Tuesday on CNN’s “The Lead,” Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE) said President Donald Trump’s tariffs will hurt Republican candidates, especially in the Midwest where they are “not popular.”
Anchor Jake Tapper said, “So Congressman Bacon, let’s talk about beef, because both Republican and Democratic candidates for governor in South Dakota criticized President Trump at the state fair over the weekend, specifically over his decision to import more foreign beef to bring prices down. The Republican governor, Larry Rhoden, who has been endorsed by Trump, but he called the president, ‘wrongheaded and impulsive.’ These tariffs seem particularly hard on Republicans running in states that rely on the agriculture industry. How much is that going to hurt, do you think, when it comes to competitive races in, let’s say, Iowa?”
Bacon said, “I believe the farmers and ranchers are still going to go Republican, but you’re not going to see the same difference or the leads that they had in 2024 coming out of Nebraska and Iowa. Tariffs have hurt us. Tariffs are not popular in the Midwest. I’ve told the president that personally it is a tax on the consumer. Our farmers are paying more for pesticides, herbicides. They have to buy tractors. Even though it may be put together in United States, some of the subcomponents come from overseas. So everything is higher now.”
He added, “I’m the old-school Republican, the Republican that dates back to World War II that says tariffs are attacks on the American consumer. Global tariffs hurt our economy. And I would prefer to push back on all the tariffs. So for those targeted against individual countries that are being unfair toward us, global tariffs hurt us. And I think that this is going to be a factor in the Midwest.”
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