Who’s spending 6 figures on billboards targeting rural Central WA voters?
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Rural Americans United committed about $225,000 this year to its Make Rural Voices Count.
- The PAC placed 15 billboards across Central Washington, including two in Pasco.
- Campaign will run ads, registration, education, polling and voter information programs.
A political action committee with ties to a Central Washington Democrat has launched a six-figure advertisement buy aimed at stirring Latino interest in the 2026 midterm elections.
Rural Americans United began erecting ads this week at 15 billboards across Central Washington, including two in Pasco at 3030 W. Irving Street.
“This project is about visibility, participation and building long term infrastructure that helps people feel heard, represented and engaged in shaping the future of their communities,” said Doug White, founding director of Rural Americans United.
Boosting rural voices
The group has committed about $225,000 this year to its “Make Rural Voices Count” campaign, making it “one of the largest civic engagement communications investments currently underway in rural Washington.”
It hopes to reach tens of thousands of commuters daily through ads, and will also conduct registration efforts, education programs, polling and create voter information resources.
The Rural Americans United campaign aims to address “persistent challenges” facing democratic participation. Many races in the region, the group says, continue to go uncontested while voter participation remains among the lowest in the state.
During the 2024 general election, six of the state’s ten counties with the lowest turnout were in Central Washington — those include Benton and Franklin counties.
Rural Americans United is also planning to expand efforts into the 2028 presidential season.
Messages appear targeted toward young voters, working families and farmworkers. One Spanish ad reads “United for a better future,” while another reads in English, “You build the country. You feed the country. It’s time to be heard.”
Rural Americans United says community members and organizations throughout the region gave feedback on the ads.
“These billboards are a reminder that our voices matter and our votes matter,” said Odalys Gonzalez, director of community engagement for Rural Americans United. “When we participate, we create change.”
About Rural Americans United
Rural Americans United is a Yakima-based group formed in 2023 as a way to spur progressive voters to become more politically active in an era of “attrition, apathy and extremist divides,” its website reads.
White, a fourth-generation Yakima Valley farmer, formed the group after his failed 2022 campaign against U.S. Rep. Dan Newhouse, R-Sunnyside. In the years since, Rural Americans has mostly focused on ways to reach out to new voters and get them registered.
Central Washington Democrats faced a substantial setback in 2024, when Donald Trump rode into the White House in part due to overwhelming support from Latino and Hispanic voters, who saw him as the better candidate on economic issues.
With Trump’s approval faltering following his widespread deportation and immigration enforcement efforts, progressives now see an opportunity to leverage the blowback into electoral support this fall.
Rural Americans United is also placing billboards in East Wenatchee, Ephrata, Soap Lake, Brewster, Omak, Oroville, Sunnyside, Grand Coulee, Rock Island, Wapato, Toppenish and other rural areas.
