06/10/2025

Rural Republicans Once Backed NPR

Then MAGA changed everything

Fourteen years before he joined President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, Sean Duffy rode a tea party wave into Congress. But within months, the conservative Republican from northern Wisconsin bucked his party and voted to preserve funding for National Public Radio (NPR).

The vote by Duffy and half a dozen other House Republicans offered a sign that NPR, despite its liberal reputation, had a reservoir of bipartisan backing, especially in rural areas where member stations are often the most robust source of local news.

Now, the politics around public radio and television have changed dramatically. The swing state’s most vulnerable congressional Republican, Rep. Derrick Van Orden, is eager to eliminate federal funding for public media by slashing more than $1 billion in aid. His constituents are split, often along partisan lines, with Democrats backing taxpayer funding and Republicans opposed or ambivalent.

Please select this link to read the complete article from The Washington Post.