Republicans elect farm-state Sen. Thune for majority leader
Republican John Thune of South Dakota prevailed over two rivals in closed-door voting on Wednesday and will become Senate majority leader in January. A supporter of biofuels, Thune, No. 2 in GOP leadership since 2019, will be the first majority leader from a farm state since Democrat Tom Daschle, also from South Dakota, in 2002.
Ernst’s soy slip stirs Senate race in Iowa
If all politics is local, the Senate race in Iowa was roiled by a profoundly local question last week: What's the break-even price for corn and soybeans? Sen. Joni Ernst, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, missed by a mile on soybeans and the reverberations continue. The Iowa Farm Bureau said on Sunday that Ernst "continues to have our full support" after a fake email suggested otherwise.
Trump acolyte presses ahead in Mississippi Senate race
Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, a member of President Trump’s agriculture advisory committee in 2016, is following the president’s no-apology campaign style in the Senate runoff election against former U.S. agriculture secretary Mike Espy, a Democrat. Hyde-Smith is the front-runner in strongly Republican Mississippi.
Messer joins crowded GOP field to take on Indiana Sen. Donnelly
Indiana Sen. Joe Donnelly, a member of the Senate Agriculture Committee, is considered one of the most vulnerable Democrats running for reelection in 2018, and Republicans are lining up to take him on. Rep. Luke Messer, who currently represents Vice President Mike Pence’s former district, is the latest to announce his candidacy.
A narrow winner in 2012, Heitkamp ponders her political future
North Dakota Sen. Heidi Heitkamp, who won election in 2012 by 2,936 votes, “is staring down an exceedingly difficult reelection campaign in a state where President Donald Trump is beloved,” says Politico in a story headlined, “North Dakota’s last Democrat?”