As good a time as any to remind people that the Southern Strategy was never really all that Southern:

https://www.uh.edu/news-events/stories/052815watchingtvracia...

https://www.mediamatters.org/legacy/video-what-happens-when-...

Historically-speaking, if your local news can twist the context to make you easier to sell to (products, services, ideologies), they will do that.