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Barn Raiser

@barnraiser.bsky.social
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Your independent source for rural and small town news barnraisingmedia.com

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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 28m
After two failed attempts to nominate a Maine candidate friendly to the party establishment, the consultant class is finding better success with its third approach: co-optation barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Democratic Party Consultants Surround Troy Jackson
After two failed attempts to nominate a Maine candidate friendly to the party establishment, the consultant class is finding better success with its third approach: co-optation
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 18h
Grassroots support propelled Troy Jackson’s campaign this summer to replace Graham Platner in Maine’s U.S. Senate race. Yet the Democratic Party’s attempt to surround Jackson with consultants from an array of losing campaigns could end up alienating his own base. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Democratic Party Consultants Surround Troy Jackson
After two failed attempts to nominate a Maine candidate friendly to the party establishment, the consultant class is finding better success with its third approach: co-optation
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
A new book and video project showcase connections among language, culture and the natural world barnraisingmedia.com/indigenous-l...
barnraisingmedia.com
Indigenous Language Revivals in the U.S. and Ireland
In the 1800s, the Choctaw nation and the Irish people bonded over their shared plight. Today, their sacred connection now extends to language revival.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Kansas pastor challenges party lines in tight Senate race barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
‘Wasn’t Jesus Woke?’
Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton believes Kansans will look to human decency over party identity. Will he become the Sunflower State’s first Dem Senator in over 90 years?
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Economic frustrations test Republican support barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
What Rural Voters Think About Trump as the Midterms Approach
Most voters want candidates to talk about costs as economic frustrations test Republican support in key rural strongholds.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
About half of rural American voters believe the economy is worse off now than when President Donald Trump returned to office in 2024. A new survey points to surprising shifts in voter opinion before the midterms. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
What Rural Voters Think About Trump as the Midterms Approach
Most voters want candidates to talk about costs as economic frustrations test Republican support in key rural strongholds.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
“They said, ‘He’s woke.’ I said, ‘Well, wasn’t Jesus woke?’” barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
‘Wasn’t Jesus Woke?’
Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton believes Kansans will look to human decency over party identity. Will he become the Sunflower State’s first Dem Senator in over 90 years?
011
Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Beth Howard writes that to mend divisions we must “love harder” barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
How Do You Build Working-Class Solidarity in Rural America?
A new memoir by Beth Howard, an organizer and daughter of a coal miner, explores the politics of organizing white working-class Appalachians.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A new memoir by Beth Howard, an organizer and daughter of a coal miner, explores the politics of organizing white working-class Appalachians who don’t check all the correct social justice boxes. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
How Do You Build Working-Class Solidarity in Rural America?
A new memoir by Beth Howard, an organizer and daughter of a coal miner, explores the politics of organizing white working-class Appalachians.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Adam Hamilton, pastor of the largest United Methodist church in the country, believes Kansans should look to human decency over party identity. Will he become the Sunflower State’s first Democratic Senator in over 90 years? @dropsitenews.com barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
‘Wasn’t Jesus Woke?’
Democratic pastor Adam Hamilton believes Kansans will look to human decency over party identity. Will he become the Sunflower State’s first Dem Senator in over 90 years?
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Reposted by Barn Raiser
Drop Site @dropsitenews.com · 27/09/2026
⭕️ NEW from @dropsitenews.com: “Wasn’t Jesus Woke?” Kansas pastor Adam Hamilton is challenging party lines in a tight Senate race. Story by Clayton Steward and Justin Perkins dropsitenews.com/p/wasnt-jesu...
dropsitenews.com
“Wasn’t Jesus Woke?”
Kansas pastor Adam Hamilton is challenging party lines in a tight Senate race.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
“A sacred bond which has joined our peoples together for all time” is how an Irish prime minister characterized the Irish–Native American connection during a visit to the Choctaw Nation in 2018. The bond arose in 1847, at the height of Ireland’s Great Famine. barnraisingmedia.com/indigenous-l...
