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As students pulled up to the Jake’s home, colorful chairs were scattered in his front lawn. With no cars in the driveway, the house looked empty. Knocks at the door were left unanswered.

In the bright green grass, students found more vibrant Crayola-colored chairs and tables near a warehouse building next to Jake’s home. The RJ Amish Furniture truck parked next to the building made students believe the initials stood for brothers Jake and Reuben Hershberger.

Entering one of the two furniture stores, the smell of fresh wood breezes through the air. Walking through the 13,000 square-foot showroom, students searched for the brothers throughout the two-story building while discovering hidden treasures such as a long mirror that hides a giant jewelry box inside it.

Cleaning his hands off with a nearby rag, they found him: Reuben Hershberger, 51, takes time out of his day at work to talk with students about his Amish upbringing and thoughts on the election. He voted for Donald Trump after previously voting for Barack Obama.

According to the Amish America website, the Harmony area of Fillmore County is Minnesota’s largest Amish settlement with seven church districts approximately 1,000 people. This Amish community was founded by Swartzentruber Amish from Wayne County, Ohio, who began settling in the Harmony area in 1974.

Reuben grew up Amish but left the community when he was 18. Despite his father being the bishop, Reuben expressed that religion in the Amish community was unappealing. The church is in charge of telling you how to live and what you can and can’t do.

Amish are also required to pray eight times a day, not wear bright clothing, wear hair a certain way and have clothing be a certain length. In the Amish community, the church takes the role of the government.

With a total population of 388 people, the town’s race is 100 percent white, according to the 2014 U.S. Census Bureau. Harmony has a rich Amish community and also has a strong farming community. Reuben said that while finding a job isn’t an issue in Harmony, voting for Trump is voting for more jobs in The United States.

Wearing a beige colored jacket with his name embroidered into it with navy blue thread, Reuben stepped out of his small office that was filled with papers of furniture orders hanging on the walls.

Standing in front of the furniture products that are made by his Amish friends, Reuben told the students that he voted for Obama in 2008. Reuben voted Obama for the change that he promised. After not seeing the change that he wanted, Reuben voted for Romney in 2012.

Living in Fillmore county, which flipped Obama to Trump, Reuben said he and a lot of his friends voted Trump. While Reuben said he has no problem with a woman being president, he has a hard time believing Hillary Clinton would commit to her promises. A trust issue that could be stemmed back to his trust in Obama for change and not seeing any change.

Still wanting to see a change, Reuben voted for Trump because he wanted to see something different since Trump is a businessman. Clinton has seen her time in power already and Reuben does not want to be so dependent on the government.

According to the Twin Cities Pioneer Press website, Minnesota has the fourth-highest premium increase on its individual health insurance market at 59 percent. Minnesota is suffering the most due to its small individual market and large number of sick people.

Reuben is a part of the five percent of the state’s population that this increase applies to as he uses the government program, MinnesotaCare. His premium increased from $300 to a horrific $900 per month.

When asked about Muslims coming into Minnesota, Reuben didn’t seem to mind.

“As long as they abide to the law and pay taxes,” said Reuben.

While Reuben did say that he wants the government to be stricter on letting people into the United States, he isn’t opposed to letting immigrants in. He thinks deporting so many people wouldn’t be a good thing for the country.

“We’re all from different nations, I don’t think we should keep them out,” said Reuben. “If we send them back, who would take their jobs?”

Wearing a fading navy blue hat with a bass fish on it, Reuben was asked about the slogan of “Make America Great Again” on the red Trump hats. He couldn’t think of a specific time when America wasn’t great but thinks inviting people into the country who lead to terrorist problems is what is leading America to not be great.

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“People aren’t as dumb as they’d like us to be,” said Gerard.

Mielke, who is from Alaska and just visiting Gerard, voted for Barack Obama in the last elections and flipped to Donald Trump because he desires change. He questioned his decision on voting for Obama afterwards, but at the time he saw him as the best candidate. Mielke sees the system as corrupt, especially on the congressional level. He also is registered as undeclared.

