https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2...ack-110439

“"...The trends here are much more red than purple. I could see that swinging back at some point, but probably not with Trump on the ballot,” says Ben Foecke, who served as executive director of the Iowa Democratic Party four years ago. “It became clear to us in 2016 that this was the path we were heading down, at least in the short term, so I'm not surprised when I hear these conversations or read these memos explaining that Iowa isn’t really a swing state in 2020....""

I've also heard Democrats were thinking about writing off Florida.

They may dream of Georgia and Texas, but that is not going to happen. Arizona does seem to be trending purple. But if Florida, Ohio and Iowa are solidly red in 2020, the Democrats have a very narrow thread to achieve victory. That's conceding 249 votes to President Trump of the 306 he won in 2016. PA is 20, MI 16, AZ 11, WI 10.

https://www.realclearpolitics.com/articl...42292.html
This article kind of goes along with it. Mayor Pete got attacked for saying nice things about middle America. Except for Chicago, Democrats hate everything between the Rockies and Appalachians.

“"...In the face of unprecedented challenges, we need a president whose vision was shaped by the American Heartland rather than the ineffective Washington politics we’ve come to know and expect.”

Uh-oh. The response to Mayor Pete was instant and ugly. Turns out that “Heartland” is a racist dog whistle. At least according to white comedian Andy Richter it is. I guess it takes a recipient of “white privilege” to know one.

Thousands of people took time to attack not just Buttigieg, but also the heartland itself. Former CNN anchor Soledad O’Brien wrote: “Uhhh... what? Shaping by the heartland is better? Is that where all the ‘Real Americans’ live? Is that the only place where ‘American Values’ can be found? This is offensive and disgraceful.”

So it went, with thousands of people letting Buttigieg know that his home state of Indiana and the rest of the Midwest were nothing more than a hotbed of institutional racism...."