AGRICULTURE/ECONOMY/ELECTION/TARIFFS/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Sitting atop his combine harvester on a clear fall day, Garrett Hawkins can add up just how much President Donald Trump’s tariffs are hitting his bottom line, from the lower price he’ll get for his soybean crop to the steeper prices he’ll pay for metal grain bins and other equipment. But like many of his fellow farmers in southern Illinois’ sprawling 12th Congressional District, Hawkins, 37, is still planning to vote Republican on Election Day. Democrats pinpointed the district this year as one of their most likely opportunities to pick up a House seat, betting, in part, that farmers would abandon the GOP as Trump’s global trade war hits the Midwest. The district went for Obama in 2012, though Trump carried it by 15 points in 2016. But the race is turning into a showcase for how that economic argument alone may not be enough to prevail among voters, even in swing districts. After running neck-and-neck with his Democratic challenger for months, incumbent Mike Bost began to pull ahead after the divisive September Senate hearings to confirm Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court.”
–Megan Cassella, “Farmers are losing money thanks to Trump — but they still support him,” Politico, Novemer 1, 2018 1:20 pm