“I won’t go to a (political) party,” said Mielke. “Parties are the worst thing to happen to this country.”

Gerard, who lives in Minnesota, voted for Trump too. He speaks on behalf of numerous individuals residing in Mabel, MN who are fuming over how the media covered the elections.

“The media is putting what they want out there,” said Mielke.

Mielke’s rich Alaskan mentality is evident through his ideologies. Mielke sits in a camouflage trucker hat and orange plaid shirt with suspenders. He’s a man who lives off the grid, avoiding technology and the internet at all costs.

Mabel is an area rich in land with a population of about 1,400 with the medium age about 47 years old and the race being 98% white. Their historical society is in a barn and they have one hotel, which is the oldest running hotel in the state where even Charles Lindbergh once stayed. They also have a liquor store, a church, two places for food, an American Legion, and they celebrate Hesper-Mabel Steam Engine Days in September to name a few. A couple miles down the road sits Harmony, MN, the largest Amish community in the state, home to the religious group known for exceedingly living off the grid. Both towns are located in Fillmore, Minnesota, which flipped from Obama to Trump by among the highest percentages in the country, although Clinton won Minnesota (a historically blue state no one expected Trump to make competitive, until he did).

Mielke, unknowingly sharing common traits with the Amish, grew up in Alaska and has worked construction and in commercial fishing. As for Gerard, a career dealing with the elements isn’t strange. Gerard’s entire family is full of farmers; he was even raised on a farm. Gerard lived on the west coast for numerous years. He was a logger for 35 years and also lived in North Dakota working on oil fields. He moved back to Mabel a year ago and is outside every day. The two men are hard workers who have used their hands in isolated places their entire lives.

“I’m not in a city,” said Gerard. “I’m not around people all the time. I’m here where I am alone. It’s slower. I can think for a little bit. We don’t have six million people like New York City. We are all rural. A lot of these people that live in cities are sheep. They don’t have a mind of their own.”

A mind of his own, steering clear of the system and mainstream culture is how Gerard lives. He doesn’t use ATM’s, does not have a credit card, has 3 checking accounts, doesn’t own a smartphone or computer, and does not use the internet.

“You kids would be lost without technology,” said Mielke backing up Gerard as he crosses his arms.

Gerard is munching on his toast while listening to Mielke voice his irritation with the media. Though they don’t follow the media, they follow the local news and CNN. Gerard’s glossy blue

eyes dart back and forth between whoever holds the conversation. He has Norwegian blonde hair, a background that is highly expressed in Mabel, and is geared up in head-to-toe orange for a day of hunting.

“The media was saying Hillary is winning but really Trump was by 50 percent,” said Gerard.

The lack of trust locals have with the media manifested cursorily this election due to the belief the media was pushing Democratic views onto viewers. Though voters can acknowledge the bad in both Hillary and Trump, the feeling that the media sugarcoated Hillary’s wronging and oversized Trump’s lingered.

“I don’t want a bunch of people looking at us like we are idiots over here,” said Mielke. “I don’t care if a person is a democrat or a republican. I vote for who is the best.”

The media isn’t the only thing locals doubt, they also heavily distrust politicians, especially Hillary Clinton.

“Politicians are in it for the money,” said Gerard. “Everybody in the country is against politicians. I just don’t care for politicians at all.”

Though the thought of having a non-politician in office sparked interest in Gerard and Mielke, the two men agree with some of his opinions.

Mielke agrees with Trump on oversea immigrants, such as the Muslim community. He believes they are raised to kill each other and are a bigger threat to the country than Mexicans. He believes immigrants from Mexico should be documented and have no criminal record. However, if they have been working in the country, he believes they can stay here. Gerard shares similar opinions on immigrants.

“Am I bothered by what Trump said? No,” said Gerard. “We don’t want people from oversea bringing their bad juju here. Why should we be paying our good tax money on them? They don’t want to be helped. I don’t give a sh-t if they kill each other.”

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“It is not in his (Trump) best interest to be president,” said Schmidt. “It’s in the country’s.”

