President Donald Trump landed in Grand Island, Nebraska, on Monday to rally for Sen. Pete Ricketts. The Republican he came to help is openly urging the White House to change course on beef imports.
“The plan to import low-quality foreign beef is not helping Nebraska ranchers,” Ricketts said. “I would advise the White House to change that policy and look for longer-term things that will help us build the size of the herd and ultimately bring the price of beef down for consumers.”
It’s an awkward backdrop for a rally scheduled for 6 p.m. EDT at the Nebraska State Fairgrounds, where Trump will appear alongside Gov. Jim Pillen. The stop is part of what Trump has called a 32-day blitz of rallies ahead of the Nov. 3 midterms. His weeklong itinerary covered Texas, Oklahoma, Alabama, Ohio and Nebraska, with a second Texas stop in San Antonio on Wednesday. CNN reported that Trump won all those states by double digits.
The Beef Problem
In August, Trump decided to allow up to 300,000 metric tons of ground beef into the country at lower tariffs, saying the goal was cheaper beef at the grocery store. Nebraska cattle growers pushed back, arguing the imports would undercut them. The policy stirred controversy in Iowa, Kansas and Texas, too. Along with Nebraska, those are the top four beef-producing states, and each has a competitive Senate race in a state Trump has won three times.
Locally, people are watching to see whether Trump addresses the policy at the rally. Voters keep raising costs, meanwhile. “There’s no doubt that high fuel prices put a strain on the budgets for every Nebraska family,” Ricketts told CNN. “That’s one of the things I hear when I travel the state.” Persistently high fuel and grocery prices are hitting rural voters who’ve backed Republicans in recent elections.
The Race
Ricketts is seeking his first full six-year term against independent Dan Osborn. A former governor, Ricketts served from 2015 to 2023. He took the seat after Sen. Ben Sasse left to run the University of Florida in 2023, and voters later elected him. His family founded TD Ameritrade and owns the Chicago Cubs. Osborn, a former labor union chief, lost to Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024 by fewer than 7 percentage points. This year, he has no Democratic opponent because the party stood down in hopes of beating Ricketts. Nebraska Democrats had picked Cindy Burbank, who campaigned on not siphoning votes from Osborn and later formally dropped out. The national party backs Osborn, though he’s declined to say which party he’d caucus with. He says he’s held meetings in all 93 counties and has criticized Ricketts for skipping town halls.
Osborn told CNN the difference from 2024 is “the war in Iran and costs that are skyrocketing.” Nebraska Democratic Party chairwoman Jane Kleeb said, “This harvest season, with diesel nearly doubled, export markets drying up, rural hospitals struggling, and senseless tariffs still hitting our pockets, Trump would be better served doing his actual job instead of breaking every promise he made to Nebraskans.”
Grand Island is safe ground for Trump. The city of 53,000 sits in the 3rd Congressional District, which he won with 76% in 2024, and he took Hall County by 37 points. Trump isn’t visiting the two competitive districts, including the Omaha-based 2nd, known as the “blue dot.” Republican Rep. Adrian Smith’s race isn’t expected to be close.
The Money and the Mood
The national picture is harder for Republicans. Recent polling averages show Democrats ahead in nine key Senate battlegrounds, and forecasts give them a good chance at the House and possibly the Senate. Republicans hold a significant financial edge in nearly every battleground state, though Democrats worry they’ll be outspent on TV.
The administration’s own spending has drawn scrutiny. CNN reported more than a dozen government-funded ads promoting Trump’s accomplishments over a 10-day stretch, including during NFL games on Sept. 27. The Department of Homeland Security paid for them with $20 million. One matched an ad from Trump’s 2024 campaign and warned of a “final battle” against “the deep state.” The administration called them public service announcements. “That’s an ad for the spirit of our country,” Trump said.
Then there are the checks. The administration began sending $500 Affordable Care Act rebates to nearly 1 million Americans in 30 states, whom Trump said were overcharged under the Biden administration. On Oct. 2, he announced payments of roughly $90 to $100 to about 20 million seniors, drawn from the $2 billion Medicare Improvement Fund Congress created in 2008. At the Republican Party’s first midterm convention, he promised $5,000 to every adult citizen if Republicans keep both chambers.
Trump’s economic pitch doesn’t match what voters describe. “With the hottest country anywhere in the world, it’s the golden age of America,” he told one crowd. In Ohio, he warned a Democratic win means “a 1929-style Great Depression.”
Election Rules
Trump’s election push has hit walls. Voting-rights groups sued, and a court blocked key parts of his executive order on proof of citizenship. The Supreme Court stopped the Postal Service from implementing new mail-ballot rules for this election. Congress didn’t pass his voter ID bill. David Becker of the Center for Election Innovation & Research called the record “remarkable” for its failures, saying, “When the president has actually tried to enact policy, he’s been blocked every time.”
The White House and most Republicans say the moves, including efforts to remove noncitizens from voter rolls, are about security. Homeland Security Investigations official Matthew Millhollin said 160 people had been arrested as of mid-September. Voting advocates called that a small fraction. In a Time interview, Trump wouldn’t rule out a national emergency or the Insurrection Act, saying, “I don’t rule anything out or in.” Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Dan Caine wrote that the military has no plans to send troops to polling places.
Crime Pitch
The Grand Island stop also spotlights the 2025 arrest of Gerson Emir Cuadra Soto, 33, known as “Fantasma,” captured near Omaha on immigration charges. Authorities allege he led an MS-13 assassination squad, and Honduras wants him on four homicide charges tied to a July 2022 ambush near a Tegucigalpa nightclub. White House spokeswoman Lauren Bis said the arrest shows “the criminals President Trump has removed from Nebraska’s communities.”
Why This Matters:
The Nebraska stop shows how tough pocketbook politics have become for a party defending the Senate. A sitting Republican senator is publicly urging the White House to reverse a trade decision ranchers say hurts them, while the administration directs government money toward ads and direct payments weeks before an election. Those moves raise hard questions about fiscal discipline: diverting Medicare Improvement Fund dollars and spending $20 million in DHS money on promotional ads set a precedent future administrations of either party could follow. For rural families, diesel, groceries and beef prices are the daily test. Market-based fixes like rebuilding the cattle herd take years. Courts and Congress have so far checked the administration’s election moves, which, from this perspective, is how the system is meant to work.