Large Midwestern cities like Minneapolis and Chicago are quite liberal and have a lot of rich people who could fund startups. We actually do have a lot of tech in these places, but generally only because large companies are in these places and they need a lot of engineering.
The startup culture is not here of course, but the reasons are not the ones you list.
They are, and I'm sure they are great places to live. But the person I responded to was hoping Midwest can compete with NYC/SF/SEA/DC/etc, so I offered the reasons why I think there's a structural reason that you don't see that headline, and not just because some VC fund hasn't offered money to people in the midwest. It's because the people the VC funds want to invest in also want to live in the cities with high rents.
The startup culture is not here of course, but the reasons are not the ones you list.