At first, Schmidt seemed guarded and had a look of caution. It is not every day that three students from the city pass through Harmony, Minnesota inquiring about political opinions. Nonetheless, Schmidt’s eagerness to talk politics evaporated any sense of uneasiness. He was willing to hear them out, but more than anything, wanted his voice to be heard.

On the way into the small town of Harmony, the click clack of an Amish horse drawn carriage can be heard as it makes its way into town. The downtown strip is peppered with wooden hand carved statues that are Norwegian themed, yet, oddly resemble gnomes. Emanating from bar windows and storefronts are the colors blaze orange and viking-purple, symbolic of not only hunting season but also football Sunday.

The heart of the neighborhood is mostly still, though, some residents were out tidying their lawns in preparation for the impending Minnesota winter.  At the end of the block, an impressive red semi-truck sits out front of a corner house. Just above the shimmering steel grille of the truck, a sign reads, “Captain little.” Nearby, a row of several Trump signs guard the side of the home. This is where Schmidt lives.

What Schmidt had in common with other voters in the Mississippi River Valley is that he felt as though his voice was quelled by bought politicians and the media. Schmidt called for trusted media and said that this election had nurtured a sense of cynicism towards mainstream news that quickly spread across this region.

“You need to go to small places,” said Schmidt. “The media ran this election.”

Moreover, many counties along the Mississippi river valley have the lowest weekly wages in their state, respectively. The average weekly wage in Fillmore County is $649, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Unemployment in Fillmore County peaked at nine percent in 2009 but has dropped to three percent by 2016, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis. The unemployment rate stats of Fillmore county seem to indicate that there is an increase in jobs. However, this doesn’t necessarily mean that the jobs available offer a living wage. Between the cost of housing, living and food, $649 a week is not a livable wage, especially for a family. This fact is perhaps the reason why Trump’s jobs rhetoric appealed to so many people in the Mississippi River Valley.

In 2012, Minnesota became the first state outside of the South to vote Democratic in 10 straight presidential elections, according to Smart Politics. The same year, Fillmore County, which includes the town of Harmony, went blue by about 7.3 percent. What is even more intriguing is that in 2016, Fillmore County went red by more than 21 percent. This county as well as many other counties in rural Minnesota followed this trend, often flipping by more than 10 percent. For this reason, it is no surprise that  Trump only lost by a mere 1.5 percent in Minnesota. Fillmore County, and other counties along the

The Biggest Little Town

With a population of just over 1,000, Harmony is predominantly a farming community. Corn, stock and small grain are the principle products raised here. Harmony bills itself as the “Biggest Little Town” in the southeastern corner of Minnesota. Besides local farming, the town features the largest Amish community in the state. A small tourism industry pertaining to the Amish culture has developed here. In addition to the businesses the Amish themselves run, visitors to the area are catered to by tour companies which visit Amish farms and merchants and provide information on the community and Amish way of life.

Schmidt’s garage was your average man cave containing a workbench, wooden pegboards stocked with tools, and even a red multi-level toolbox on wheels. His son was sitting close by keeping quiet, yet, listening to his father intently. Schmidt has been a conservative ever since he could remember. Schmidt drove his semi for six years before attending an 18-week college course. Over the last decade. Schmidt has driven his rig through 40 states. He said he was happy with the outcome of the election but not with how the other side took it. Within the last year, he has been held up in traffic by Black Lives Matter highway protesters.

“Wanna make a movement?” said Schmidt. “Do it. Don’t block the highway.”

Schmidt mentioned that he had written a letter to the editor of the Fillmore County Journal about Minnesota House Representative, Greg Davids. In the letter, Schmidt talked about how he felt that Davids destroyed the homestead credit, and how Schmidt supported him despite the “tire plant debacle.” More information on the tire plant can be found here as well as an opinion piece here. Schmidt said the reason he supported Greg Davids is because he is against the immigration of unvetted refugees to the country as well as the state. Nevertheless, Schmidt felt that even though he wrote Davids, his voice would not be heard by those in office.

