Which state's rurals offer the Republicans the most room for growth?

[If my soul was made of stone]

In most of central PA, ye, but I could still see Dems collapse a bit more in the Scranton/Luzerne area and the Southwest corner below Pittsburg

Wow, I just looked up Luzerne county and last year the Republicans took all 5 seats up for election on the County Council taking them to a 10-1 majority. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzerne_County_Council_elections#2021

Downballot movement's been pretty sudden there; note, for instance, that it was Sestak '10-Toomey '16, swinging nine points to the right. This is of course much less than the swing it saw presidentially over this period, but Turgid Tea Partier Toomey tended to underperform outside of the major metros and more educated areas. Wolf won it in '18, but Casey lost it to their own Lou Barletta; somehow Shapiro managed to squeeze by two years later, but it went R in both of the other statewide races.

[If my soul was made of stone]

In most of central PA, ye, but I could still see Dems collapse a bit more in the Scranton/Luzerne area and the Southwest corner below Pittsburg

Wow, I just looked up Luzerne county and last year the Republicans took all 5 seats up for election on the County Council taking them to a 10-1 majority. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luzerne_County_Council_elections#2021

That's only because of that weird (and stupid) voting system. The Republicans got 55.24% overall, which is actually a drop from Trump's 56.6%.

As my HRT doctor is fond of saying, "the numbers are only meaningful in the context of the numbers". Look at past elections for the county council, even in the Trump years or other good GOP years, and this is clearly seismic. Federal politics determine more downballot in this era than most, sure, but it still doesn't snap so clearly, especially in strange parochial parts of the world like this one.