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
The Republican Senate candidate spent 10 years in Congress as Pharma’s point man working to push prescription opioids barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Got Oxy? How Michigan’s Mike Rogers Helped Fuel the Opioid Crisis
Mike Rogers spent 10 years in Congress as Pharma’s point man working to push prescription opioids to the detriment of rural America.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
A new book and video project showcase connections among language, culture and the natural world barnraisingmedia.com/indigenous-l...
barnraisingmedia.com
Indigenous Language Revivals in the U.S. and Ireland
In the 1800s, the Choctaw nation and the Irish people bonded over their shared plight. Today, their sacred connection now extends to language revival.
010
Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
From the Old Country: Reflections on our “hospital years” barnraisingmedia.com/what-are-we-...
barnraisingmedia.com
What Are We Waiting For?
As we age we spend untold hours in medical waiting rooms and we will live longer than our parents. How will we spend that extra time?
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
Gore Vidal once claimed younger generations would have 10 more years to live than their parents. “From the Old Country” columnist Jane Miller examines how she has spent those extra years, and asks what you might do with yours. barnraisingmedia.com/what-are-we-...
barnraisingmedia.com
What Are We Waiting For?
As we age we spend untold hours in medical waiting rooms and we will live longer than our parents. How will we spend that extra time?
001
Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
“A sacred bond which has joined our peoples together for all time” is how an Irish prime minister characterized the Irish–Native American connection in a visit to the Choctaw Nation. barnraisingmedia.com/indigenous-l...
barnraisingmedia.com
Indigenous Language Revivals in the U.S. and Ireland
In the 1800s, the Choctaw nation and the Irish people bonded over their shared plight. Today, their sacred connection now extends to language revival.
010
Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
In 2023, acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su won a judgement against Rancho Nuevo for providing unsafe housing, underpaying workers and supplying them with spoiled food, forcing the contractor to pay over $1 million in back wages and penalties. barnraisingmedia.com/a-new-system...
barnraisingmedia.com
A New System of Labor Threatens Farmworker Power
A new system of labor is concentrating power with corporate agriculture and away from self-organized farmworker crews.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
"For all of us whose lives have been shaped and animated by Wendell’s work, the grief is heavy." barnraisingmedia.com/wendell-berr...
barnraisingmedia.com
Wendell Berry Helped Me See Grief Can Be a Gift
Berry’s writings about love and limits give us language to understood that growth and grief happen together and transform each other.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Corporate agriculture is increasingly dependent on the explosive growth of this program, ignoring the cost in lost jobs to local farmworkers, and the toll on the H-2A workers themselves. barnraisingmedia.com/a-new-system...
barnraisingmedia.com
A New System of Labor Threatens Farmworker Power
A new system of labor is concentrating power with corporate agriculture and away from self-organized farmworker crews.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
Harvesting machines and H-2A visas are concentrating power with growers and away from self-organized farmworker crews barnraisingmedia.com/a-new-system...
barnraisingmedia.com
A New System of Labor Threatens Farmworker Power
A new system of labor is concentrating power with corporate agriculture and away from self-organized farmworker crews.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
A fallen tree, a front porch and a call to root and rise barnraisingmedia.com/wendell-berr...
barnraisingmedia.com
Wendell Berry Helped Me See Grief Can Be a Gift
Berry’s writings about love and limits give us language to understood that growth and grief happen together and transform each other.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
New harvesting machines and the rise of the H-2A visa program have meant the disappearance of a traditional way of working and bargaining for farmworkers. In the process, this has given more power to growers. barnraisingmedia.com/a-new-system...
barnraisingmedia.com
A New System of Labor Threatens Farmworker Power
A new system of labor is concentrating power with corporate agriculture and away from self-organized farmworker crews.