“I’ll probably never hear back from him,” said Schmidt. “While I’m a proud American today, I’m ashamed of my home state.”

Schmidt said he voted for Trump as a business man, not a person. He said he was eager for president-elect Donald Trump to take office.

“All you can say is give him four years,” said Schmidt.

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The people here are welcoming and willing to talk to whoever approaches them, even strangers who are clearly out of town.

There’s a main street and a village hall, and like most people in small towns, it’s community members are incredibly proud of their heritage, in this case, Norwegian. The country’s flag is proudly displayed all around main street, even in the mural. Complete with a Viking statue dedicated to their ancestors who came before them, it is evident the people of Spring Grove feel that their heritage is something to be honored.

The amount of pride they take is laughable to Spring Grove resident Lucky Volkenant, 73, since according to him, there aren’t many people left in Spring Grove with Norwegian ancestry.

Lucky himself is German, and after making the trip across the pond, he originally settled in Wisconsin. While there he owned and operated a bar and grill, but couldn’t stand to be inside all day. He likes the outdoors and needed sunshine in his life.

Eventually Lucky decided to cross state borders and make his home in the land of the Vikings, though he dares to have a team picture of the Packers just outside the office. So, although his heart is true to the green-and-gold, Lucky considers himself a resident of Spring Grove. He and his wife Jean have owned the only laundromat in town for nearly 25 years; it is their home.

The laundromat, like the rest of the town is not what it appears; in fact from the outside, it doesn’t appear much like a laundromat.

 A small garden grows out front, and off to the side sits a wooden box. Above the box hangs a sign, FREE TOYS, more dolls inside. There aren’t any toys in the box although at an angle it may appear full, but a quick peek inside reveals only cobwebs and rotting leaves.

The rest of the store’s outward appearance is likewise misleading. Only a gold metal sign hanging overhead legible to only pedestrians tells them what awaits inside. In black all cap hand painted lettering the sign says: LJ’s Laundromat AKA Doll World and Bestemor’s Home of Useables Wantables Collectables.

There are two possible entrances for those who dare to step foot into this collector’s oasis: a large set of concrete steps encased between the garden strip or a door to the side with easier access.

White washers sit in the middle of the room, dryers are stacked on one side, mirrors and faded images on the other, and hanging over the entire room from the 12-foot ceiling and walls are dolls.

 Baby dolls, plastic dolls, cloth dolls and a few occasional stuffed animals.

“What else are you supposed to do with a 12-foot ceiling,” Lucky said.

Lucky ventures to guess there’s nearly 27,000 dolls around the store now and while he doesn’t know the particulars or story behind each he imagines that the donors do.

Their choice of decor gave the laundromat some local and statewide attention. In 2015, roughly 2,000 dolls had found a permanent home on Lucky’s ceiling, after a moment in the spotlight people started sending in their dolls. Lucky and Jean have received nearly 5,000 dolls since then.

According to Lucky, displaying the dolls falls under the categories as one of those things that once it begins, it has to keep going.

As sure as he is about his dolls, Lucky is equally unsure about the new president elect, Donald Trump.

 “Humans make mistakes,” he said. “Obama is a good guy, but he made mistakes.”

The state of Minnesota went red this election season with a majority of the state voting for Hillary, but Houston County, where Spring Grove stands, went with Trump, clinching him 52% of the vote.

The fact that Houston County voted Republican is especially odd for the county considering that for the last two presidential elections Obama won on a landslide. He received 67% of the vote in 2008 and 50% of the vote in 2012.

Although Lucky feels people around town seemed to have calmed down over the results, he noticed that a lot of people were upset when the announcement initially broke.

Still among the anger, Lucky managed to find some humor in the entire situation, especially in the relationship between Trump and vice president elect, Mike Pence. He can’t seem to understand where Trump gets off telling Pence to be quiet considering the big mouth Trump has.

“For not being a politician,” Lucky said, “he acts like one.”

In his mind, Trump is as good as any other crooked politician.

