Concerns about brain cancer cases in Piatt County grow, but Illinois public health agency yet to investigate

Concerns about brain cancer cases in Piatt County grow, but Illinois public health agency yet to investigate

Lessie Ann Patterson lived in Monticello, Illinois, for 25 years before dying in 2015 from glioblastoma, a rapidly advancing brain cancer with an average survival time of 12 to 18 months.

Belinda Barnhart, Patterson’s stepdaughter, witnessed firsthand the effects of glioblastoma in her family.

“There was no clear reason why she ended up with it,” Barnhart said in an interview. “And then when you hear about so many of them in the Monticello area, you just think about all the devastation it has caused, and it does make you want to say, ‘Why is this one area so rife with glioblastoma specifically?’”

Patterson was one of many victims of brain cancer in Piatt County that have been identified by a local researcher and health professional, Caitlin McClain.

Concerns about the number of cases came to light last year when McClain started researching and gathering information on glioblastoma cases in Monticello and Piatt County following the death of her father-in-law from the disease in 2022.

Caitlin McClain by a farm field on the south side of Monticello, IL on Friday, June 14, 2024. photo by Darrell Hoemann, for C-U Citizen Access

As of last fall, she said she had collected information on at least 30 cases from the past 20 years — with at least 14 deaths from the cancer in just the last five years. McClain collected her data through obituaries, surveys and speaking with residents.

She said she has had to investigate on her own because public health data lags years behind and sometimes is suppressed — that is, not disclosed — for smaller counties that would allow individuals to be identified. Piatt County’s population is about 16,700, of which just over 6,000 people live in Monticello, according the latest census data.

McClain took her findings to the Illinois Department of Public Health several times in 2024, but she said department officials did not follow the federal health guidelines for investigating possible cancer clusters and dismissed her concerns, saying the numbers did not indicate a cancer cluster.

But there is a protocol from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the American Cancer Society, on how an agency should respond. The CDC has guidelines for responding to reports of suspicious numbers of cancer cases and calls for public health agencies to talk to citizens and visit the community.

Glioblastoma has an incidence rate of about 3.2 cases per 100,000 people according to a 2017 study available at the National Library of Medicine. For Piatt County, the rate of brain cancer, which includes glioblastoma, from 2017 to 2021 was 9.1 for males on average. The registry counted 5 male cases during that time. It was only a 1.2 rate for females and the registry reported one case.

Yet McClain’s data shows five women living in or primarily from Monticello died of glioblastoma between 2017 and 2021 including Tina M. Purcell, a resident of Monticello since she married in 1990, and lifelong resident Connie Jean Hendrix.

“I have spoken to so many people at this point it is difficult to keep track of everything,” McClain said in October.

Thirty cases of glioblastoma were identified in and around Piatt County by a local researcher and health professional concerned about the possibility of a cancer cluster. Cases are mapped by general proximity to protect privacy.

Citing McClain’s data and information, Barnhart, whose stepmother died, said the state department’s response has been disappointing.

“It’s incredibly disappointing that your local public health office won’t even entertain the idea that something could be going on specifically in that area, that there could be a cancer cluster,” she said.

After numerous calls from CU-CitizenAccess, Michael Claffey, the public health department spokesperson, responded in December 2024.

“I will try to find out more about this,” Claffey wrote in an email.

But with federal funding for public health under siege, Claffey said in February:

“Sorry for the slow response to this. We have really been swamped recently given all the federal changes and everything else that is going on. I don’t have anything for you at this point.”

McClain said Chief Medical Officer Arti Barnes at the state public health department asked for an update from her in early February this year, but “there has been zero communication from IDPH otherwise.”

University researchers said cases are concerning

Molly HughesResearchers at Beckman Institute (405 N Mathews Ave., Urbana) at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said they were concerned about reports of glioblastoma in Monticello in Piatt County. photo by Molly Hughes, for C-U Citizen Access

Biomedical researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign said they are concerned about the reports of glioblastoma in Monticello.

Professor Catherine Alicia Best-Popescu, a biomedical researcher at the University of Illinois whose focus is molecular, cellular and tissue engineering, said in December that Monticello’s glioblastoma rates are worth investigating, calling the pattern a “huge cluster.” Glioblastoma, she explained, is notoriously challenging to treat due to its aggressive nature.

“It’s a really impossible cancer to treat because it can evade your immune system, evade radiation therapy,” Popescu said. “We give it a superpower in a way.”

The CDC sets clear guidelines for investigating cancer clusters, which prioritize cases with higher-than-expected numbers of rare cancers like glioblastoma. The investigations require experts to study the cancer data to establish if there is a concerning rate.

Under those guidelines, health departments’ partners and officials are expected to review data from cancer registries and other databases to monitor the estimated rates of cancer incidents routinely. The guidelines note that state resources and small populations can restrict state health departments from proactively reviewing or monitoring cancer data.

The CDC also said a cancer cluster must have one of these traits:

  • There is a greater-than-expected number of a specific type of cancer (or types of cancer that are known to have a common cause).
  • There are several cases of a rare type of cancer.
  • The cancers are a type that is not usually seen in a certain group of people (for example, children getting cancer usually seen in adults).

For rural Illinois residents, accessing information about the occurrence of cancer in their area is difficult because cancer data are sometimes suppressed in rural areas due to concerns of confidentiality and small populations.

Suppressed means the number of cases do not show up on state maps and data.

While the goal of the U.S. Census Bureau’s privacy protection system is to protect individual identities by injecting statistical noise into aggregate population data, a study by the National Library of Medicine found discrepancies increase dramatically in rural areas, raising concerns that the new system may misrepresent population trends and demographic changes.

“Whenever we talk about it, they say, ‘Try not to be alarmed.’ We are very alarmed. We’re very upset about it. It’s absolutely unacceptable.” Popescu said.

Severity of cases questioned by public health

Thirty cases of glioblastoma were identified by a local health professional in and around Piatt County, many of which are in Monticello. Cases are mapped by general proximity to protect privacy.

Last year, McClain said multiple state officials questioned whether her data indicates a cancer cluster, including those from the Illinois Cancer Registry, the state public health department and state representatives.

The Illinois Department of Public Health — tasked with protecting public health and the environment — said the number of cases was not alarming and there was no need or resources to look into the cases. Officials said McClain’s data did not indicate evidence of a cancer cluster because the rate of the cases was insufficient.

When McClain first contacted health officials in early 2024 she had documented 19 cases of glioblastoma since 2004. By October, she identified 30 cases total since 2004 — with seven cases within 2.3 square miles in Monticello.

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Under cancer cluster investigation guidelines, the Illinois Department of Public Health is expected to review data available from cancer registries and other databases to monitor the estimated rates for cancer incidents.

But databases and cancer registries are outdated. According to the CDC, the latest cancer incidence data available are from 2021, four years ago, and recent cancer death data are from 2022. Illinois’s cancer incidence data is from 2021.

McClain said she found at least 11 people with glioblastoma died between 2017 and 2021, of which 6 were men and 5 were women.

In response to a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request to the state public health department in November, a FOIA officer said “the Department follows CDC guidelines when determining whether and how to investigate or assess a cancer cluster.”

As of February this year, no additional investigation by the Illinois Department of Public Health had been done.

Cause of glioblastoma unclear, linked to pesticides

While glioblastoma’s exact causes remain unclear, exposure to carcinogens, radiation and agricultural chemicals has been linked to DNA mutations that drive the disease.

National studies show that pesticides, which are widely used in the county and in the Midwest, have been linked to brain cancer. This relationship can be seen in studies from the National Library of Medicine “Brain tumours and exposure to pesticides” and “Organochlorine Pesticides and Epigenetic Alterations in Brain Cancer.”

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“It is my opinion that Illinois as a whole refuses to accept that agricultural chemicals pose risk to human life,” McClain said in October. “They seem to be behind in research and correspondence with the public compared to other rural states … Some farmers have left more space between their crops and the homes and schools this year once I brought the risk to their attention.”

In response to McClain asking for the city of Monticello to test the water, officials did so and saw nothing worrisome in the results, which showed no violations for disinfectants or inorganic contaminants.

Water test reports from 2023, obtained in an email from Monticello Public Works, show most regulated contaminants are within acceptable levels.

“Any time Caitlin has brought something to our attention, we’ve expeditiously looked into it and gone from there,” Monticello City Administrator Terry Summers said in an interview in November 2024.

Summers initiated water tests of the county’s water supply and found the nitrate levels were almost undetectable. He said there was no sign that the public water supply was behind the number of brain cancers.

According to the American Cancer Society, more than 1,000 suspected cancer clusters are reported to state health departments in the United States each year.

The stakes are high for those diagnosed with glioblastoma: the average survival time is just 12 to 18 months, even with aggressive treatment.

Gita Kwatra, CEO of the Glioblastoma Foundation Inc, a non-profit organization in Durham, North Carolina, said glioblastoma is the most common malignant brain tumor, with slim survival rates.

“The disease is incredibly fast, incredibly lethal cancer. There isn’t enough research funding that goes to this cancer. There isn’t enough awareness,” Kwatra said in a phone interview. “Five to seven percent of people who are diagnosed will survive to five years, and five years is important in the medical community, five years is used as a surrogate marker for beating the disease.”

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President Trump’s tariffs bring return of uncertainty for America’s farmers

Bob Hemesath has spent his entire life on his Northeast Iowa farm, raising corn and hogs alongside his brother. His business depends on open global markets and stable trade agreements.

But under Donald Trump’s second term, that stability has once again been disrupted with the president’s push for higher tariffs on some of the nation’s most important trading partners.

“Anytime that a tariff is put on goods that I sell or export to those countries, that’s going to put me at a disadvantage to the marketplace,” Hemesath said.

Bob Hemesath, Iowa farmer and president of Farmers for Free Trade. photo by Bob Hemesath

A few weeks after returning to the White House, Trump threatened a 25% tariff on Canadian and Mexican imports. He also imposed a 10% tariff on Chinese goods, prompting retaliatory tariffs from Beijing and escalating tensions between the world’s two largest economies.

On Monday, Trump imposed a 25% tariff on all steel and aluminum imports.

Mexico, Canada and China account for more than 40% of total U.S. trade, valued at more than $2 trillion. As these trade relations become increasingly strained, economic uncertainty has deepened in rural America, leaving farmers bracing for a financial blow similar to what occurred during Trump’s first-term trade war.

“It certainly does increase the level of uncertainty,” said Ernie Goss, an economist at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, referring to the Trump administration’s tariff policies. “This uncertainty manifests itself in areas such as purchasing farmland and agriculture equipment.”

