I live in Washington State, which is a similar size to Ireland. I live on the east side of the state in the second most populated city. Similar to Cork. It has much of the same dynamic. Dublin being like Seattle to us. Everyone loves to complain about the biggest city am I right? So anyways we have one Federal Represenitive for our side of the state and it was usually a liberal and at one point one of the most powerful in Congress (Tom Folley) but since then the Republicans have dominated the slot. Thing is that our area is mostly farm land.

I understand what you are getting at but the reality is that the farmers are not voting in their best interst most of the time. Identity politics are more import to them then the politics of supporting rural farm life. They would rather vote for the person that paints urban voters as haters and gay and baby killers then vote for the liberal that wants to support their school systems and make the environment healthy by controlling the pollution or overuse of the land. Its maddness and frustrating and I see it in real time because I am engaged with it both in personal life and my job.