An amusing thing about the whole "coastal elite" concept is basically that's it. It's 2 states, DC, and then some other places which may or may not be on the coast and the categorization as elite depends on whether there's a Democratic governor and especially a Dem presidential candidate. Massachusetts is quite elite except for most of the time when they have a Republican governor, for example. Vermont was elite hippieland when Howard Dean was running and now that they have 2 Dem senators (including Bernie of course), but that narrative breaks done much of the time. Wyoming is certainly part of whatever the "heartland" is but if ever a Dem presidential candidate came from there we'd quickly learn that Jackson Hole was the only place in the state.
Anyway my point is "elites" are where the Democrats are, when it's useful to say so.