Mexico is the United States’ largest agricultural trading partner in terms of total exports and imports, with Canada following closely behind, according to the Economic Research Service of the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Agricultural trade with Mexico and Canada is crucial for U.S. farmers, particularly in the exchange of grains and meat products.

Meanwhile, China is also one of the United States’ top agricultural trade partners, especially as an importer of soybeans.

Trump has claimed any financial harm will be short-lived.

“WILL THERE BE SOME PAIN?” Trump wrote on social media this month. “YES, MAYBE (AND MAYBE NOT!). BUT WE WILL MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, AND IT WILL ALL BE WORTH THE PRICE THAT MUST BE PAID.”

But Hemesath, who is also president of Farmers for Free Trade, a national non-profit that mobilizes farmers to support trade agreements that expand export opportunities, said trade wars have a lasting impact.

“Those other countries are going to start looking elsewhere for those products, and if they can find them, that’s a market that I lose as I as a farmer. And that directly affects my bottom line,” Hemesath, a fifth-generation farmer, told Investigate Midwest during a phone interview.

During Trump’s first-term trade war, China imported fewer soybeans from the United States as it turned to other countries, including Brazil, which emerged as China’s primary soybean supplier. Much of that business didn’t return to American farmers once the trade war ended.

“During the previous U.S.-China trade war, China learned a valuable lesson: diversifying supply chains to reduce dependency on U.S. agriculture,” Julien Chaisse, a trade expert and professor at the City University of Hong Kong, said in an email to Investigate Midwest. “Brazil and Argentina were already beneficiaries, and this move will deepen China’s commitment to alternative suppliers.”

“Beijing does not treat agricultural imports as purely economic transactions but as strategic tools,” Chaisse added. “This shift is unlikely to be reversed, even if tariffs are later lifted.”










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Facing economic uncertainty, farmers curb their spending

Retaliatory tariffs from other countries can also increase costs for American farmers.

In response to Trump’s recent 10% tariff, China imposed 15% tariffs on coal and liquefied natural gas, along with 10% tariffs on crude oil, agricultural machinery and pickup trucks.

China has also responded with expanded export controls on rare earth minerals, an antitrust investigation into Google, and the addition of two U.S. companies to its Unreliable Entities List, which tracks and penalizes foreign companies deemed threats to its national interests.

Meanwhile, Canada’s proposed retaliatory tariffs, currently on hold for a month, would impose a 25% surcharge on a wide range of U.S. products, including live poultry, dairy products, vegetables, coffee, tea, sugar and milling industry products.

Trade uncertainty and higher import costs can cause farmers to curb their own spending, which can have a negative impact on rural communities.

“If some of (a farmer’s) machinery was getting old, they need a new tractor or combine harvester, they’re not going to buy it in this environment,” said Colin Carter, a professor of Agricultural and Resource Economics at the University of California, Davis.  “They’ll delay the purchase because if we get into a large trade war, revenues are going to go down. Who knows whether they’ll be compensated this time? It’s just not a good environment to make investment decisions.”

With high fixed costs — land, machinery and loan payments — farmers don’t have the luxury of sitting out bad years, Carter added.

“They don’t have a lot of flexibility,” Carter said. “Even if tariffs are imposed, they still are going to have these large costs. So they have to plant crops, even if they lose money doing it. These lose less money by planting compared to not planting”

For Hemesath, the Iowa farmer, that’s not just a theoretical concern — it’s his daily reality.

“We sit here now with margins that are still negative margins on raising crops,” he said. “Any loss of market share is only going to make that worse.”

Last week, during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition, and Forestry, agricultural leaders voiced their concerns about the potential return of Trump’s tariff policies.

Josh Gackle, chairman of the American Soybean Association, warned that U.S. soybean farmers are facing significant uncertainty.

“With the new administration threatening tariffs on major export partners, our access to global export markets is in jeopardy,” Gackle said.

The concern is backed by a 2024 study from the University of North Dakota, which found that if China implemented a 20% tariff increase on U.S. soybeans in response to a new trade war, North Dakota’s soybean exports could drop by 59.1%, amounting to an estimated $639.9 million in losses. Nationwide, the study predicts a 32.4% decline in soybean exports, a blow that could devastate farmers already struggling with tight profit margins.

“I don’t want to be too extreme,” Gackle told Investigate Midwest during an interview in August, “but it creates a lot of anxiety and uncertainty for U.S. soybean producers, especially those in North Dakota.”

Trump’s unconventional trade war

Ron Baumgarten, a former deputy assistant U.S. trade representative who currently works at the Washington, D.C.-based firm BakerHostetler, said Trump’s tariff-driven trade strategy is a fundamental shift in U.S. economic policy.

“One of the reasons for the tariffs is to get leverage,” Baumgarten said. “Trump’s theory is that U.S. tariffs are historically low compared to other countries, so why not use them as a negotiation tool?”

During Trump’s first term, he weaponized trade policy through Section 232 and Section 301 tariffs — key measures used by the United States to address economic and national security concerns. Now, in his second term, he is taking this approach even further.

By using the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) — a never-before-used legal tool to impose tariffs under the guise of national security — Trump has bypassed public comment periods and regulatory hurdles, making trade decisions without the required checks or balances.

Trump has threatened tariffs on Mexico and Canada in an effort to tighten border security and curb drug trafficking.

“This is the first time trade policy levers have been used on unrelated issues,” Baumgarten said. “We’ve always sanctioned countries like Russia over Ukraine, but using trade tools for domestic issues like immigration or fentanyl overdoses? That’s a completely new approach.”

During his first-term trade war, Trump offered billions in farm subsidies to offset the damage. While some farmers appreciated the aid, Hemesath saw it as a short-term fix for a long-term crisis.

“Certainly, it helps, but it doesn’t compensate fully for what you lose in the market, Hemesath said.

“Ag trade is basically 30% of the farm net income so anytime we lose any trading, any ability to export our products affects the bottom line of our country and our fellow citizens and fellow communities.”

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Egg prices continue to swing drastically, cracking already strained grocery budgets

Egg prices remain volatile in the wake of the ongoing bird flu outbreaks, which have decimated commercial poultry and egg production across the U.S.

At the end of 2024, the epidemic pushed egg prices to the second-highest level – $4.15 per dozen – in the past decade, according to the Consumer Price Index. That’s second only to the first onset of the recent bird flu outbreaks.



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Retail grocery stores were still dealing with inflationary pressures caused by the COVID-19 pandemic when initial bird flu outbreaks began across the country in early 2022.

By the end of that year, egg prices had doubled from the year before, from less than $2 a dozen to more than $4 a dozen, according to the Consumer Price Index.

Egg prices began to stabilize throughout 2023, but as new waves of bird flu hit, the price of eggs shot back up. 

Bird flu has ravaged commercial poultry and egg production, with more than 134 million birds killed since early 2022.

The recent rise in grocery staples can also be attributed to post-COVID-19 pandemic inflationary pressures, a shortage of beef cattle caused by droughts, and bird flu outbreaks. 

Beef prices climbed 22% from early 2022 to the end of last year, a reflection of the long-term ripple effects of declining herd sizes in the face of feed and water shortages. 

Grocery prices have taken center stage as activists, politicians and government agencies have denounced meat and food industry consolidation alongside alleged price gouging.

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Trump ag secretary nominee says food issues from mass deportations are ‘hypothetical’

Farmers have begun raising concerns about the potential impact of President Donald Trump’s mass deportations on their operations, but the president’s nominee for agriculture secretary, Brooke Rollins, said any issues stemming from a lost labor force are “hypothetical.”

If farms are affected by mass deportations, she and other administration officials would “hopefully solve some of these problems,” Rollins said during her nomination hearing in front of the U.S. Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Thursday. When a senator remarked he hoped the issues caused by mass deportations were hypothetical, Rollins said, “I do, too.”

These comments stand in contrast with those of other Trump policy officials regarding mass deportations. In an interview with The New York Times in 2023, Stephen Miller, now a deputy chief of staff in the White House, said the deportations would have a major impact: “Mass deportation will be a labor-market disruption celebrated by American workers.”

Before Trump was elected, experts and farmworker rights advocates said mass deportations could lead to the agriculture industry’s collapse. Nationwide, an estimated 42% of farm workers were undocumented in 2022, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service.

Given how long farms have relied on undocumented labor, no other workforce currently exists that could replace unauthorized workers.

Rollins said Trump would not forget about farmers’ needs when implementing his deportation plans. While she agreed with the policies, she said she would listen to farmers and act accordingly, likely by augmenting the H-2A program, which brings foreign workers into the U.S. temporarily to pick crops. The program is run by the U.S. Department of Labor.

“The president’s vision of a secure border and mass deportation at a scale that matters is something I support,” Rollins said during Thursday’s hearing. “You may argue that is in conflict” with my duties to support agriculture, she added, but, “having both of those as key priorities, my job is to work with the secretary of labor on the H-2A program.”

The H-2A program is rife with well-documented abuse and wage theft. There have already been warnings that increased use of the program could overwhelm the government and negatively impact workers’ rights.

Rollins was also asked if she thought deporting farmworkers could increase food prices, as Trump campaigned on the high cost of groceries. She again said that was a hypothetical issue.

While food prices have outstripped the rate of inflation in recent years, one reason food has remained relatively affordable in the U.S. is because farm labor can be cheap. In the Times interview, Miller said Americans would replace the deported workers and “be offered higher wages with better benefits to fill these jobs.”

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Rollins and Republican senators on the Senate’s agriculture committee emphasized her rural roots and her time in 4H, but Rollins does not have extensive experience in the agriculture industry. Multiple times, she told senators that she looked forward to learning more about an issue they asked about, including the increase in bird flu among poultry and livestock.

She repeatedly said Thursday she would rely on data to help drive decision-making. But, when discussing undocumented labor on farms, she said no one knew how many people might be affected by Trump’s mass deportations.

“We don’t know, first of all, who ‘they’ are,” Rollins said, putting air quotes around “they.” “We all throw numbers around. 40%, 50%, 60%. The answer is we just don’t know.”

While the exact figure may not be known, the U.S. Department of Labor publishes a survey with well-regarded and oft-cited data on the number of undocumented farmworkers. According to the survey, about 40% of America’s 2 million farmworkers are not authorized to work in the country.



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Several agricultural industries rely on undocumented labor. For instance, dairy farms are not eligible for H-2A visa labor — often trumpeted as a labor solution — and often do not ask about employees’ statuses. The meatpacking industry, subjected to immigration raids under the first Trump administration, also uses undocumented labor.

