Tuesday night, Woodson County farmer Mark Pringle had the honor of representing the state of Kansas during the Democratic National Convention roll call.
Pringle delivered remarks from his farm in southern Woodson County, with a sprawling prairie scene featured in the background.
“It’s really, really hard to do a 30-second video,” he noted.
Pringle also said “we weren’t operating under the best of conditions, because it was a hot day, but we made it work.”
The clip was aired on national television and streamed around the country. Pringle said he has since been inundated with positive feedback and statements of support.
DURING the roll call clip, Pringle stated “I’m a fourth-generation family farmer, but I worry about the next generation.”
“Many of our young folk end up moving from rural communities to find jobs.”
“Joe Biden has a plan to help new farmers get a good start, and by funding schools and health care, he’ll make sure rural communities remain great places to live, work and raise a family for generations to come.”
Pringle then cast the state of Kansas’ votes to nominate Joe Biden as the Democratic Party Presidential candidate.
BEING selected to represent the entire state came as a surprise, Pringle said, as it’s an honor usually reserved for party luminaries, VIPs or donors.
“I had no inkling … no anticipation of anything that would happen from that little 30-second taping,” he said.
As for why he was chosen to represent the state, Pringle said “there was, I think, knowledge about our work with the Poor Peoples’ Campaign and our appearance on the Joy Reid show,” along with being featured in a recent article on Kansas Reflector, a new news website.
Pringle said he was “heartened” that “rural Kansas was represented” by the media spot.
Despite the influx of attention, Pringle continues to stay focused on the people he looks to serve as a candidate for the Kansas House of Representatives District 13. He faces incumbent Joe Newland, a Republican from Neodesha.
Along with “being able to represent ag, and the rural part of our country,” Pringle also said he appreciated having the opportunity to show that there are farmers across the country who align themselves with the Democratic Party.
“We know the issues. We are a part of the issues. We’re part of the farming community,” Pringle elaborated.
The farming and agricultural community are “not the exclusive domain of the Republican Party.”
There’s a lot more “diversity in rural populations about how we view our country” than people often realize, he said.
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