Kansas farmers split over Trump's tariffs and costs in tight Senate race

In Kansas, farm country is deeply divided over Republican Sen. Roger Marshall. He faces Democrat Adam Hamilton in a race that has become unexpectedly close five days before the election ¹. Hamilton is a pastor who is trying to become the first Democrat to represent Kansas in the Senate since the 1930s ¹.

One family's numbers

The Preisser family of Sylvia, Kansas, gave CBS News a sheet of paper listing their costs. It cost them $737,375 more to run their farm in 2026 than in 2025 ¹. That includes $514,625 more for fertilizer, $187,000 more for diesel and $10,000 more for parts, which the family links to steel tariffs ¹.

On tapeBloomberg Television · Oct 29

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Drought cut their yields by 20%, and low crop prices and trade wars have shrunk farm exports. The family says its revenue is $325,000 lower than in 2025 ¹. Larry Preisser, who started the farm, said he had to sell land that had been in the family for 140 years ¹.

Larry Preisser plans to vote for Hamilton, his first vote for a Democrat. He says he was promised Marshall would fight to pass the Farm Bill, a large law that supports crop insurance, prices and rural development ¹. Congress has not passed a new one since 2018, and the last one officially expired last month ¹.

From Channel GOPTrump insults NBC reporter over abuse allegations questionDonald Trump · 163 plays · captioned, with the source named

Here's some money to make you feel better. But we're not really going to fix the issue of crop prices and fertilizer prices

Other farmers stay with Marshall

Not every farmer is leaving. Soybean farmer Mick Roush says his own farm may not last much longer, but he is sticking with Marshall because he thinks Hamilton is too liberal ¹. Many others back Marshall because he is from farm country, and some fear farmers would fare worse under a Democratic Congress ¹.

Many of those farmers feel the strain of the Iran war but see it as temporary. Some say it is justified to keep Iran from building a nuclear weapon ¹. The Kansas Farm Bureau has endorsed Marshall, while the Kansas Livestock Association has not ².

Marshall has defended the farm bill. A five-year version passed a Senate committee last month, and he said it would give Kansas farmers certainty to plant wheat this fall ². Hamilton has said he would have voted to advance it ².

That five years of certainty is going to allow that Kansas farmer to plant a wheat crop this fall.

The relief offer and what is next

At a midterm rally last week, President Trump announced an $8 billion program of temporary fuel relief for farmers ¹. The Preissers called it a "Band-Aid." Jeff Preisser said real help on crop and fertilizer prices probably will not come until January or February ¹.

That matters because the stress is not limited to Kansas. Farm bankruptcies rose 46% nationally in 2025, according to the National Farm Bureau, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects record farm debt of $624.7 billion in 2026 ¹. Kansas has close to twice as many registered Republicans as Democrats, and Trump won the state by double digits all three times he ran ².

The race will show whether farm-state anger over costs turns into votes or into staying home. The election is Tuesday, Nov. 3.

The Record

1. Oct 20, 2026KCUR reports Marshall's Trump ties may hurt him with Kansas farmers; the race is called a toss-up ².
2. Oct 29, 2026CBS News reports a Kansas farm family's costs rose $737,375 in 2026, and the father plans to vote for Hamilton ¹.

Sources

1. CBS News, “In tight Kansas Senate race, struggling farmers are split” (2026-10-29). cbsnews.com/news/kansas-senate-race-farmers-split-marshall-h
2. KCUR/HPPR, “U.S. Sen. Roger Marshall's close ties to Trump may hurt his chances with Kansas farmers” (2026-10-20). hppr.org/hppr-news/2026-10-20/u-s-sen-roger-marshalls-close-

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