One of the largest meatpacking companies in the country, Tyson Foods, told Investigate Midwest it would not be affected by any mass deportations, however.

“Tyson Foods is strongly opposed to illegal immigration, and we fully participate with the federal government’s E-Verify and IMAGE programs,” a Tyson Foods spokesperson said. “We employ 120,000 team members in the United States, all of whom are required to be legally authorized to work in this country and any enforcement against undocumented workers would not have an impact on our company.”

Near the end of Rollins’ nomination hearing, Sen. Adam Schiff, a California Democrat, asked Rollins how farms would replace their workforce if mass deportation plans materialized.

“Americans don’t want to do that work,” he said. “It’s frankly too backbreaking, so who is going to work the farms?”

Rollins responded by saying, “President Trump ran and was overwhelmingly elected on the priority of border security and mass deportation.” Trump’s margin of victory in November was the fourth-smallest since 1960, at 1.62%, according to PBS. “The American people have asked for a secure border and a system where they do not have to be concerned with the millions and millions that crossed here illegally and brought a lot of strife and unsafe communities to America.”

She added there might need to be changes made to the H-2A program to address a lost workforce. 

“I will work around the clock with our new labor secretary, if she’s confirmed,” she said. 

Then, Schiff asked, “If they’re gone, who’s going to do that work?”

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“As these processes and programs are being implemented under this new administration and with the full support of the majority of Americans,” Rollins replied. “I think that we — as the leaders in agriculture, myself as the leader at USDA, you on this committee as well as others on the committee — that we will work together to understand and hopefully solve some of these problems. 

“The dairy cattle have to be milked,” she added, “but if we have a mass deportation program underway, then there is a lot of work that we need to do through the labor department and working with Congress to solve for a lot of this through our current labor programs that are already on the books.”

Schiff then asked about food prices. “If we deport a large percentage of our farm workforce, farm labor is going to be scarce,” he said. “Isn’t that inevitably going to push up food prices? And if so, isn’t that in sharp contrast with what the president said he wanted to do to bring down egg prices and food prices?”

“First of all, we’re speaking in hypotheticals,” Rollins said. “But, certainly, these are hypotheticals that we do need to be thinking through. It’s a very fair point. The president has made food inflation and the cost of food one of his top priorities. I have worked alongside him and have been part of his team for many years now. I believe in his vision and his commitment to America and to his promises, and in so doing, we will be able to find in our toolkit what we need to do to solve for any hypothetical issues that turn out to be real moving forward over the coming months and years.”

“I hope they’re hypothetical,” Schiff responded.

“I do, too,” Rollins said.

“I fear they’re all too real,” Schiff said.

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New Senate agriculture committee leadership has extensive ties to industry heavyweights

The new leader of the U.S. Senate’s agriculture committee, Arkansas’ John Boozman, has several ties to meatpacking behemoths, including Tyson Foods, and has recently resisted efforts by his fellow Republicans to reign in their economic power.

New Democratic leadership on the committee also has strong agriculture ties, as Sen. Amy Klobuchar has received thousands from employees at the grain processor Cargill.

Republicans recently won control of the U.S. Senate, along with the presidency and the U.S. House of Representatives. This puts the GOP back in charge of the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry, which has sway over important food legislation, such as the Farm Bill. 

New chairman Boozman became the committee’s ranking minority member in 2021, with Democrats controlling the Senate. He was first elected in 2001.

Over his two decades in Congress, employees at Tyson Foods, one of America’s largest meat companies, donated more than $120,000 to his campaigns — the third-most he’s received during his career, according to OpenSecrets.

Neither Boozman or Tyson returned a request for comment.

Just four companies, including Tyson Foods, control 85% of the beef industry, which critics argue limits competition and gives them significant power to set prices. Most beef is bought through contracts, but independent ranchers in rural areas have called for legislation requiring the companies to purchase at least some of their beef on the open market.

In 2021, Sen. Chuck Grassley, a Republican from Iowa, championed the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act to address ranchers’ concerns. But, when the bill faced opposition from his fellow Republicans, Grassley pointed the finger at Tyson and its peers. 

“You got to think behind all this is the political power of the big four packers,” he said, according to Politico.

In response, Boozman said Grassley is a “good friend and we work together very closely, but I think there’s a misunderstanding that somehow we’re trying to block this bill.”

Politico reported that some of the concerns among those trying to pass the legislation were the connections to the meat industry on Boozman’s committee staff. His policy director, Chelsie Keys, used to work for the National Pork Producers Council, which represents major meatpackers. Also, the policy director’s spouse, Gordon Chandler Keys III, is a lobbyist for JBS USA, one of the four companies that control most of the beef industry.

In recent years, Chandler Keys has lobbied the Senate on issues related to “meat inspection” and the Grain Inspection, Packers and Stockyards Administration, or GIPSA, according to lobbying disclosure records. GIPSA is tasked with investigating unfair market practices. Originally an independent agency within the USDA, the first Trump administration moved it under the umbrella of another agency, which has reduced its effectiveness, critics have said.

The records do not specify which senators were lobbied, and a committee spokesperson told Politico in 2022 that Keys does not lobby Boozman. Keys did not return requests for comment.

Grassley told KMALand, a radio station in Iowa, that he will continue to push for the Cattle Price Discovery and Transparency Act in this year’s Congress, perhaps as an addition to the Farm Bill.

When asked about the act’s chances, given Boozman’s reported resistance, a spokesperson for Grassley’s office said, “Senator Grassley remains committed to enhancing transparency in the cattle market and ensuring a level playing field for all cattle producers.”

Tyson’s relationship with its contract farmers could be further scrutinized during the next congressional term as the U.S. Department of Agriculture is investigating the company after it closed several of its plants in recent years.

Because of industry consolidation, rural farmers who raised Tyson’s chickens had no other company to sell their chickens to, leaving them saddled with debt. 

In Missouri, a Tyson competitor attempted to buy a shuttered plant, but Tyson worked to prevent the purchase, according to an investigation by Watchdog Writers Group and Investigate Midwest. Tyson also subpoenaed communication between former growers and federal investigators. Boozman’s Republican colleague, Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, called the company’s actions “anti-American.”

So far, Boozman has not publicly commented on the Tyson plant closures. When he was formally tapped to lead the agriculture committee, he released a statement saying his aim was to “bolster rural communities.”

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minnesota, speaks with reporters on Capitol Hill, Dec. 3, 2024, in Washington. photo by Mark Schiefelbein, AP Photo

Sen. Klobuchar, a Democratic member of the Senate ag committee, has ties to Cargill

On the Democratic side, significant changes are reshaping the Senate agriculture committee’s leadership for the first time in years, driven by a major retirement and election losses. 

Sen. Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat first elected to the U.S. Senate in 2001, is leaving. She has helped shape several farm bills, most recently as committee chairwoman. Sen. Sherrod Brown, an Ohio Democrat who has been a recent committee mainstay, lost his re-election bid in November.

Klobuchar, of Minnesota, is now the ranking minority member. She’s received consistent support from employees at Cargill, the nation’s largest private company and a major grain processor. Over the years, she’s supported the biofuel industry, a key component of Cargill’s business.

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In 2020, as Klobuchar ran for president, the then-CEO of Cargill, Dave MacLennan, served as her campaign bundler, a usually wealthy person who raises substantial cash from others. Overall that year, Cargill employees donated about $37,000 to her — the third highest total from company employees, according to OpenSecrets. 

In 2024, Cargill employees donated about $13,600 to Klobuchar, the fifth-most that year, according to OpenSecrets. Cargill employees also donated to Boozman and California’s Adam Schiff, who is also on the Senate agriculture committee. 

Cargill is a major producer of biofuels, such as ethanol. A growing body of evidence suggests that ethanol — trumpeted as a climate smart alternative to gasoline — might have minimal climate benefits or, perhaps, might be worse than gas. 

Klobuchar has consistently supported the industry. Over the past few years, she has introduced legislation focused on E15, a blend of ethanol that Cargill and others sell. One bill would have removed warnings about ethanol’s potential impact on cars, and another would allow E15 to be sold year-round.

Klobuchar’s office did not respond to requests for comment. The email address that Cargill said was the “best way” for reporters to contact the company bounced back.

New Farm Bill will be area of focus for new committee leaders

The agriculture committee's most important business will likely be passing a Farm Bill, which funds subsidies for farms and financial assistance for low-income families, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The 2018 Farm Bill expired in 2023, but Congress has approved two-year funding stopgaps since then. 

In June, Boozman, as the ranking minority member, published his framework for a new farm bill. He called for increased spending on the so-called “farm safety net” and on trade programs. In November, following her retirement announcement, Stabenow released her framework, which Boozman called “insulting.” While also increasing funding for the farm safety net, it emphasized funding for SNAP and conservation programs related to climate change.



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Republicans have 53 votes in the U.S. Senate, but it takes 60 to pass a farm bill in the upper chamber. The legislation will need to attract some Democrats.

“I think at times last year, pretty consistently, it was clear that the ability to work across partisan lines had frayed in the Senate ag committee,” said Mike Lavender, the policy director for the National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition, which advocates for sustainable food systems. “The biggest question on my mind is, how will new leadership really lean into a bipartisan approach and working together to get a bill done?”

From a policy standpoint, the shift in leadership likely won’t result in dramatic changes, especially given Boozman’s previous role as ranking minority member, he said. But having different individuals in charge might lead to different points of emphasis. 

For instance, Stabenow focused on funding specialty crops, which are a big part of Michigan agriculture. But Klobuchar might focus on competition and antitrust laws, Lavender said. In 2022, Klobuchar published a book on monopoly power.

The post New Senate agriculture committee leadership has extensive ties to industry heavyweights appeared first on Investigate Midwest.

GRAPHIC: As Trump policy changes loom, nearly half of farmworkers lack legal status

The nation’s agriculture sector, which relies heavily on undocumented workers, could face a significant challenge when President-elect Donald Trump takes office this month amid promises to enact stricter immigration policies.

The percentage of undocumented farmworkers — those without legal status — dropped from 54% in 2020 to 42% in 2022, according to the USDA and the U.S. Department of Labor.

Trump said his mass deportation of undocumented immigrants would start with the “criminals,” but that “you have no choice” but to eventually deport everyone in the country illegally, according to a December interview with NBC’s “Meet the Press.”

Mary Jo Dudley, director of the Cornell Farmworker Program, emphasized the potential consequences of such policies, telling Investigate Midwest, “If we lost half of the farmworker population in a short period of time, the agriculture sector would likely collapse.”

