FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
December 18, 2025
CONTACT: [email protected]
One Country Project Announces 2025 Rural Champion Awards
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today, One Country Project (OCP) announced the 2025 Rural Champion Awards, celebrating six trailblazing leaders whose work is expanding health care, housing, broadband, and economic opportunity in small towns and farming communities nationwide.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Catherine Cortez Masto (D-NV) are recognized for championing Secure Rural Schools, expanding affordable and rural housing, improving access to obstetrics care, and driving major federal investments and oversight in rural broadband and competitiveness for key federal grants.
In the House, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan (D-PA-06) and Rep. Angie Craig (D-MN-02) are honored for advancing paid leave, climate-smart Farm Bill policies, rural health care access, farmer mental health and credit access, rural broadband, and apprenticeship and workforce opportunities that benefit rural residents.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) receives the Lifetime Leadership for Rural America Award for a career of bipartisan work expanding access to physicians and specialty care, protecting rural hospitals, modernizing rural water systems, and delivering relief to small businesses in disaster-stricken communities.
New Mexico Gov. Michelle Lujan Grisham earns the inaugural State Leadership for Rural America Award for pioneering universal childcare, leading a major Western housing initiative, accelerating broadband expansion with significant BEAD funding, and investing tens of millions of dollars in rural health care and outdoor recreation economies across rural and Tribal communities.
One Country Project is grateful for these leaders and all who champion rural America, and remains committed to lifting up those who put rural communities at the heart of our national agenda.
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About One Country Project
Rural America holds an essential role in moving the United States forward and the One Country Project is dedicated to ensuring rural America’s priorities and values are heard and reflected in policy at the federal level. To learn more, visit us at www.onecountryproject.com or on Twitter or Facebook.