Texas farmers have long been a sure thing for Republicans. With the midterms just over two weeks away, some of them say that loyalty is being tested.
High fuel and fertilizer prices driven by President Donald Trump’s war with Iran are hitting farmers hard across the state, the Houston Chronicle reported on Saturday.
“We’ve had our ups and downs, but this (economy) ranks with the worst ones I’ve seen,” said Russell Boening, president of the Texas Farm Bureau. “I know that people aren’t happy with everything but, maybe looking at the big picture, they’ll stay true to how they normally vote. Or maybe they stay home.”
Jerry Moody, a 57-year-old chicken farmer in East Texas, told the paper he plans to vote. He isn’t sure his neighbors will.
“They’re not going to vote for a Democrat but they’re concerned about the Republican party,” Moody said. “I still believe in Donald Trump, but I do think that he underestimated the resolve of the Iranian people and this thing has lingered on a lot longer than he thought it would.”
The worry shows up in the numbers. A Texas Politics Project poll found that just 27% of rural Texans were satisfied with the economy this month, down from 42% a year ago. Statewide, voters ranked inflation, political corruption and the economy as their top three issues.
“While those issues are top of mind for Texas voters, they’re also some of the issues that Donald Trump receives his lowest approval, and highest disapproval,” said Joshua Blank, research director at the Texas Politics Project.
The split has reached the farm bureau itself. After the bureau’s political action committee endorsed Ken Paxton, the Republican Senate nominee, former bureau president Bob Stallman tore into him in a Chronicle op-ed. He wrote that Paxton “has failed to publicly oppose a variety of policies that are actively harming farmers and ranchers, including the war in Iran and the import of foreign, unregulated beef into our state.”
Paxton still has a strong lead in rural Texas, 66% to 30% over Democrat James Talarico. But Republicans count on big rural margins to offset Democratic gains in the cities, and Democrats are working to chip away at them.
“Right now, rural Texas is hurting,” Talarico said at a recent event in South Texas. “Our farmers and our ranchers have been screwed over by politicians in power.”
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