-18-2017, 11:28 AM
(This post was last modified: 01-18-2017, 11:31 AM by Anthony '58.)
A town has hope that it hasn't been forgotten
SANDY HOOK, Ky.—It used to be known as the most reliably Democratic county in America.
In a state that had long ago gone deep red, Elliott County, located here in the winding forested hills of remote eastern Kentucky, was a true anomaly. Since 1872, three years after the county was founded, the majority of voters here had backed a Democrat for president every four years.
It was the longest streak for any county in the nation—and one that came to an abrupt end in November when Donald Trump overwhelmingly defeated Hillary Clinton by 44 points, his largest margin of victory in the state of Kentucky and one of the largest in the country.
To some, a Republican win seemed a long time coming. The population is predominately white and largely impoverished–working class people who once toiled in nearby steel mills and coal mines but have struggled to make ends meet as those jobs have vanished. But politics, like the land, had been passed down through generations, and a majority of residents remained solidly Democrat, a loyalty dating back to their fathers and grandfathers who earned their first paychecks building roads and public infrastructure as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
“(When you voted), it was either the Democrat, or it was the devil,” said Myron Lewis, a convenience store owner and native of Sandy Hook, the county seat. Lewis’s father worked in the mining industry.
![[Image: 3a9c9cbfb19b07f2003c3aa7d3ded51b]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/PmPRSon6g4vEQgSdj7d8JQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/3a9c9cbfb19b07f2003c3aa7d3ded51b)
View photos
Sandy Hook, Ky. (Photo: Eric Thayer for Yahoo News)
Slideshow: Scenes from the road in Donald Trump’s America >>>
But that loyalty has been tested in recent years. Hard hit by the recession, Elliott County didn’t enjoy the recovery other parts of the country did. And in 2015, many more lost their jobs when AK Steel, one of the largest employers in the region, idled its plant in nearby Ashland. The unemployment rate in Elliott County now stands at 11 percent, more than double the national average and one of the highest in the country. Many here have to drive an hour or longer to their jobs.
Let down by Barack Obama, who didn’t usher in the recovery the region needed, and angry at Clinton’s suggestion at a CNN town hall last year that “a lot of coal miners” would lose their jobs in years to come, many here were intrigued by Trump who vowed create jobs and be a president for those who felt abandoned and overlooked by the rest of the country.
“Appalachia is this forgotten area of folks within the country. And we wanna still be seen as viable. And that’s not happening at all,” Lewis said. But Trump seemed to be their unlikely champion, a New York billionaire who seemed to understand and care about the “working people” in a way that other candidates didn’t.
Lewis, who is 41, had recently moved back to Sandy Hook after years away. He had traveled the country, working to develop fuel and truck stops. But, unlike many here who had graduated from the local high school and never looked back, Lewis believed in his hometown, and he returned with his wife and kids, looking for the quiet, small town life he’d enjoyed as a child. He opened a gas station and convenience store right off state highway 7, the main drag through town.
Sitting down for lunch at the Frosty Freeze, one of the only restaurants in town, Lewis acknowledged it has been tougher than he expected. While other nearby counties enjoyed some rebound, Elliott County has been in endless struggle, playing “second fiddle” to counties closer to Interstate 64, 30 miles away, in the quest to lure industry and jobs. A private prison had opened just outside of town a few years earlier, bringing about 160 jobs, but the county needed more. That’s why, he said, so many Democrats had crossed party lines to back Trump. “He promised jobs,” he said.
![[Image: b8afb19b44ba9775738b59c511375032]](https://s.yimg.com/ny/api/res/1.2/Y8eq1MV1DxaYYceK2nEedQ--/YXBwaWQ9aGlnaGxhbmRlcjtzbT0xO3c9ODAw/http://media.zenfs.com/en/homerun/feed_manager_auto_publish_494/b8afb19b44ba9775738b59c511375032)
View photos
Sandy Hook, Ky. (Photo: Eric Thayer for Yahoo News)
The residents in Elliott County or anywhere in this region of Kentucky don’t want a “handout,” he said. People just want a chance to work and take care of their own. “The thing that folks don’t understand is Appalachia doesn’t want any more than what Appalachia can do for itself by and large. …We were raised that way. You don’t need a world to take care of this village. But this village doesn’t need to be forgotten neither. You don’t ask for a lot, but you don’t wanna be forgotten at the same time.”
While many voters here crossed party lines to back Trump, he didn’t have coattails. Democrats won the rest of the ticket, perhaps confirming not only Trump’s unique power to win cross-party votes but also his tenuous political position. Though residents were friendly to Trump’s message, they are desperate to see results and are expecting him to deliver soon. Jobs are at the top of Lewis’s list, though he acknowledged Trump will “have a long row to hoe” when it comes to restoring coal industry jobs. He is hoping a Trump administration might help attract more diversified industry to the region, including more jobs in manufacturing and health care.
And while he likes some of Trump’s ideas about renegotiating trade deals, something that won him many votes here and throughout the Rust Belt, Lewis admits he’s unsure about how far the new administration should go. He likes the idea of making countries like China pay more to access the U.S. market and for punishing partners who dump cheap goods taking away business from American companies, but he’s wary of Trump’s call of simply exiting existing trade deals if other partners won’t play ball. “I’m not there,” he said.
Perhaps more than anything, except for jobs, Lewis says he hopes Trump will truly try to work with both Republicans and Democrats to break through gridlock in Washington. “I hope he surrounds himself with great minds to help him lead,” Lewis said. And, he added, he hopes Trump curbs his addiction to Twitter.