010
Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
In the wake of Wendell Berry's death, Brooks Lamb writes, Berry’s notion of affection calls us to be more deeply attuned with both love and pain. “Feeling a loss so fully means that it was preceded by love and care. Painful as it is, grief is a gift.” barnraisingmedia.com/wendell-berr...
barnraisingmedia.com
Wendell Berry Helped Me See Grief Can Be a Gift
Berry’s writings about love and limits give us language to understood that growth and grief happen together and transform each other.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The Republican Senate candidate spent 10 years in Congress as Pharma’s point man working to push prescription opioids barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Got Oxy? How Michigan’s Mike Rogers Helped Fuel the Opioid Crisis
Mike Rogers spent 10 years in Congress as Pharma’s point man working to push prescription opioids to the detriment of rural America.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Mike Rogers, the Republican Senate candidate in Michigan, spent 10 years in Congress as Big Pharma’s point man working to push prescription opioids. He’s now trying to rewrite that past in a bid to rehabilitate his image among Michigan voters. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Got Oxy? How Michigan’s Mike Rogers Helped Fuel the Opioid Crisis
Mike Rogers spent 10 years in Congress as Pharma’s point man working to push prescription opioids to the detriment of rural America.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Native organizations are teaming up ahead of the midterm elections to help overcome the ever-higher barriers tribal voters face in polling places nationwide. They are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Native Americans Build Strategies to Overcome Voter Suppression
Native communities are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst in the upcoming midterm elections. Some are advising others to avoid mail-in ballots altogether.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
Trump administration targets a voting bloc that could decide election results in multiple states barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Native Americans Build Strategies to Overcome Voter Suppression
Native communities are hoping for the best but preparing for the worst in the upcoming midterm elections. Some are advising others to avoid mail-in ballots altogether.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 16/09/2026
Corn Belt candidates buck party lines to win votes barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
MAHA and the Politics of Cancer
While news-grabbing primaries have featured populist versus establishment matchups, Iowa is facing two different forces: MAHA and Big Ag.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
Health care and the economy drive voter frustration in Arizona. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Will Rural Discontent Flip This Border Tossup District?
Data centers, the economy and health care are forcing rural voters to reckon with a Republican incumbent in one of the country’s closely watched tossup races.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
A high schooler confronts isolation and disconnection in rural Maine barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
For These Rural Teens, Organizing Is Their Extracurricular
These high school students confront isolation and disconnection in rural Maine by organizing their peers to change policy.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
“Are we really making sure that these people have the access to the resources they need, because everybody’s living paycheck to paycheck.” barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Will Rural Discontent Flip This Border Tossup District?
Data centers, the economy and health care are forcing rural voters to reckon with a Republican incumbent in one of the country’s closely watched tossup races.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
In Arizona’s 6th Congressional District, one of the country’s closely watched tossup races, rural voters are reckoning with deteriorating health care access after a Republican incumbent’s vote last year for the One Big Beautiful Bill. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Will Rural Discontent Flip This Border Tossup District?
Data centers, the economy and health care are forcing rural voters to reckon with a Republican incumbent in one of the country’s closely watched tossup races.
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Reposted by Barn Raiser
kathrynphillips.bsky.social @kathrynphillips.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Well-deserved antipathy toward glyphosate/Roundup is misread and effectively ignored by some Democratic electeds and environmental groups. Read my op-ed about this in Barn Raiser. The Movement to Ban Glyphosate Grows barnraisingmedia.com/the-movement...
barnraisingmedia.com
The Movement to Ban Glyphosate Grows
The movement to ban glyphosate grows but some Democratic leaders and environmental groups are reluctant to regulate
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
"Without doubt, momentum to ban glyphosate is growing. The question is whether Democrats will be able to recognize and respond to the public sentiment as well as some southern Republicans have." barnraisingmedia.com/the-movement...
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
In dozens of books Berry wrote of the need to protect—and ethically use—land, of God as a part of nature and of modernity as a force to be rebelled against. barnraisingmedia.com/wendell-berr...
barnraisingmedia.com
Wendell Berry, Kentucky Writer, Farmer and Advocate, Dies at 92
Berry once wrote: “Beware the machinery of longevity. When a man’s life is over the decent thing is for him to die. The forest does not withhold itself from death.”
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 11/09/2026
Here are the questions that constituents should ask their local governments about new data center projects: barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Do Rural Residents Have the Power to Say No?