“There are no available skilled workers to replace the current workforce should this policy be put into place,” she said.

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Hope in Turbulent Times: Native Leaders Take the Long View

In the wake of the 2024 election, Barn Raiser talks to prominent Native leaders and mentors, who tell us in edited interviews how and why their communities have long endured, even in divisive and unsettled times.

Right now, all of us who live together on this earth face not just political instability but the “dual crises of climate change and social injustice,” according to Fawn Sharp, citizen of the Quinalt Indian Nation, in Taholah, Washington, and former president of the National Congress of American Indians.

“Now, more than ever,” Sharp says, “the world needs the wisdom, resilience and stewardship that Indigenous leaders uniquely bring. Our survival in this rapidly changing world may well depend on it.”

The views of each of those who spoke to Barn Raiser are deeply personal and rooted in their own unique cultures.

The Long View

For the past 16 years, the Zuni Youth Enrichment Project, at Zuni Pueblo in New Mexico, has hosted numerous programs in the arts, gardening, cooking, sports and more. The activities are designed to prepare Zuni youth to be healthy adults who can continue Zuni cultural traditions. Of Zuni’s 10,000 residents, almost a third are under the age of 18. Kiara Zunie, a Zuni tribal citizen and ZYEP’s Youth Development Coordinator, and ZYEP Operations Manager Josh Kudrna describe accompanying tribal youth on a recent visit to their people’s emergence place in what is now called the Grand Canyon. Zunie and Kudrna are joined in this interview by ZYEP Executive Director Tahlia Natachu-Eriacho, a tribal citizen.

Kiara Zunie: Backpacking down the Grand Canyon was a beautiful and humbling experience for everyone. We shared moments of aching legs, tingling fingers and shallow breathing from the weight of our packs. The journey reminded us that resilience isn’t just about physical strength, it’s about mental toughness, too. We took care of each another through consistent check-ins, positive encouragement and song lyrics. Each rugged step we took was also a reminder of our ancestors’ enduring strength and their prayers coming to fruition through a group like us.

Tahlia Natachu-Eriacho: This program is important for us because it acknowledges Zuni’s migration story. We Zuni people emerged from there and made our way to where we are now in Zuni Pueblo. The fact that we still live on the lands our ancestors intended us to be on is so powerful. And a privilege. Our reservation is where we are supposed to be.

We have been intentional about calling the trips to the Grand Canyon ‘visits.’ They’re not adventures or expeditions and other ideas that come from the goals of colonization. We are going to visit our relatives, to where our ancestors were, to places that have meaning for our culture and our identity and who we are today.

Zuni youth are on their way down into the Grand Canyon on a visit to their people’s emergence place, guided by Zuni Youth Enrichment Project staff Kiara Zunie, fifth from right, and Josh Kudrna, far right. (Courtesy of ZYEP)

Josh Kudrna: During the three-day visit, we hiked 17 miles. That may not sound like a lot to people who run marathons, but it’s down about 7,000 feet to get to the water at the base of the canyon, then back up 7,000 feet. It’s very steep climbing, and all of our participants were carrying everything they needed—about 30 to 40 pounds—on their backs.

Ahead of time, I try to prep them for what’s about to happen, but it’s hard to conceptualize that after about three miles your legs will be quaking with every step. It’s very hard work, and they connect to the ancestors, who didn’t have fancy boots, who didn’t have internal-frame backpacks, but were still carrying their children and everything they needed on their backs as they continually went up and down the canyon.

Zunie: The day we hiked out of the Grand Canyon happened to fall on Indigenous People’s Day. We were nearing the top when we heard the echo of a drumbeat. The National Park Service had organized traditional dances to celebrate Indigenous culture. As we listened to the drums, I looked at the group, reminding myself of the journey we had just endured. Remembering the aches and pains and the moments of laughter and camaraderie, I started to cry.








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A Place to Call Home

Good news is imminent at the Native American Community of Central Ohio (NAICCO), in Columbus. Executive Director Masami Smith and Project Director Ty Smith lead the urban-Indian organization and its activities on behalf of the cultural, community and economic development of the area’s Native people. Both Masami and Ty are enrolled citizens of the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs, in Oregon. A major project nearing fruition is LandBack NAICCO, with nearly $400,000 in donations and earned income that will allow the group to acquire land. The group is currently looking at land in Central Ohio and the broader Ohio area. According to the major Indigenous news source Native News Online, many Native communities  are finding ways to reconstitute portions of homelands and reservations lost in the process of European settlement. Ty tells us about NAICCO and its plans.

Ty Smith: The urban setting is different in many ways from Indigenous homelands on the reservations. You’re navigating two worlds simultaneously while trying to maintain balance and harmony in your life. The sense of home is strong for our Native people. But where do you find that in Ohio, which has no infrastructure for us—no tribes, which were expelled in the 1800s, no reservations, no Indian Health Service, no Bureau of Indian Affairs, no Bureau of Indian Education?

Because Ohio doesn’t include the tribes that were originally here, there are holes in the story. The dots don’t connect. Native people who have come to live here in recent years—for higher education, work and more—lean on each other. They come into NAICCO and start to make it home and make relations.

As an intertribal community, we bond in ways we never thought possible. A sense of togetherness and belonging has become the heart and soul of NAICCO. We all agree that we want a better tomorrow for our children. When you have that commonality, it speaks truth. It’s our foundation. The group becomes family, not by blood but by shared experience in the newfound Ohio home.

Since Masami and I came here in 2011, people have asked, “What if we could have our own place?’ While doing other programs, we never lost track of that: a piece of land in addition to our agency building on the south side of Columbus, a place we could call home, where we could connect with Nature.

NAICCO group during an outing to Ash Cave in Hocking Hills State Park, in South Bloomingville, Ohio, southeast of Columbus. (Courtesy of NAICCO)

We launched LandBack NAICCO in 2019, right before Covid struck. It didn’t get a lot of traction because of the pandemic. So we re-launched it in 2022. To our surprise, wow, in 2024 we have almost $400,000 to buy land that is not just ours, but where we can reawaken the Native within. Land that we don’t just walk upon, but where we engage in foraging, tending, stewarding, rewilding and conservation, where we can create a relationship with Mother Nature. How does Nature teach us, how do we take care of her? This is essential to who we are.

Native people have advocated for this idea, of course. It’s exciting, surprising and humbling that non-Native relatives, supporters, friends and allies have also rallied behind us and lifted us. Non-Native subject-matter experts, including conservationists and environmentalists, have told us that once we have the land, let them know. They’re there to offer resources, services, insight, wisdom. Very cool. Multiple organizations and private parties have come forward to participate as well. We don’t know how this will end. It’s hard to talk about because it’s happening right now, in real time.

We never imagined this in our wildest dreams. In these turbulent times, it gives you hope that there’s something good at hand. It points to a good life, not just for the individual but for the community. There’s hope here and a dream. LandBack NAICCO is about planting seeds for a better tomorrow.

Strengthening Connections

Anahkwet (Guy Reiter) is a citizen of the Menominee Indian Tribe of Wisconsin and executive director of the grassroots nonprofit Menikanaehkem Community Rebuilders. The group has a range of supportive programming, including building solar-powered “tiny homes” for those who need shelter during life transitions, setting up women’s leadership and empowerment projects, including midwifery and traditional birthing practices, developing forest- and garden-based food sovereignty and advocating against proposals for dangerous open-pit mines and pipelines. Anahkwet talks about how his tribe understands the connections that strengthen individuals and communities.

Anahkwet: With the results of the recent election, hopefully people will now understand what this country has always been about since 1492. This moment is like many other moments in our Indigenous history with the dominant society. We at Menominee have been here before, unfortunately sometimes in more dire circumstances.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, our greatest enemy is the European mind, which comes in many shapes, forms, colors and creeds. It’s such a dangerous outlook because it’s based in fear. Through its languages, it perceives problems, defines them and builds things around them in ways that isolate a person—on a planet with 8 billion people. Anything built on fear and distrust never ends well. It’s a shaky foundation to build anything on.

Our Menominee language isn’t like that. It’s built on relationships, love and a connection to all things. The more we move in that direction, the stronger we will get. Indigenous leadership in this regard is already there throughout the world. It’s a question of others waking up to it and realizing it. Indigenous leaders have been present this whole time, but others haven’t seen them, haven’t taken the time to listen to them.

Anahkwet, third from right, meets with Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers, fourth from right, about opposition to the Back 40 Mine, a proposed area metals mine. (Courtesy of Anahkwet)

Our people are amazing at—and have mastered—resilience. Their deep connections to our culture and our language have kept them deeply grounded and able to withstand much struggle and oppression. Without those connections, you can see that a person might feel hopeless, lost, confused.

For us, struggle strengthens our connections. It alerts us to the importance of remembering who we are—our languages, our culture, our ceremonies. It’s a reminder to continue them. Our young people can see the sacrifices of their ancestors. They see the reason we’re still here, through all the things that happened to us. They see that our language, our culture and our way of life have held us together—have given us all we need in terms of hope, understanding and direction.

One of our greatest teachers is the Earth. If you slow down and listen, she’ll show you exactly what you need to know. If you want to build an organization, look to a forest. How does a forest have that much diversity, yet life thrives? What characteristics of a healthy forest do you see? In our teachings, in our culture, we talk about representation from grandma and grandpa trees, adult trees, teen trees, baby trees. They all need to exist within that ecosystem for it to be healthy. It doesn’t take long to understand the simplicity of it all. If you’re able to slow down and connect with the Earth, the answers are there.

When we went ricing this year, we took our young people along. [While ricing, one person poles a canoe through the shallow water of a wild-rice paddy, while the other uses sticks to tap the ripe wild-rice grains into the canoe.] It’s more than getting in a canoe, getting in the water and paddling, which is amazing in itself. Understanding the relationship the canoe has to the water and we have to the canoe, the connection to the trees, the land, the fish—all those things come into play. Before we go ricing, we pray. We ask for good days. We make sure everyone is safe.

The canoe in the water can teach you a lot of things about yourself. It can show you how you relate to another person. If it’s a windy day, you understand quickly how much teamwork ricing takes. When the wind is blowing hard in your face, the two of you are not going to make it across the lake if you don’t take the time to understand each other’s strengths and weaknesses, to work together. You’re also not fearful. You don’t make quick reactions. In this world, everyone wants quick this, quick that, but it’s not like that in the natural world.