The average Trump voter is often considered to be someone from a low-income background, who has little to no education. While it is possible that some Trump supporters fit this stereotype it is not necessarily true, still whether people voted for him or not there have been some strong reactions all around.

Not all aspects of the stereotypical image of an average Trump voter appear in the residents of this town.

Houston County has a population of around 18,000 people, with Spring Grove making up only 426 of that, and furthermore, the majority of the population includes people over the age of 45 and like the rest of Houston, it’s not very diverse. In fact, the population is 97% white.

The poverty rate is 12 percent but as far as Trump voter stereotypes go, most of the people in town are educated and they have average income of around 51,000.

Even though the majority of the county cast a Republican ballot, these people are not all the uneducated voters the media claims them to be; rather, they’re people who are ready for change.

At the end of the day Lucky believes that the choice was made and the only solution now is to deal with it.

As for now Lucky, is dealing with it one day at a time. While other Spring Grove residents spend the day outside setting up the gazebo area with holiday decorations, Lucky stands by the side door. There’s two customers in the shop and for the moment, this is as close as he’ll get to some fresh air.

The post Lucky and the Laundromat of Dolls appeared first on Election 2016: How the Mississippi River Valley Turned Red.

The brown building holds up ramshackle signs, some are hand-written and some are hand-made, expressing some feature or service of the tiny store.

 From the ceiling, taking up every square inch, are hanging 2,700-plus dolls of all sizes that have been donated, purchased, acquired, and procured for the shop owner’s — Lucky’s — collection.

Lucky is thin with a slight limp, but still spry for a 70-something. The center of the main room is taken up by rows of washers and dryers. The walls feature tiny, locked curio cases displaying anything from lighters and binoculars to VHS tapes and knives for sale. Nothing here is new, everything is at least 20 years old and a lot of the larger items — a wagon wheel, a rusty garden tool — were made when things we now call antiques were new.

In this is charming haunt, Robert O’Brien is doing his laundry with his girlfriend. He’s 5-foot-7 with the ‘dad bod.’ Blonde with raggedy tattoos that were probably etched into his skin during his 14-year prison stint for attempted murder. He’s been out for three years. His most prominent ink is the faded tear drop under his right eye; the attempted murder was successful, according to O’Brien, the guy he tried to kill died later on — a technicality to those with teardrop tattoos, apparently. That means he couldn’t vote, but he’s happy Trump won.

Houston County, where Spring Grove is located, voted for Obama in 2012 (51%), but for Trump in 2016 (53%), so the county flipped from blue to red. The average weekly wage in Houston County is $585, almost 50% less than the national average, $974.

“I’m glad we got Trump. He needs to help us out here. There’s a better life and some of us want that,” O’Brien said.

He feels like poor people are ignored, no matter which politician wins. Donald Trump’s talk of creating jobs and fixing healthcare is what got O’Brien’s attention. He has three kids and wants to not have to worry about paying for checkups and braces.

Donald Trump won Houston County (and the election) by playing on the hopes of poor, white workers like O’Brien. He got their attention with his bold, abrasive speech, and earned their votes by speaking his mind and claiming to want the best for them, and, even better, according to O’Brien, “He’s not a politician.”

O’Brien works at Northern Engraving, making car parts.

“It’s for Cadillacs? Or some expensive fucking car,” he said. “Pays good.”

O’Brien lived in seven different states before he was 18, when he went to prison. From Louisiana as a child, he’s lived in Mississippi, Arkansas, Missouri, Illinois, Iowa, and finally, Minnesota. As a child, he didn’t understand why they moved so much, but he says, once he was in his teens he realized why.

“My dad wasn’t a good guy.”

No matter where O’Brien lived, he could always find other kids to play with. From a young age, he was always following around the older boys, seeking their approval. At age 12, he started hanging out with some older kids that were part of a club called Growth and Development. After following them around for a while, they let him join, but he had to start stealing and committing other petty crimes. By the time he was 14, he was a full member of the Chicago-based gang called Gangster Disciples that has chapters in cities all across the United States. He could always easily find other GD family members after every move, he said.

