In the Midterms' Final Weeks, the Trump Administration Has Promised Farmers $15 Billion Against Tariff and War Costs
The promises aim at higher diesel and fertilizer costs farmers have carried largely because of the president's tariffs and the war in Iran, the AP reports — and whether they move turnout in suddenly competitive farm-state seats is the open question of the final 48 hours.
President Donald Trump's administration has made $15 billion worth of promises to agriculture producers in the last few weeks of the midterm elections, the Associated Press reported Sunday from Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The initiatives are intended to help offset the higher costs for diesel and fertilizer that farmers have endured — costs the AP attributes largely to the president's own tariffs and to the war in Iran.
The timing is the politics. The promises land in the same final stretch that has taken Trump to Iowa and Kansas on the last Sunday before Election Day, and the AP ties the two together: the farm spending may explain his increased attention on rural areas, in agricultural states where traditionally Republican seats are now seen as competitive.
Whether the money moves votes is genuinely open, the AP reported — it is unclear whether the promises will motivate more farm-country voters to turn out on Tuesday. For Central Florida readers, the file is a reminder that the midterm's last arguments are not only about turnout totals: in farm states, they are about whether a check promised in October outweighs a season of higher costs at the pump and the fertilizer dealer.