Our people have stressed we must have good thoughts as we harvest this rice that has nourished our people for thousands of years. We harvest with a good heart and a good mind. We do it to feed our families, as well as other families, so they won’t go hungry. We think of all those who came before us, who treated the rice as we do, so it would continue to thrive. It will continue to take care of us if we take care of it.

All people around the world have gone through times like these at various points in their histories. In those times, they found strategies, ways to move forward. Today, there are good people and amazing things happening. Someone once told me in reference to a hurricane in Florida that all over the news you see what a tragedy it is. News shows show the destruction and the horrors.

But, this person said, remember to look for the helpers—helping, doing their work. The same is true now. Look for the helpers. They’re doing their work.

The post Hope in Turbulent Times: Native Leaders Take the Long View appeared first on Barn Raiser.

US could rely more on foreign ag workers under Trump. High demand is already straining the government.

Key takeaways:

Shifted resources. To keep up with high demand, the U.S. Department of Labor moved staff from processing other visas to reviewing H-2A visas. That has created a backlog in other visas the agency oversees.
Questioned integrity. Because of high demand, the Labor Department performed far fewer audits of H-2A applications in 2023 than it did just a few years ago. That’s because the staff that would perform the audits are busy processing applications. The agency itself has said high demand might affect “program integrity.”
Continued growth? The first Trump administration promoted the use of the H-2A program while performing raids on workplaces suspected of having undocumented workers — a large component of the agriculture workforce.

Farm employers’ increasing use of guest visa farmworkers has strained federal agencies, potentially impairing workers’ rights, a federal watchdog found in a report released Thursday.

The report comes days after Donald Trump was re-elected president. During his first term, Trump championed the use of guest farmworkers — foreign laborers who work temporarily in U.S. agricultural fields — as a legal alternative for farm labor. Many farmworkers in the U.S. are undocumented.

Trump has promised mass deportations of people who are not in the country legally. That could mean an even greater increase in guest farmworkers coming to the U.S. through the H-2A visa program, further straining federal oversight responsibilities.

“Agencies’ approaches to processing H-2A applications amid growth may have unintended consequences for the agencies,” the report from the Government Accountability Office reads, “such as their ability to perform oversight, process adjudications for other programs in a timely manner, and ensure workers are provided with information about their rights.”

The H-2A program has grown in popularity as a response to farm labor shortages. Between 2018 and 2023, the number of applications for H-2A workers increased by 72%, according to the GAO’s analysis.

However, the time the federal government took to review and approve applications remained static. This was accomplished, in part, by shifting staff from other responsibilities to focus on the H-2A program.

Made with Flourish

The federal government has said the program is an essential part of national security because it helps ensure widespread access to food in the U.S. Given that, agencies have prioritized approving H-2A applications quickly. 

Eliminating the H-2A program was a component of Project 2025, the blueprint created by Trump’s allies for his next administration. During his campaign, Trump disavowed the policy proposal, and, during his first term, he called H-2A labor a “source of legal and verified labor for agriculture.”

Currently, the H-2A program is intended to be used for field labor. (Some employers, however, use H-2A workers to construct animal confinements.) But industry groups representing other parts of the agriculture sector — such as dairy farms and meatpacking plants — have pushed to expand the program to include their operations.

As of Friday, Trump has yet to announce who he will nominate as his labor secretary, the person ultimately responsible for the H-2A program.

 Between 2018 and 2023, the Labor Department approved more than 90,000 H-2A applications, but it investigated fewer than 3,000 employers, according to the GAO. Screenshot taken on Nov. 15, 2024 from the GAO official YouTube channel.

H-2A program’s integrity possibly impaired by rapid expansion

Three agencies coordinate approval of H-2A visa applications, though the U.S. Department of Labor performs most oversight. The agency reviews and approves employers’ applications for workers. 

The U.S. Department of State interviews potential workers at its consulates in foreign countries, primarily Mexico. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security reviews a worker’s visa as they cross into the country.

In budget documents, the labor department has said the H-2A program might be compromised by the need to process applications in a timely manner. 

When employers apply, they provide evidence that no U.S. workers want the available jobs, list wage rates and show proof of adequate housing. If an employer’s application does not meet all requirements, the agency can send a “notice of deficiency.”

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As the H-2A program expanded, the number of notices decreased, the GAO found. In 2018, almost half of applications were flagged for various infractions, such as inaccurate job descriptions, lacking proof of adequate housing, or missing information on employee transportation. In 2022, just a third were. (In 2023, the figure jumped back to almost half, which officials contributed to new reporting requirements.)

The agency has conducted audits to ensure employers comply with requirements.

But, with the increase in applications, the number of audits has dropped precipitously. In 2018, the agency conducted more than 500. In 2023, the figure was 30, according to the GAO.

“Officials attributed the reduction in H-2A audits to the competing priorities of staff,” the GAO wrote in its report. “Specifically, officials told us they have limited resources to conduct audits because the same staff who process applications also audit the approved applications.”

Prioritizing the H-2A program can also lead to backlogs in other visa programs the labor department oversees, the GAO said.

In some instances, the labor department has approved H-2A applications for employers that then faced scrutiny. 

In 2023, 13 Black farmworkers in Mississippi reached settlements with two employers after the employers hired white South Africans through the H-2A program. The employers told the labor department they would offer the same pay and same number of hours to the U.S. citizens and the H-2A workers — a legal requirement. The U.S. workers were given fewer hours and less pay, they alleged. 

Also, in recent years, contractors in Nebraska who provide detasseling labor — primarily teenagers earning pocket money — have cried foul. H-2A employers have taken some of their business, despite long waitlists of teenagers available to work.

State Department policies may lead to worker exploitation

The State Department is supposed to conduct interviews with prospective H-2A employees at its consulates. During the interviews, workers are provided with “know your rights” pamphlets — the H-2A program has a well-documented history of abuse.

But, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the agency waived the interview requirement, and, now, most H-2A workers are no longer interviewed in person. In 2023, the agency waived 90% of interviews, the GAO said. 

If an interview is waived, the consulate sends the pamphlet with the worker’s passport. However, the recruiter or the workers’ employer will often pick up passports on workers’ behalf, the GAO said.



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This situation — coupled with the fact some employers confiscate passports and charge return fees — “suggests some employers may not prefer to provide H-2A workers with the information about their rights,” according to the GAO’s report. 

The State Department said it was taking steps to address this. 

For instance, when workers apply for visas online, they must certify they have read the information in the “know your rights” pamphlet in order to complete the application. The state and labor agencies are also collaborating with the U.S. Agency for International Development, or USAID, to identify recruiting fraud.

Labor department has small number of investigators

H-2A workers often face abuse while in the U.S., but a couple factors impair the labor department’s ability to investigate abusive employers, according to the GAO.

For one, workers do not feel they can complain. If they do, they could face retaliation, such as being blacklisted by recruiters or being fired, which essentially maroons them in the U.S. if their passport was taken by an employer. Worker complaints were the origin of only 15% of investigations between 2018 and 2023, according to the GAO.

However, complaints are valuable to the agency. When investigations begin with worker complaints, investigators found, on average, 38 violations. When investigations began other ways, such as through a report by the media, investigators found, on average, 22 violations.

Made with Flourish

Second, the labor department has relatively few investigators now, and their focus is not just on agriculture or the H-2A program.

The agency’s Wage and Hour Division investigates employment issues, such as stolen wages, for H-2A workers. (The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, another labor department division, focuses on workplace safety.) In 2014, the wage and hour division had nearly 1,000 investigators.

Now, it has 773 investigators — one of its lowest staffing levels in the past 50 years, according to the GAO. 

These issues likely factor into the small number of investigations that the wage and hour division has pursued in recent years. Between 2018 and 2023, the Labor Department approved more than 90,000 H-2A applications, but it investigated fewer than 3,000 employers, according to the GAO.

In April, acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said the department needed more resources to shore up its enforcement responsibilities.

“Laws are only as powerful as their enforcement,” she said. “We need more resources in order to do what we need to do. We cannot allow companies that profit off of workers, who decide that it’s cheaper to break the law and the chances of getting caught are slim and the costs even if you do get caught are negligible, to keep on pursuing those practices.”

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As Goes the Black Belt, So Goes Georgia

This is the second in a series of interviews, in which we will ask rural candidates, elected office holders, political consultants and organizers what lessons are to be learned from the 2024 General Election. 

Keith McCants, 42, is the chair of the Democratic Party in Bryan County, Georgia. Located southwest of Savanah, this half-rural and half-suburban county is among the fastest growing in the state. On November 5, 68% of voters in Bryan County cast ballots for Donald Trump.

McCants describes himself as a “conservative Democrat” and identifies as a Blue Dog. The Blue Dog Coalition is a largely rural caucus of moderate Democrats in the House of Representatives. It is led by Reps. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (Wash.-3), Jared Golden (Maine 2)  and Mary Peltola (Alaska-at large), all three of whom represent House districts that Trump won. At its peak in 2009, the caucus boasted 54 members. It now has 11. Politico reports that the Blue Dog Caucus was “decimated in the 2010 election and has since drifted ideologically from pro-corporation centrists to pro-worker populists.”

A member of the United Steelworkers Local 795, McCants works at a local manufacturing plant. He is the father of three children, ages 21, 15 and 5, and lives with his wife in Richmond Hill, a suburb of 19,013 outside of Savannah that has doubled in population since 2010. McCants grew up in the Black Belt town of Oglethorpe, the county seat of Macon County, where he served on city council from 2013 to 2018.

McCants is critical of the way the Harris-Walz campaign was managed in Georgia and thinks that the Georgia Democratic Party, unable to see beyond the Atlanta metro area, has forsaken both Black and white rural voters. We asked him what might have been done differently.

How did you get into politics?

I was just watching CNN one day, back in 1998, and I saw Sam Nunn and Max Cleland, two former Georgia Democratic U.S. Senators, doing an interview, and I’m like, “What are they talking about?” I remember the day clearly.

That year, my junior year in high school, I volunteered for Sanford Bishop, the House member for Georgia’s 2nd district. It was something I did on a whim. I started liking it. I liked the retail politics, the hand shaking, the back slapping, the rallies.

Once I got out of high school, I worked on other campaigns until I first ran for office myself in 2013, for city council in my hometown of Oglethorpe, in Macon County, which is in the Black Belt.

No one recruited me. No one told me to do it. I just ran on my own because I saw a need for change in my hometown. It was the same cast of characters. I knew they were all good people, but they just didn’t do anything. I had been going all over the state doing this and that for other candidates and helping other people. So, I thought, why not come home and make a difference in my hometown.