“Off the cuff Twitter remarks at 11:00 at night are not (helpful)… Let’s move on,” he said. “It’s time he drops that pettiness.”
[url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/in-americas-forgotten-places-trumps-supporters-hope-to-be-heard-finally-233159431.html][/url]
SANDY HOOK, Ky.—It used to be known as the most reliably Democratic county in America.
In a state that had long ago gone deep red, Elliott County, located here in the winding forested hills of remote eastern Kentucky, was a true anomaly. Since 1872, three years after the county was founded, the majority of voters here had backed a Democrat for president every four years.
It was the longest streak for any county in the nation—and one that came to an abrupt end in November when Donald Trump overwhelmingly defeated Hillary Clinton by 44 points, his largest margin of victory in the state of Kentucky and one of the largest in the country.
To some, a Republican win seemed a long time coming. The population is predominately white and largely impoverished–working class people who once toiled in nearby steel mills and coal mines but have struggled to make ends meet as those jobs have vanished. But politics, like the land, had been passed down through generations, and a majority of residents remained solidly Democrat, a loyalty dating back to their fathers and grandfathers who earned their first paychecks building roads and public infrastructure as part of Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal.
“(When you voted), it was either the Democrat, or it was the devil,” said Myron Lewis, a convenience store owner and native of Sandy Hook, the county seat. Lewis’s father worked in the mining industry.
View photosSandy Hook, Ky. (Photo: Eric Thayer for Yahoo News)
More
Slideshow: Scenes from the road in Donald Trump’s America >>>
But that loyalty has been tested in recent years. Hard hit by the recession, Elliott County didn’t enjoy the recovery other parts of the country did. And in 2015, many more lost their jobs when AK Steel, one of the largest employers in the region, idled its plant in nearby Ashland. The unemployment rate in Elliott County now stands at 11 percent, more than double the national average and one of the highest in the country. Many here have to drive an hour or longer to their jobs.
Let down by Barack Obama, who didn’t usher in the recovery the region needed, and angry at Clinton’s suggestion at a CNN town hall last year that “a lot of coal miners” would lose their jobs in years to come, many here were intrigued by Trump who vowed create jobs and be a president for those who felt abandoned and overlooked by the rest of the country.
“Appalachia is this forgotten area of folks within the country. And we wanna still be seen as viable. And that’s not happening at all,” Lewis said. But Trump seemed to be their unlikely champion, a New York billionaire who seemed to understand and care about the “working people” in a way that other candidates didn’t.
Lewis, who is 41, had recently moved back to Sandy Hook after years away. He had traveled the country, working to develop fuel and truck stops. But, unlike many here who had graduated from the local high school and never looked back, Lewis believed in his hometown, and he returned with his wife and kids, looking for the quiet, small town life he’d enjoyed as a child. He opened a gas station and convenience store right off state highway 7, the main drag through town.
Sitting down for lunch at the Frosty Freeze, one of the only restaurants in town, Lewis acknowledged it has been tougher than he expected. While other nearby counties enjoyed some rebound, Elliott County has been in endless struggle, playing “second fiddle” to counties closer to Interstate 64, 30 miles away, in the quest to lure industry and jobs. A private prison had opened just outside of town a few years earlier, bringing about 160 jobs, but the county needed more. That’s why, he said, so many Democrats had crossed party lines to back Trump. “He promised jobs,” he said.
View photosSandy Hook, Ky. (Photo: Eric Thayer for Yahoo News)
More
The residents in Elliott County or anywhere in this region of Kentucky don’t want a “handout,” he said. People just want a chance to work and take care of their own. “The thing that folks don’t understand is Appalachia doesn’t want any more than what Appalachia can do for itself by and large. …We were raised that way. You don’t need a world to take care of this village. But this village doesn’t need to be forgotten neither. You don’t ask for a lot, but you don’t wanna be forgotten at the same time.”
While many voters here crossed party lines to back Trump, he didn’t have coattails. Democrats won the rest of the ticket, perhaps confirming not only Trump’s unique power to win cross-party votes but also his tenuous political position. Though residents were friendly to Trump’s message, they are desperate to see results and are expecting him to deliver soon. Jobs are at the top of Lewis’s list, though he acknowledged Trump will “have a long row to hoe” when it comes to restoring coal industry jobs. He is hoping a Trump administration might help attract more diversified industry to the region, including more jobs in manufacturing and health care.
And while he likes some of Trump’s ideas about renegotiating trade deals, something that won him many votes here and throughout the Rust Belt, Lewis admits he’s unsure about how far the new administration should go. He likes the idea of making countries like China pay more to access the U.S. market and for punishing partners who dump cheap goods taking away business from American companies, but he’s wary of Trump’s call of simply exiting existing trade deals if other partners won’t play ball. “I’m not there,” he said.
Perhaps more than anything, except for jobs, Lewis says he hopes Trump will truly try to work with both Republicans and Democrats to break through gridlock in Washington. “I hope he surrounds himself with great minds to help him lead,” Lewis said. And, he added, he hopes Trump curbs his addiction to Twitter.
“Off the cuff Twitter remarks at 11:00 at night are not (helpful)… Let’s move on,” he said. “It’s time he drops that pettiness.”
[url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/in-americas-forgotten-places-trumps-supporters-hope-to-be-heard-finally-233159431.html][/url]
"These, and many other matters which might be noticed, add a volume of unofficial declarations to the mass of organic utterances that this is a Christian nation" - Justice David Brewer, Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States, 1892