DES MOINES -- Montana Gov. Steve Bullock Steve BullockMcConnell locks down key GOP votes in Supreme Court fight Senate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency Pence seeks to boost Daines in critical Montana Senate race MORE (D) told Iowa Democrats that their party needs to move beyond its traditional big urban core bases in order to win back the White House, opening his first official stop as a presidential candidate in the first-in-the-nation caucus state.

Bullock, who launched his presidential campaign Tuesday, touted his own small-town roots in Helena, and his electoral wins in a solidly red state to a group of about 125 voters at a sweltering brewery in a state President Trump Donald John TrumpBiden on Trump's refusal to commit to peaceful transfer of power: 'What country are we in?' Romney: 'Unthinkable and unacceptable' to not commit to peaceful transition of power Two Louisville police officers shot amid Breonna Taylor grand jury protests MORE won by nine points in 2016.

"Whether it's Montana or Iowa, whether it's Michigan or Wisconsin, we can't just go to places where we always win," Bullock said. "We can't just talk to our party's base all the time."

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Even as regional hub cities like Des Moines have recovered and grown after the recession, rural parts of the country — including many Iowa counties — are hurting. About two-thirds of counties with populations under 50,000 have lost residents since 2010, according to Census Bureau estimates, and many of those counties have continued to hemorrhage businesses that provide needed jobs.

"Nobody should have to leave their home, their community, their church, just to make a decent living," Bullock said. "For far too many people, the American dream no longer exists, and for far too many it never has existed."

The two-term governor has work to do in Iowa, where just 18 percent of Democrats told Monmouth University pollsters in April they knew enough about him to have formed an opinion, fewer than the number of Iowa Democrats who have formed an opinion of businessman Andrew Yang Andrew YangDoctor who allegedly assaulted Evelyn Yang arrested on federal charges The Hill's Campaign Report: Biden weighs in on police shootings | Who's moderating the debates | Trump trails in post-convention polls Buttigieg launches his own podcast MORE or Sen. Michael Bennet Michael Farrand BennetOVERNIGHT ENERGY: House Democrats tee up vote on climate-focused energy bill next week | EPA reappoints controversial leader to air quality advisory committee | Coronavirus creates delay in Pentagon research for alternative to 'forever chemicals' Senate Democrats demand White House fire controversial head of public lands agency Next crisis, keep people working and give them raises MORE (D-Colo.).

But he begins his campaign with at least one significant advantage none of his rivals can claim: A formal endorsement from perhaps the best-known Democratic officeholder in the state.

Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller (D), who has served in office for 36 years, endorsed Bullock this week and introduced him Thursday night.

"He's not on our left end, like some of our candidates are," Miller said of Bullock. "He's not a moderate, he's a progressive. He's right in the middle of our party."

In an interview with The Hill, Bullock said his electoral record would set him apart from the other nearly two-dozen candidates who have joined the field.

"I am the only one of them that actually won in a Trump state, got re-elected in 2016 when Donald Trump was on the ballot," Bullock told The Hill. "Fundamentally, we have to win back some of the places we've lost if we're going to win in 2020."

"It's not just about winning elections. I've actually with a legislature that's at best 60 percent Republican been able to get progressive things done," he said.

Bullock launched his campaign with a pledge to fight back against the influence of big money in politics. As attorney general, he led a legal defense of Montana's ban on corporate spending in state elections after the Supreme Court's Citizens United v. FEC ruling. The court ruled against Montana's century-old law.

He said the next president can work through Congress to ban corporate and so-called dark money in other ways. In Montana, Bullock won passage of measures limiting corporate spending in the months leading up to an election.

"We don't have to wait just to get a constitutional amendment or a new Supreme Court," Bullock told the crowd. "If we can kick the Koch brothers out of Montana, we can sure as hell kick them out every place else."