I lost by four votes the first time. But the guy I ran against decided to step down and I was asked if I would take on his term, which I did. I served five years on the city council.

I really got known across rural Georgia because of my blog, Peanut Politics. I was the only Democrat who spoke to rural issues and for rural Democrats as a whole. I managed to build up a solid following. I developed trust among folks running for office and current and former elected officials, especially among Republicans. They’ve been trying to get me to switch over for the last 10 years.

As chair of the Bryan County Democrats, what’s your main takeaway from the election?

It was one of the most disappointing things that I’ve experienced in my 24 years of being an advocate for rural Georgia. It was a debacle.

I’m not surprised by the result. There was no ground game whatsoever from the Harris campaign. There was no get-out-the-vote efforts whatsoever. This was a billion-dollar campaign, and the question being asked right now is where did all that money go? Because it did not make it on the ground here in Georgia. A million dollars would have made the difference in her winning this state.

There’s a lot of anger towards the Harris campaign. There’s anger towards Biden. But a lot of us rural Democrats down here were not surprised by the result because we didn’t see any action from the Harris campaign whatsoever. It was all Atlanta, and Atlanta some more. Harris made one trip to Savannah in late August for a rally, but other than that, it was strictly metro Atlanta.

So what do you think should be done?

There’s an effort right now here in Georgia to remove the current Democratic Party state chairwoman Rep. Nikema Williams. It’s being led by Sen. Jon Ossoff and I understand Sen. Rafael Warnock is behind the effort as well.

But to me, it shouldn’t fall squarely on her shoulders because this is a problem that we’ve been having here for the last 15 years. It’s just different leadership with the same results. So you have calls for a total wipeout of the current leadership and installation of new people on top of the Georgia Democratic Party. But all that will not matter if they don’t get down into the rural areas because this is where the Democratic Party is hurting.

Did you all know that in the Black Belt region of this state President Trump carried four majority Black counties, Washington, Early, Jefferson and Dooly? When I saw that, I knew right then Harris had no shot to win Georgia.

For readers who aren’t familiar with Georgia’s Black Belt, could you explain its significance in state politics?

The Black Belt stretches from Augusta across central Georgia all the way down into the 2nd congressional district, in the southwest. Without support in the Black Belt counties no Democrat can win statewide.

It’s just a fact. The Black Belt was the primary reason why Senators Warnock and Ossoff won their elections in 2020 and 2021. They campaigned in these counties and invested large sums of money.

The Black Belt is largely poor. It’s heavily agricultural. It doesn’t have a lot of income. And it has underperforming school systems. There are a lot of disadvantages in the Black Belt.








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But if you go and talk to the voters in these areas, they will show up. And this past Tuesday, they did not show up for Harris because they were not being courted. A lot of these voters just decided to stay home. They’re like, “Nobody’s talking to me. I got the mailer in my mailbox. Yes, Kamala is a black woman, but what is she offering me and my family?”

The thinking was that black voters would just turn out because Kamala is a Black woman. It doesn’t work like that. That was a major miscalculation. You have to work these areas, you have to cultivate these areas.

So where were the decisions made that led to this disconnect? Is it the national campaign? Is it the state party? Is it Atlanta based? Who do you see as being implicated?

It’s a little bit of everything. Ever since former Gov. Roy Barnes (D) lost in 2002, it’s been pretty much an Atlanta-focused state party. And following 2010, when Barnes tried to reclaim the governor’s mansion, there was a full acceleration to the left in the Democratic Party to try to mimic the Democratic National Committee, which was a detriment to us up until 2020 when we had Sens. Ossoff and Warnock win.

But the activists in the state party, the organizers, they are not comfortable around rural people. It’s just a fact. They don’t want to travel to middle Georgia or southern Georgia. They don’t want to spend the time here. They don’t want to invest here. They’ll drive through these areas to get to Savannah or Columbus or Albany, but they will not stop in Swainsboro. They won’t stop in Eastman. They won’t stop in Quitman.

There’s a discomfort amongst the Atlanta crowd with rural folks like myself. We do have rural progressives here. But for the most part, we’re mostly middle of the road or more independent-minded, even the Black Democrats in rural areas like myself. I’m a conservative Democrat. I’m an NRA member. I’m a small business owner. I’m a member of the local Chamber of Commerce down here.

They call Democrats like myself Republican-lites because we don’t adhere to what they believe in Midtown Atlanta. So they look at someone like me, and say, “You don’t believe in that. You’re a Republican, kid. You’re not one of us.” I’ve heard that for many years. But it’s voters like myself they continue to lose each election cycle. And they need voters like me to remain in the party, Black males in particular, because if we continue to leave the Democratic Party, the state party is going to be in trouble. I haven’t left the Democratic Party, but I’ve given some thought to becoming a full-fledged independent because of what happened.

(Courtesy of Keith McCants via Facebook)

I don’t care that the majority of the population is located in and around Atlanta. Georgia is not like Virginia, where if you carry northern Virginia and you pretty much win the state. It’s not Pennsylvania where you carry the eastern part of the state and Pittsburgh. You must have a winning coalition here in Georgia. You’ve got to get those rural Black Belt counties if you’re going to win statewide.

And right now, until they show a willingness to come down here to invest and to campaign and to talk to us, it’s going to be the same old song.

We don’t have tall buildings down here. We don’t have Starbucks. We don’t have the latest things that metros have. But we do matter. Rural voters do matter.

What did you think of Obama coming down to Atlanta to encourage black men to vote for Harris?

It really didn’t have any effect on Black men because down here the majority of Black men who did vote, the ones that I know, they voted for Trump.

They voted for Trump because he came across as strong and masculine.

The Democratic Party here in Georgia has to move away from being this very soft and sensitive-to-everything party that they’ve become, or they’re going to continue to bleed male voters. It’s a party that has been catering to female voters. Let a man be a man. White male voters left a long time ago. Black male voters are not leaving in droves, but a little bit by a little bit each cycle. They’re not necessarily going Republican, but they’re going independent.

I understand women out vote men, but everything you heard, especially in the Harris campaign, even out here in Georgia, it’s all geared towards women in the suburbs, Black women, who are the backbone of Democratic Party.

And then you’re focusing on voters who hardly vote. These are low-income, low-information voters who don’t bother to vote but are the main ones who complain about what’s being taken away and what’s being cut.

That’s been my frustration for a long time with the Democratic Party. We always try to care for the downtrodden and the less fortunate, and I understand that, but, I’m just being real with you all, those voters just don’t vote.

In 2018, Keith McCants was celebrated by Rural Leader Magazine in their selection of 40 outstanding leaders under 40. (Courtesy Keith McCants)

You can have barbecues all day long, and fish fries. You can bring celebrities in, like Harris did, and these people still don’t vote. So my thinking is, why waste all your time?

What did you think about the Harris campaign’s messaging around the economy?

She had a good message, but the messenger was the issue. She just wasn’t able to make the sale. She wasn’t able to convince voters that, yes, I’ll be better for your pocketbooks.

And then there was her inability, her unwillingness, to distance herself from President Biden. She could have come out and said, “I would have done this differently if I were president.” That cost her a lot.

Here in Richmond Hill, the Trump campaign had all these signs along Interstate I-95, “Trump low prices. Kamala high prices.” They resonated. It was simple.

If you were head of the Georgia Democratic Party what would your agenda be?

They need to get back to being the party of the working-class men and women in this state, and not worry so much about these cultural issues like transgender people playing sports and what bathroom they go into. Those are the issues that torpedoed the Democratic Party. That’s not to say they’re not important, but they put those issues first and foremost at the expense of families like myself, young families who work every day. We’re not concerned about that. If it was me, I would bring this party away from cultural-identity politics into a more bread-and-butter, kitchen-table issue related party. We used to be a party like that in the 1990s, in the early 2000s.

We’ve gone so far to the left, trying to appease the left flank because they have the money. They’re the ones who fund the candidates like Stacey Abrams. And I like Stacey Abrams, but a lot of her money came from groups like that and she came out here pushing issues that don’t appeal to mainstream Georgians. And if candidates don’t push those issues, then they’ll cut you off financially and you’re at a disadvantage against your Republican counterparts.

I would also stress better candidate recruitment because our recruitment here in Georgia has been abysmal for the last decade. We just had some of the worst candidates run for office.

What about the labor movement and support for union organizing? Is that something that would resonate in rural Georgia?

It doesn’t because outside of the cities, the unions are not that big of an influence here in Georgia. It doesn’t carry the same weight as up in Michigan or Pennsylvania. Although I’m a union member, the United Steel Workers, up in Savannah.

What about the role of the churches in Georgia? According to the exit polls White evangelicals comprised 29% of the Georgia electorate and 92%of them voted for Trump.

Religion plays a major role in the rural areas. I’m a Southern Baptist. The Democrats at one point used to be the party that paid attention to what I call the Christian vote or the value voter. The party has gotten away from that.

Again, it’s all about a comfort level. The left flank of the party doesn’t understand that faith plays a big part in life across rural Georgia. If you’re not willing to learn about why our faith is very important to us Democrats who believe in God—I don’t care what anybody says, we believe in our Lord and Savior—it’s sad me. That’s where we’ve come up short as a party.

What do you see as the strategy for rebuilding the trust of rural voters in Georgia?

First and foremost, we should install a new leader of the state Democratic Party. I have my pick. I like John Barrow, former congressman in the 12th district. He lost to Rick Allen in 2014.

Barrow is a rural Democrat, and he still has an apparatus in place from his statewide run in 2018 for Secretary of State and from his campaign for the Georgia Supreme Court this year. He would be able to rebrand the Democratic Party and turn the page from the old to the new. He understands rural Georgia, he understands our way of life. He understands our politics, what will work, what won’t work. And most importantly—I’m just going to say it—he’s white.

The Democratic Party has become too Black and too urban. A lot of white moderates have gone to the Republican Party as a result. They think, the Democratic Party is for Black people.

These are conversations that I have on a daily basis. They say, “The Democratic Party—and, Keith, I like you, and I’ll vote for you in a minute—but your party, they are only concerned about different identity groups, and we white voters don’t have a place unless we’re white and we’re liberal.”

That notion of Georgia Democratic Party being too Black, it’s true. If you look at our state legislature, for example, we only have one rural white Democrat left in the entire state. That’s Debbie Buckner over in Johnson County, who is in the State House. In the State Senate, we have zero.

So as much as the Democratic Party talks about diversity, if you don’t have any whites in the party, I don’t call that diverse.