Data center hyperscalers promise the same fat pitch of jobs and revenue CAFOs once did. They’ve also learned about how to destroy local resistance.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
"I learned that the [California Wildlife Conservation Board] routinely pays out funds that are used to buy and apply toxic glyphosate on public and private lands. The funds accompany so-called restoration projects on those lands." barnraisingmedia.com/the-movement...
barnraisingmedia.com
The Movement to Ban Glyphosate Grows
The movement to ban glyphosate grows but some Democratic leaders and environmental groups are reluctant to regulate
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
A high schooler confronts isolation and disconnection in rural Maine barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
For These Rural Teens, Organizing Is Their Extracurricular
These high school students confront isolation and disconnection in rural Maine by organizing their peers to change policy.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Corn Belt candidates buck party lines to win votes barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
MAHA and the Politics of Cancer
While news-grabbing primaries have featured populist versus establishment matchups, Iowa is facing two different forces: MAHA and Big Ag.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
Many rural youth struggle with isolation and find it tough to make ends meet. In Maine, young organizers are helping uplift the voices of their peers to bridge the gap between rural realities and the policies that can change it. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
For These Rural Teens, Organizing Is Their Extracurricular
These high school students confront isolation and disconnection in rural Maine by organizing their peers to change policy.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 07/09/2026
In Iowa, an anti-establishment Republican gubernatorial candidate has shaken up the midterm race by calling out “Big Ag cartels” and the state’s water crisis. How will Democrats respond? barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
MAHA and the Politics of Cancer
While news-grabbing primaries have featured populist versus establishment matchups, Iowa is facing two different forces: MAHA and Big Ag.
010
Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
When Berry left New York City and returned home to Kentucky in the 1960s, he did so with “some fear and trembling, but also a sense of doing the right thing” barnraisingmedia.com/wendell-berr...
barnraisingmedia.com
Wendell Berry, Kentucky Writer, Farmer and Advocate, Dies at 92
Berry once wrote: “Beware the machinery of longevity. When a man’s life is over the decent thing is for him to die. The forest does not withhold itself from death.”
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Trump’s attempt to federalize elections targets rural voters barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Rural Organizations Step Up to Protect the Ballot Box
The Trump administration’s attempts to federalize and delegitimize elections has found its analogues in some rural counties. In response, local organizers are stepping up to protect the vote.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Gap narrows in a district once held by Marjorie Taylor Greene barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Can a Black Veteran Farmer Win in Rural Georgia?
In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district, Shawn Harris is trying to pull off something Democrats have been unable to do: win a seat in Congress.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
The Trump administration’s attempt to federalize elections appears to be gaining allies in rural communities willing to seize ballot boxes or purge voter roles. Yet organizers are stepping up to protect the rights of voters in their communities. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Rural Organizations Step Up to Protect the Ballot Box
The Trump administration’s attempts to federalize and delegitimize elections has found its analogues in some rural counties. In response, local organizers are stepping up to protect the vote.
010
Reposted by Barn Raiser
@NewsJennifer (Jennifer Schulze) @newsjennifer.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
Do yourself a favor and read something, anything written by Wendell Berry. My personal favorite: A Place on Earth.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
On Monday, August 31, beloved author, poet and farmer Wendell Berry died at his home in Port Royal, Henry County, Kentucky. He was 92. Berry’s essays, fiction and poetry influenced generations of writers, farmers, rural activists and environmental movements. barnraisingmedia.com/wendell-berr...
barnraisingmedia.com
Wendell Berry, Kentucky Writer, Farmer and Advocate, Dies at 92
Berry once wrote: “Beware the machinery of longevity. When a man’s life is over the decent thing is for him to die. The forest does not withhold itself from death.”
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
At a time when Democrats nationally are searching for ways to compete outside major cities and suburbs, Harris is testing whether biography, small-dollar fundraising, and local organizing can overcome a district’s deeply established partisan identity. barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Can a Black Veteran Farmer Win in Rural Georgia?
In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district, Shawn Harris is trying to pull off something Democrats have been unable to do: win a seat in Congress.
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Barn Raiser @barnraiser.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Gap narrows in a district once held by Marjorie Taylor Greene barnraisingmedia.com/2026-electio...
barnraisingmedia.com
Can a Black Veteran Farmer Win in Rural Georgia?
In Marjorie Taylor Greene’s former district, Shawn Harris is trying to pull off something Democrats have been unable to do: win a seat in Congress.
001