Looking back on the time, O’Brien remembers a time when another rival gang in St. Louis, Missouri killed a younger boy that was shadowing the GDs — just as O’Brien had shadowed the older boys when he was too young to join. The other gang members smashed the boy’s head with a brick and threw his body into the Mississippi River.

“That was senseless. The kid was just hanging with us. Not even affiliated,” O’Brien said.

Donald Trump’s brash statements about race, deportations, and treating women poorly didn’t catch O’Brien’s fancy, but he had to look past that and stake his hopes on Trump’s economic promises.

“All of the racism, the hate, it doesn’t lead anywhere good – I didn’t like that,” he said.

O’Brien is staking a lot on Donald Trump, who has already drawn back on some of his more ridiculous statements, like repealing Obamacare and building a wall, but O’Brien feels like, even if the system is improved to include more people, poor people, it’ll all be for the best.

“We’re ignored. Sometimes we have no choice but to gangbang and sell drugs. There’s a better way and we want it,” he said.

O’Brien is a felon and can eventually vote again in Minnesota, but he’s still on probation – he got out of prison three years ago – so remains ineligible until probation is up in 2018. He has to go through the re-registration process and then he can vote again.

Donald Trump managed to win without O’Brien’s vote, but won because of the millions of votes from people of similar backgrounds and economic situations as Robert O’Brien from Spring Grove, Minnesota.

“We poor people are looked at like low-lives, maybe he’s [Trump] looking at us different,” said O’Brien. “We’re just trying to survive.”

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While Minnesota voted for Hillary during this election, the county of Fillmore made a shift from typically voting democratic to Trump.

In 2012 and 2008, Obama became president with 50% of the vote; however, in 2016, Trump won with 56% of the vote.

This change may seem like something that is out of place for the county, but that is not the only factor in this situation. Many of the smaller counties and towns in this area also flipped for Trump.

In order to understand this shift, it’s important to know the people in these towns and their various motives for voting Trump.

Mabel has a population of around 783 people. The majority of the people in this town are older. This was apparent after two days we encountered little to no children.

 The town has an average income of over $42,000 and over 85 percent of the people have a high school education or higher.

This is important when keeping in mind that the typical Trump voter is thought to be of low-income and non-educated. This stereotype is non-existent from the demographic of people within this town.

Just like any other small town, Mabel has a main restaurant, Highway 66 where everyone in the town visits to eat delicious food. This restaurant is located on the same street that leads into the town. It’s a hybrid of both a restaurant and bar.

The waiters at the restaurant were very nice and friendly, accommodating a sizeable group like ours for not only one meal, but two.

Main Street, a street where a lot of necessities are located is the brightest area at night. There’s no way that it could be mistaken for another street. There is a small post office, shops and a Historical Inn.

The street has many commodities for the people living in the county, but many have to travel elsewhere for other items.

Since the town is so small, the people have to go to nearby places to shop. One of the main places that they go grocery shopping at Spring Grove, is about and 11-minute drive.

There were a lot of interesting things about the town.

There was a payphone located outside the telephone company. Though it worked, you could only make local calls.

The town also seemed to have religious foundations. When driving through the neighborhoods there were a couple things that stood out.

A lot of the houses had crosses on the outside of them. There was a church on every corner, all-varying in different faiths. Within a two minute drive we passed a Catholic, Lutheran and Methodist. All three situated in close proximity with one another.

Although the town seemed to be deserted, all three of these churches had cars in their parking lots. It was also outside one these churches where we saw children for the first time.

However, while walking and taking pictures of the neighborhoods we did come across one person named Rita Delshire who was walking past the library.

Although she didn’t really want to talk about politics with us, she did reveal that she had never voted once in her life even though she was in her 80’s.

Another thing that stood out was the fact that a lot of the houses looked newer. This was interesting since most of the town is old. A place where people come to settle down in life.

Overall, the people of Fillmore County are loving and open to outside visitors as the group could attest to such compassion. The county managed to destroy the stereotype that all Trump supporters are malicious and close-minded.

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