Farm-state Republicans don\u2019t support President Donald Trump\u2019s move to import cheap beef \u2014 but they\u2019re still getting grilled for it.<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s plan to combat sky-high beef prices<\/u><\/a> by introducing discounted, tariff-free foreign beef has been widely condemned by ag-state Republicans who are concerned it will undercut the domestic beef industry and hurt ranchers, a normally reliable constituency.<\/p>\n

And their opponents see an opening to paint Republicans as unconcerned about voters\u2019 pocketbook concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur ranchers and our farmers keep getting kicked in the teeth, and we have politicians that keep telling us that everything’s great, that we\u2019re the hottest country,\u201d Dan Osborn, an independent running for Senate in Nebraska, said in an interview. \u201cAnd to be quite frank, I’m pretty pissed off about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Osborn\u2019s state is one of the top four top cattle-producing states<\/u><\/a> \u2014 along with Texas, Kansas and Iowa \u2014 all of which have more-competitive-than-expected Senate races this cycle. And Trump\u2019s controversial plan to remove tariffs from 300,000 metric tons of imported beef, sold at 25 percent below current market prices, is doing Republicans no favors.<\/p>\n

Osborn\u2019s campaign went on air with a pun-filled ad<\/u><\/a> this week in which he says the import plan is \u201cselling out American farmers and ranchers,\u201d and blasts Congress for being \u201ctoo chicken to stand up to the corporations who bought them off.\u201d The campaign says it plans to spend at least six figures airing the spot. It\u2019s the first major spending from a campaign focused on the beef import plan. But it plays into a larger economic argument Democrats are pushing to break through with farmers and ranchers: Trump and Republicans have turned their backs on rural America, as a worsening farm crisis and spiking fuel and fertilizer prices pinch agricultural communities.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s part of a wider frustration,\u201d said an adviser to one of the farm-state GOP senators, granted anonymity to speak openly. \u201cI don\u2019t think it sways anyone\u2019s vote, but it isn\u2019t a great look. \u2026 It isn\u2019t fun for me to read the headline. It\u2019s frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sen. Pete Ricketts (R-Neb.), Osborn\u2019s opponent, said in a statement he has a record of standing for his state\u2019s agriculture community, \u201cno matter who is president \u2014 from fighting Biden\u2019s 30×30 plan<\/u><\/a> to opposing this beef import plan.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cRanchers know the difference between a senator who delivers and a candidate reading a script his socialist ad agency wrote,\u201d Ricketts said.<\/p>\n

Farm-state Democrats and independents believe beef imports provide a window to speak to rural voters who have skewed red for decades but suddenly look more competitive amid Trump\u2019s plunging political standing. A strategist working on Osborn\u2019s campaign, granted anonymity to discuss strategy, said Osborn\u2019s ad \u201ccodes as non-partisan in a way that running ads about taxes or healthcare doesn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n

Trump\u2019s overall unpopularity is hurting Republicans across the map, but this policy could be especially problematic in a quartet of once-sleeper Senate races that could hand Democrats control of the upper chamber.<\/p>\n

Spokespeople for the GOP nominees in Iowa and Kansas declined to discuss the issue, pointing to their candidates\u2019 statements in August, when Trump\u2019s plan was announced: Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-Iowa) called Trump\u2019s plan<\/u><\/a> a \u201cbad idea,\u201d while Sen. Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) said the priority<\/u><\/a> should be growing the U.S. cattle herd, \u201cnot flooding the market with imports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week, during a debate at the Kansas State Fair, Democratic nominee Adam Hamilton slammed the import plan as \u201ca slap in the face of all of our cattle ranchers,\u201d earning a raucous response from fair-goers, and hit Marshall for \u201ctepidly respond[ing] to it as opposed to shouting like hell that this is not okay.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Iowa\u2019s agriculture-heavy first district, Democrats have been on the air since June with an ad hammering Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks for record-high beef prices\u201d<\/u><\/a> and other cost-of-living increases under the Trump administration. The Republicans who were already getting hammered for high prices before now are now hobbled by a proposed remedy \u2014 one that has infuriated their own base.<\/p>\n

When asked how Republicans should message the beef plan back home, Sen. John Boozman (R-Ark.), chair of the Senate Agriculture Committee, acknowledged there\u2019s \u201ccertainly a lot of concern amongst our cattle producers.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they understand what’s going on. They’re just not pleased with it,\u201d Boozman said. \u201cWe’re in contact with the administration, a lot of members are in contact, helping them understand the unintended consequences of it. We’d like to lower prices, but again, we don’t want the unintended consequence of lowering cattle futures significantly.\u201d<\/p>\n

That leaves ranchers worried that the import plan will undercut their struggling industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cPresident Trump wants to lower the price of beef, I think that’s where it’s coming from,\u201d said Ben Menges, a cattle rancher in Arizona\u2019s battleground 6th District. \u201cThe best way that President Trump can do that is by lowering the cost of fuel, not by importing a bunch of beef.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republicans have looked to turn the conversation into a culture war issue \u2014 hitting their opponents for past stances on meat consumption or veganism<\/u><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Vice President JD Vance, during a visit to Iowa Friday \u2014 which Hinson did not attend \u2014 slammed Hamilton, the pastor-turned-Democratic nominee for Senate in Kansas, for having a \u201ckind of a \u2018gee whiz, I’m a nice pastor\u2019 vibe\u201d who tells his congregation to \u201crepent for their white privilege while eating beef.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s an attack Marshall made at last week\u2019s debate, hitting Hamilton for a sermon he delivered<\/u><\/a> on climate change and the impact of meat consumption.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think the senator needs to repent for not standing up for the beef industry,\u201d responded Hamilton.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Farm-state Republicans don\u2019t support President Donald Trump\u2019s move to import cheap beef \u2014 but they\u2019re still getting grilled for it. Trump\u2019s plan to combat sky-high beef prices by introducing discounted, tariff-free foreign beef has been widely condemned by ag-state Republicans who are concerned it will undercut the domestic beef industry and hurt ranchers, a normally […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27209","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27209","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27209"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27209\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27209"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27209"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27209"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}