Rebecca Cooke, a Democrat in Wisconsin, is running for the U.S. Congress. When she’s not waiting tables.

Sam Forstag, a Democrat running for Congress in Montana, seemingly can’t open his mouth without talking about his career jumping out of airplanes to combat forest fires.

Jamie Ager, a farmer running in North Carolina, says that what’s needed in Washington is ... barn dances. 

These three are among the dozens of nonincumbent Democratic candidates running for the House or Senate whose backgrounds are highly atypical for politics, but quite typical in the lives and communities of average American voters.

For a party that has been lambasted as a cadre of coastal elites, this is a very big deal. While much of the media attention on the Democratic Party has been on the growing rift between the far left and the old guard, the more remarkable thing about the Democrats is this wave of candidates who’ve gone native. 

The real people running as Democrats in midterm elections

Among the 46 House candidates running in competitive districts identified as top priority for the Democratic Party........

© USA TODAY