By Ryan Hanrahan
American Ag Network’s Corryn La Rue reported that “farmers and ranchers spent the past year paying record prices for diesel and waiting on a farm bill that never came. Tuesday night, many of the states they farm in helped change who will write farm policy in Washington.”
“Democrats won control of both the House and Senate,” La Rue reported. “Several of the deciding Senate seats came in farm states that Republicans had long counted as safe.”
The Democratic victory in the midterms included nearly a half dozen flips of House seats held by Agriculture Committee Republicans, with the futures of a handful of other Ag Committee Republicans still hanging in the balance, as of Wednesday morning. In the Senate, Democrats flipped the seat held by Kansas Ag Committee member Sen. Roger Marshall, while Mississippi Ag Committee member Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith is locked in a race that remains too close to call.
Democrats Win Governor, Senate Races in Iowa
Agri-Pulse’s Kim Chipman, Olivia M. Bridges, Noah Wicks and Hannah Guthoerl reported that “in Iowa, the No. 1 corn, ethanol, biodiesel, hog and egg producer, Democrat Josh Turek defeated GOP Rep. Ashley Hinson in the Hawkeye State’s race to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Joni Ernst, a member of the Senate Ag Committee.”
“In another upset, Democrat Sarah Trone Garriott is projected to win Rep. Zach Nunn’s seat,” Chipman, Bridges, Wicks and Guthoerl reported. “Nunn is another House Agriculture Committee member to lose a midterm bid. With 91% of votes counted, Garriott won 54.6% of votes, with Nunn trailing at 45.4%.”
Source : illinois.edu