When Democrats Won the Heartland
Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992
Understanding a broad-based liberal response to resurgent right-wing politics
Cloth – $125
978-0-252-04952-1
Paper – $29.95
978-0-252-08917-6
eBook – $14.95
978-0-252-04867-8
Publication Date
Paperback: 04/14/2026
Cloth: 04/14/2026
Cloth: 04/14/2026
About the Book
In the 1980s, the Midwestern economic collapse caused by the farm crisis and deindustrialization inspired the region’s liberal politicians to call on progressive populist traditions to rebuild local, state, and national Democratic parties. Cory Haala looks at the Midwest’s central role in asserting an updated populism wielded by grassroots activists, politicians, and a wide-ranging coalition of voters to counter Reagan-era conservativism.This left-oriented movement resurrected the imagery and policies of twentieth-century radical parties like the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party and Robert La Follette’s Wisconsin Idea. Delving into progressive populist ideas and tactics, Haala illuminates the work of the activists and politicians who led protests, founded a congressional caucus, and backed presidential campaigns that sought to advance their cause. Haala’s account moves from Iron Range union halls to Iowa farmhouses to South Dakota reservations to revise views of Democratic Party history, the Midwest’s political culture, and populism’s role in US politics.
A counter to established political narratives, When Democrats Won the Heartland takes readers into the history of an unexpected political moment.
About the Author
Cory Haala is an assistant professor of history and the Museum Studies Coordinator at the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point.Reviews
"“Cory Haala’s How Democrats Won the Heartland is among the most timely and necessary works I have encountered from the emerging new generation of historians of the Midwest. Haala shines a bright light on the part of Midwestern political history that has been forgotten and is at risk of even being erased: the long-lasting, unique, and essential history of the progressive left. Furthermore, his use of local archival sources is remarkable, his writing fluid, and his enthusiasm for the topic infectious.”—Catherine Stock, author of Rural Radicals: Righteous Rage in the American Grain
“This superb political history of midwestern liberalism in the 1980s offers a richly textured invocation of a time, place, and ideology that speak directly to our present discontents.”
—Daniel Schlozman, coauthor of The Hollow Parties: The Many Pasts and Disordered Present of American Party Politics"
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