(Courtesy of Keith McCants)

The Democratic Party has an image problem, a branding problem, and it’s going to take someone who knows how to really shake off those connotations.

I’ve heard that Keisha Lance Bottoms, the former mayor of Atlanta, is someone that’s being pushed to take over the Democratic Party, and I like Keisha Lance Bottoms, but she’s not the right pick at this time. She’s still from Atlanta.

If she, or whoever, is willing to travel to these different counties and listen to concerns of Democrats who don’t live in the cities, then they’ll get a better understanding of what’s wrong, how to deal with it, and how to craft a message that appeals to all Georgians—not a message that just appeals to their friends in Atlanta or Gwinnett County, Cobb County or Clayton County, but to everybody: metro Atlanta, south Georgia, down around White Cross, around the swamps, around the Wild Grass region of south central Georgia, the peanut fields. But it’s not going to be fixed overnight. These problems have been here with us for a long time.

The Democratic Party has to listen to the people on the ground, the people who are at their kitchen tables every night and not the elites who are living the good life. Until they get back to being the party of Jefferson and Jackson, it’s going to be a tough row to hoe.

What advice would you give a young person in rural Georgia, who like you 26 years ago, wants to get involved in politics?

I would tell him or her, don’t wait for someone to tell you to do something. If it’s in your heart to do something like this, then go for it, step up. The rewards will outweigh the negative aspects of it.

But it takes work, it takes time, it takes commitment, it takes dedication. And, it took me over 20 years to get to this point, and it’s not easy.

Go with your gut and don’t worry about it. People are gonna talk about you regardless of what you do, whether it’s good or bad. I had a lot of that: “Kid, you don’t know what you’re doing. You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

If you feel that sense of urgency within you to make a difference in your community like I did, then you go for it. And chances are most times you will be successful.

The post As Goes the Black Belt, So Goes Georgia appeared first on Barn Raiser.

Rural America in the 2024 Election: Key Races and Ballot Measures

Donald Trump was elected the nation’s 47th president in the early morning hours after Election Day, returning to the White House with a decisive win in both the electoral college and the popular vote. Trump especially made inroads in urban and suburban areas, and increased his margins in rural America since 2020. For instance, in blue-collar Fayette County, Pennsylvania, outside Pittsburgh, Trump won nearly 70% of the vote, increasing his margins by almost 5% since 2020.

According to AP VoteCast, 62% of rural voters voted for Trump and 36% for Kamala Harris, about a 4% rightward shift compared to 2020. Harris underperformed Biden’s 2020 numbers in many rural counties across the nation, especially in swing states, and lost ground in Black rural counties in Georgia and North Carolina.

AP VoteCast survey of the 2024 candidates’ coalitions among rural, urban and suburban voters.

Down ballot, many races have yet to be decided. As of Wednesday, both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees will see changes to membership in the upcoming legislative session, with two incumbent committee members, New York Rep. Marcus Molinaro (R) and Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), losing re-election.

The following is a roundup of key races and results from rural or rural-related districts, with incumbents whose districts are in predominately rural areas or are either on the Agriculture Committee or Agriculture Appropriations Committee. These committees are important in determining rural-related budgets and the still-stalled farm bill re-authorization process that is likely to be negotiated in the 119th Congress.

U.S. Senate

Nebraska

Independent candidate Dan Osborn, and Republican incumbent Sen. Deb Fischer, right. (Joseph Saaid, Barn Raiser; Andrew Harnik, Getty Images)

In one of the more surprising races this year, independent candidate Dan Osborn narrowly lost a tight battle for a U.S. Senate seat in Nebraska. Republican incumbent Deb Fischer, who has held the seat since 2013 and whose current candidacy backed out of a long-held campaign promise of a pledge to only serve two terms. Osborn, a former union organizer, ran a labor-backed campaign whose working-class message and critique of corporate infiltration in politics drew in voters across the red-solid Nebraska. “Our U.S. Senate is a country club,” Osborn told Barn Raiser in an interview. “It’s full of millionaires, business execs and lawyers. Working-class people just aren’t represented.” Other Fischer supported the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, and supports a national abortion ban without exceptions, and has sided with dominant meatpackers and the agribusiness lobby to deny relief for ranchers in the state.

Montana

Democratic Sen. Jon Tester and Republican Tim Sheehy. (Getty Images)

Republican Tim Sheehy, a former Navy Seal from a wealthy suburban Minneapolis family, defeated Democratic Sen. Jon Tester, a rancher, 53% to 45%, with 96% of the vote counted.

Apparently Sheehy’s derogatory comments about Native people made little impression on Montana voters. The Char-Koosta News, the official news publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation, reported that in an audio recording of a November 6, 2023, fundraiser, Sheehy bragged “about roping and branding with members of the Crow Nation.” He said, “It’s a great way to bond with Indians—while they are drunk at 8 a.m.” Attendees can be heard laughing.

We checked in with Gilles Stockton, a third generation Montana rancher, from Grass Range, Montana, who is a former president of the Montana Cattleman’s Association and author of Feeding a Divided America: Reflections of a Western Rancher in the Era of Climate Change. We asked Stockton, why Montanans voted for Sheehy and decided not to return Tester to the Senate for a fourth term?

“You mean, what is wrong with my neighbors? Well, that’s a hard one isn’t it? Why did people have so much confidence in Trump? I think it’s that they are just opposed to Democrats.

“Tester ran an authentic, beautiful campaign at every level. Although all of his campaign ads featured ranchers who were supporting him, his stump speech didn’t bring up agriculture at all. It was about public lands and healthcare and schools.

“The attack ads against him were based on making shit up. What do voters think they are going to get with Sheehy? He is a proven—if not a liar—a dissembler.”

That last comment was a reference to an Afghan War injury that Sheehy invented. At the same time, Stockton credits his fellow Montanans for voting for a constitutional amendment to protect women’s reproductive rights that passed by a wide margin.

U.S. House

Alaska 1

House candidates Nick Begich (R), left, and Rep. Mary Peltola (D) participate in a forum at an Anchorage Chamber of Commerce luncheon at the Dena’ina Center on October 21, 2024 in Anchorage, AK. (Marc Lester, Anchorage Daily News)

Democratic incumbent Mary Peltola faces off against third-generation Alaskan Nick Begich III (R). As of Wednesday evening, Peltola was trailing Begich by around 10,000 votes, with 75% of votes reported. Peltola is the first Alaska Native to serve in Congress, and first won the seat after beating Begich and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin in a 2022 Special Election with the slogan “Fish, Family, Freedom.” Begich’s grandfather, Nick Begich Sr., previously held the seat in the 70s, but disappeared on a chartered plane en route to Juneau. The race is currently leaning towards Begich, but results may not be known until all ranked-choice tabulations are released later in the month. Ballot Measure 2, an effort to repeal Alaska’s ranked choice voting system, is on track to pass. 

While both candidates have expressed similar views in support of oil drilling in Alaska, Peltola is in favor of larger federal infrastructure projects, and Begich has associated himself with deficit hawks in the congressional Freedom Caucus.

California 13

Rep. John Duarte (R), left, and Democrat Adam Gray, right debate at the Modesto State Theatre in Modesto, Calif., on October 30. (Rachel Livinal, KVPR)

Freshman congressman John Duarte (R) faced off in a rematch with Adam Gray (D), who he narrowly defeated in the 2022 midterm election. As of Wednesday evening, Duarte held a nearly 3-point lead with a little more than 50% of the vote counted. Duarte has campaigned as a moderate Republican focusing on economic issues like inflation and touting his differences from national Republican policies on immigration and abortion, though he has voiced his support for the Dobbs decision that reversed Roe v. Wade.

Gray has consistently portrayed himself as a centrist who worked with members across the aisle during his time in the California assembly. Both candidates have close ties to the Central Valley’s agriculture economy—Duarte’s family owns one of the largest crop nurseries in the country, while Gray grew up working in his family’s farm supply store. The race is currently leaning towards Duarte. 

California 22

Rep. David Valadao (R) and Rudy Salas, Jr. (D). (Jacquelyn Martin, AP Photo; Rich Pedroncelli, AP Photo)

About 60% of votes have been tallied as of Wednesday evening, and Republican incumbent David Valadao, a former dairy farmer, is currently leading by a 10-point margin. California’s 22nd is a largely rural district in the Central Valley. Rudy Salas, his Democrat opponent, is looking to win a rematch he lost in 2022. Salas, whose parents immigrated from the Azores, once worked as an underage farmworker in the Central Valley as part of his father’s crew. He is a centrist that is seen to largely represent farmworkers in the valley.

Valadao won this district in 2022, after redistricting. He previously served in the 21st congressional district and was one of the few Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump in the wake of January 6. As a representative, his career has largely been shaped by water politics, where protecting water access to the valley’s massive farms and dairy operations often clashes with concerns of drinking water contamination by agricultural runoff. Valadao has been criticized for voting against the Inflation Reduction Act because it allowed the federal government to negotiate the price of insulin.

Colorado 8

Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo and state Rep. Gabe Evans (R). (Colorado Sun)

In a race that remains too close to call, freshman Democratic Rep. Yadira Caraveo has a lead of about 4,000 votes over Colorado state Rep. Gabe Evans (R).

Iowa 3

Republican Rep. Zach Nunn and Lanon Baccam (D). (Robin Opsahl, Iowa Capital Dispatch)

Rep. Zach Nunn, a first-term Republican incumbent, member of the House Agriculture Committee and Air Force Reserve member, defeated a formidable challenge from Democratic candidate Lanon Baccam, an Army veteran and former federal Agriculture Department official with deep roots in rural Iowa.

Nunn held off Baccam by a four-point margin in a congressional district that covers parts of the Des Moines metro area and parts of southern Iowa. Baccam ran on a platform of protecting public education, reproductive rights and fighting for expanding rural economic development. Nunn won on a message of strengthening the economy by reining in bureaucracy and strict immigration laws.

Maine 2

State Rep. Austin Theriault (R), left, debates U.S. Rep. Jared Golden (D), right, in October. The debate was hosted by News Center Maine. (Screenshot of News Center Maine feed)

As of Wednesday evening, with over 90% of the votes reported, Democrat Jared Golden has held on to a slim lead in his incumbent bid for the U.S. House in Maine, the country’s most rural state. Golden, a third-term representative and one of five Democrats that voted for Trump in 2020, is holding off a challenge by Trump-backed Republican Austin Theriault, a state representative and former NASCAR driver. More than $21 million in outside spending has been invested in the campaign, which has largely focused on guns, abortion and the high cost of living.

