Andy Schwartz is the legislative advisor for the town of Jackson, a blue speck in an increasingly bright red state. Jackson has become a political target, he said, leading the town to hire a lobbyist to monitor and respond to relevant bills. Having served eight years in the same statehouse, he’s seen the rise of national partisanship and the Freedom Caucus reducing bipartisan lawmaking. Still, he said, common ground and compromise are not just possible but necessary. 

“Once you find one point of agreement, you can then work through that,” Schwartz said. “And that's pretty much how I deal with the Freedom Caucus, because we disagree on a lot.”