Farmers Squeezed as GOP Defends Kansas Senate Seat

Diesel averaged $6.30 per gallon nationwide on Friday, more than 70% above a year earlier. Kansas farmers entered harvest season with shrinking profits and rising production costs, while President Donald Trump was scheduled to headline a rally near Wichita on Monday. Republicans sought to protect the Senate seat held by Republican Sen. Roger Marshall from a challenge by Democrat Adam Hamilton.

Fifth-generation Kansas farmer Glenn Brunkow called harvest “go time.” Farmers combine fields, haul crops to town and move livestock from summer pastures to winter homes. Diesel prices stood more than $2.50 per gallon above a year earlier, he said, adding to pressure from rising costs, unpredictable markets and shrinking profits.

“The margins are tight, and anything that cuts into that margin really hurts,” said Brunkow, president of the Kansas Farm Bureau, which endorsed Marshall. “This is a time of year when we use a lot of fuel, and there just isn't much we can do.”

Who Pays for Rising Costs

The U.S. Department of Agriculture projected net farm income would decline 2.6% this year as production expenses rose 4.5%. Fuel and oil expenses alone were expected to jump nearly 30%, according to the agency’s September forecast. Farmers faced higher costs for diesel, fertilizer and seed amid refinery constraints and supply disruptions tied to the Iran war.

Don Hineman, a western Kansas rancher and former Republican state House majority leader, said farmers understood Trump’s tariffs had hurt their businesses. David McIntosh, president of the Club for Growth, said farmers were “squeezed between higher input prices and less of an international market because of retaliatory tariffs.” His group had monitored heavily agricultural states since summer and was spending millions of dollars for GOP candidates in Kansas, Nebraska and elsewhere.

Hineman also said frustration with the Republican Party was growing among GOP voters, including people who had supported Trump in multiple elections. He cited the ongoing war with Iran and recent immigration raids in western Kansas that detained more than 100 people. “We need a secure border — we can all agree on that,” he said. “But we also need workable immigration policy that provides the workforce that the United States has always depended on and will always continue to need.”

Aid, Campaign Spending and the State

Earlier this month, Trump signed an executive order easing limits on tax-free use of red-dyed diesel, which he said would save “millions” for farmers. The order followed a $12 billion aid package for farmers that the Trump administration announced in December. Brunkow said many farmers “thought it would be better” under Trump, though he thought most would still consider Trump the better choice in the 2024 election.

“He's made some unforced errors,” Brunkow said. “Miscalculations, bad advice, that had unintended consequences.” The USDA forecast declining net farm income and rising production expenses alongside those federal measures.

Republicans spent money on Senate races in Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa amid concerns about voter enthusiasm. In Nebraska, Senate Republicans had poured nearly $15 million into the contest between GOP Sen. Pete Ricketts and independent candidate Dan Osborn. Trump had won Kansas by 16 percentage points against Democrat Kamala Harris in 2024, and Democrats had not won a Kansas Senate election in 94 years.

Voters and the Senate Contest

Debbie Geneva, 61, of Nortonville, Kansas, said Hamilton impressed her when he visited a local market to meet people, something she said she hadn't seen Marshall do. She had never voted for a Democrat and remained undecided. “I've never voted for a Democrat in my entire life, so that's a little scary for me to be undecided,” Geneva said. She cited rising health care and everyday expenses, adding, “The Republicans haven't done the Midwest any favors with” trade agreements.

Former Sen. Jon Tester, a Montana Democrat who lost reelection in 2024, said Democrats would perform better than expected in agricultural states. “These guys got to pay bills at the end of the month, and for a number of months now it's been hard to do,” Tester said. A third-generation farmer, Tester said he began farming in 1978 and witnessed the farm crisis of the 1980s, when “a fair number of my neighbors left town.” He said, “The economics in family farm production agriculture right now are probably worse right now than they were in the 1980s.”

Trump was due to travel to Iowa on Thursday, where Republicans were defending competitive races for governor and Senate. Republicans had carried the state in three consecutive presidential elections, while the Kansas Senate contest drew attention to farmer costs and voter enthusiasm.