Nebraska 2

Rep. Don Bacon (R) and state Rep. Tony Vargas (D). (Courtesy photos, House of Representatives and Unicameral Information Office)

With over 95% of votes reporting, Republican incumbent Don Bacon, a retired Air Force commander, once again is narrowly edging out Democrat state Sen. Tony Vargas, a former science teacher and first-generation immigrant of Peruvian parents. This was a rematch from 2022, which Bacon won by just 6,000 votes, in Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district, a primarily urban and suburban district that includes Omaha and surrounding suburban and rural areas. Bacon has served on the House Agriculture Committee since he won this seat in 2016.

New York 19

Rep. Marc Molinaro (R) and Josh Riley (D). (AP Photo)

Democrat Josh Riley toppled House Republican Marc Molinaro, a House Agriculture Committee member, to win a crucial seat in upstate New York that covers parts of the Hudson Valley, New York’s Southern Tier and the Finger Lakes. The district is larger in landmass than the state of Massachusetts, but with nearly 800,000 people. Molinaro defeated Riley in 2022 by fewer than 2 points. He was seen as one of the most bipartisan members of Congress. Riley’s 2024 upset capitalized on Molinaro’s rightward leap this election cycle, railing him as a “career politician” without a vision for solving D.C. gridlock and a Trump sycophant with a dangerous anti-immigrant platform.

New Mexico 2

Republican Yvette Herrell and Democratic incumbent Rep. Gabe Vasquez. (Campaign photos)

Democratic incumbent Rep. Gabe Vasquez defeated Republican Yvette Herrel, who in 2022 Vazquez ousted from Congress in a district that is larger in landmass than the state of Pennsylvania. Vasquez, a first generation Mexican American, was born in El Paso, Texas, and raised in Cuidad Juárez, Mexico. He sits on the Agriculture Committee, representing a rural district that has a landmass larger than Pennsylvania.

Herrel ran a campaign largely focused on border security and crime. Albuquerque, one quarter of which is in the 2nd district, has a rate of violent crime that is almost double the national average.

Conceding defeat, Herrel posted on X:

“The results tonight weren’t what we hoped for, but I’m so grateful to the incredible people of #NM02 for their support over the years. With [Donald Trump] back in the White House, our country’s future is bright. Let’s come together and Make America Great Again!”

North Carolina 1

Rep. Don Davis (D) and Laurie Buckhout (R). (Campaign photos)

Democratic Rep. Don Davis, a first-term Democrat and Air Force veteran, has prevailed against former defense contractor Laurie Buckhout in largely rural congressional district in northeast North Carolina. Buckhout has voiced support for the January 6 insurrectionists and identifies herself as: “Mom. Wife. Combat Commander. Business leader. America First Conservative Fighter.” Davis has built an image as a bipartisan congressman, becoming one of the House Democrats most likely to vote against his party. He has the distinction of being the lone Democrat in Congress to co-sponsor a GOP bill to limit Medicare’s ability to negotiate drug prices.

Oregon 5

Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum and Republican Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. (Campaign photos)

Democratic state Rep. Janelle Bynum held on to a nearly 8,000 vote lead Wednesday evening against Republican incumbent Rep. Lori Chavez-DeRemer. Chavez-DeRemer, is outside her party’s mainstream, being one of only six Republican House members to sign a pledge to respect the results of the 2024 presidential election. Bynum, a member of the Oregon House who with her husband Mark owns several McDonald’s franchises in the Portland area, has twice gone up against Chavez-DeRemer in Oregon State House races, defeating her each time.

Washington 3

Trump-endorsed Republican Joe Kent, left, will face U.S. Democratic Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez in the race for Washington’s 3rd Congressional District seat. (AP Photo)

In Washington’s 3rd district, with 82% of the vote counted Wednesday evening, Marie Gluesenkamp Perez appears headed to a second term in the House, is leading the GOP’s Joe Kent, 52% to 48%. Gluesenkamp Perez defeated Kent in 2022, making national news by winning in a congressional district that Trump won by four points in 2020.

Joe Kent, an Army Special Forces veteran who worked for the CIA, claimed the Covid-19 vaccines are an “experimental gene therapy” and employed the consulting services of a Proud Boy member during his 2022 campaign. He was endorsed by Donald Trump.

At an election night celebration Gluesenkamp Perez spoke to her supporters. “It is possible to take a different path. Step away from the national talking points and the hyper-partisanship, and run a campaign based on respect for working people and the issues that directly impact us here at home,” she said. “Focusing on the issues at home is how we break the extremism and the gridlock and start to fix what is broken in our country.” She did not endorse Kamala Harris for president.

Wisconsin 3

Republican Derrick Van Orden and Democrat Rebecca Cooke. (Alex Brandon, AP Photo; Rebecca Cooke campaign photo)

In Wisconsin’s 3rd District, Derrick Van Orden, a Christian Nationalist, defeated Rebecca Cooke, 51% to 49%.

In a story published on December 9, 2022, the day the Barn Raiser website launched, Jim Goodman, a retired dairy farmer and board chair of the National Family Farm Coalition,  reported on his newly elected GOP congressman, Derrick Van Orden, a man he described as a “former Navy Seal, Trump-endorsed election denier and January 6 insurrection participant.” Goodman wrote:

He claimed to have a plan for Wisconsin farmers but never elaborated in any detail. My guess is his plan will be scripted by corporate interests. Outside money and endorsements by big agriculture groups always come with strings attached.

During his campaign Van Orden fueled the fires of the culture wars rather than addressing the needs of farmers. At a prayer breakfast in October, Van Orden said, “There are many God-fearing Christians who are Democrats. There’s not a single God-fearing Christian that is a leftist, because those two things are incompatible.”

When one claims to be a Christian as Van Orden does, it is hard to understand his hypocritical, un-Christian behavior, violent threats, homophobia, and particularly his bragging about the time in the military when he delighted in exposing a young lieutenant’s poison-oak-swollen genitals to “two cute girls” who were his fellow officers.

Barn Raiser turned to Jim Goodman, a retired dairy farmer and board chair of the National Family Farm Coalition, to explain how Orden won this time around.

“Incumbency has something to do with it. He was on the Ag Committee and being a rural district that was pretty important. He did send out a newsletter, so he had the illusion of keeping in touch with the farmers in the district. He didn’t talk about yelling at Senate page or the last insurrection he participated in. He tried to paint himself as a guy who was out there working for farmers, working on the farm bill and for more imports.”

Goodman was happy to see that Democratic Senator Tammy Baldwin beat back a challenge from Eric Hovde, winning with 49.4% of the vote to his 48.5%.

“She is good at being a moderate on farm issues,” he says. “She is all about Wisconsin having more markets for dairy products. And the fact of her being openly gay and winning farmers over is quite an accomplishment. And she talked quite a bit about the right to repair farm machinery.”

Goodman worries that Kip Tom, who is one of Indiana’s largest farmers and who served as Trump’s ambassador to the United Nations Agencies for Food and Agriculture, is on Trump’s short list for Secretary of Agriculture. “Again it is going to be ‘get big or get out,’ ” says Goodman. 

Ballot Measures and Referendums

In Missouri a measure to increase the state’s minimum wage to $15 an hour and guarantee paid sick leave minimum wage results from deep-red Missouri, won in rural counties and passed statewide by nearly 60%.

Almost 75% of Nebraskans voted in favor of requiring employers to provide earned paid sick leave.

In Washington state, voters beat down a measure that would have rolled back the state’s long-term care program, which applies a 0.58% tax on the paychecks of workers in the state to provide a lifetime benefit of $36,500 for nursing home care and long-term care.

Abortion

Americans in 10 states voted on whether to enshrine the right to abortion into their state constitutions. Five of those states had the opportunity to overturn statewide abortion bans that were passed after the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June 2022, which eliminated the federal right to an abortion. In other states like Colorado and New York, voters decided whether to boost abortion protections that already exist under state law, making them harder to roll back in the event conservatives take power.

In Arizona, a large majority of voters said “yes” to Proposition 139, a measure that enshrines the right to abortion until fetal viability, or about 24 weeks, in the state constitution. Abortion is currently banned in the state after 15 weeks.

In Colorado, more than 60% of voters went in favor of amending the state constitution to block the state government from denying, impeding or discriminating against individuals’ right to abortion. There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in the state. It needed 55% of the vote to pass.

In Florida, a majority of voters approved a measure to overturn the state’s six-week ban, however the measure failed because it did not gain the 60% of the vote needed to pass. It would have added the right to an abortion up until viability to the state’s constitution.

Maryland’s measure passed overwhelmingly. Initiated by legislators rather than citizens, it amends the state constitution to confirm individuals’ “right to reproductive freedom, including but not limited to the ability to make and effectuate decisions to prevent, continue, or end the individual’s pregnancy.” There is currently no gestational limit on the right to abortion in the state.

In Missouri, 51% of voters denied an amendment to overturn the state’s current, near-total abortion ban and establish a constitutional guarantee to the “fundamental right to reproductive freedom,” including abortion care until fetal viability.

In Montana, nearly 60% of voters approved an amendment to the state constitution to explicitly include “a right to make and carry out decisions about one’s own pregnancy, including the right to abortion” up until fetal viability, or after viability to protect a patient’s life or health.

Nebraska is the only state where voters faced competing ballot measures. The measure that garners the most votes would take effect.

A narrow margin of Nebraska voters rejected Initiative 439, which would have enshrined the right to abortion up until viability into the state constitution.

A slightly larger margin of voters approved Nebraska Initiative 434, which keeps intact the state’s current 12-week ban.

Nevada voters overwhelmingly agreed to amend the state constitution to protect the right to abortionup until viability, or after viability in cases where a patient’s health or life may be threatened.

In New York, abortion is currently protected until fetal viability. A majority of voters approved Proposal 1, which, while it does not explicitly reference abortion, encompasses abortion protections by broadening the state’s anti-discrimination laws by adding, among other things, protections against discrimination on the basis of “sex, including sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, pregnancy, pregnancy outcomes, and reproductive health.” It does not explicitly reference abortion, but advocates say its pregnancy-related language encompasses abortion protections.

South Dakota voters rejected a constitutional amendment that would protect the right to an abortion only in the first trimester of pregnancy.

Ranked Choice Voting

Voters in four states—Colorado, Idaho, Nevada and Oregon—rejected measures to allow ranked-choice voting (RCV) in their state. Two states—Maine and Alaska—have already adopted this nonpartisan measure for fairer results and voted for president this fall with RCV.

The post Rural America in the 2024 Election: Key Races and Ballot Measures appeared first on Barn Raiser.