From ABC News · ABC News · · 2m
Beef becomes a midterm battleground
Democrats and Republicans are fighting over meat prices and who supports farmers, turning cattle into a campaign issue.
In brief
Democrats and Republicans are fighting over meat prices and who supports farmers, turning cattle into a campaign issue. In the midterm elections, meat has become a political battleground, with Republicans attacking Democrats as anti-meat while Democrats hammer Republicans over high beef prices. Originally reported by…
Meat becomes a midterm issue
In the midterm elections, meat is on the menu. Democrats and Republicans are arguing over high prices and the Iran war, but also having a food fight over who is the most red-blooded carnivore.
Mississippi Democrat attacks Republican on beef
Democratic Senate candidate Scott Colom released a video with Republican Sen.Cindy Hyde-Smith saying consumers upset over high beef prices have many proteins to choose from.
“Pick another protein? I'd rather pick another senator instead.”
Republicans brand Democrats as anti-meat
Elsewhere, Republicans have branded Democrats as vegans or otherwise opposed to meat, trying to show they are culturally out of step with voters, hostile to local cattle industries or just not manly enough.
Texas Republican attacks Talarico's veganism
In Texas, Republicans seized on an old interview in which Democratic Senate nominee James Talarico boasted his campaign for the Texas statehouse was going vegan. Talarico has since been publicly eating barbecue to rebut allegations.
Colorado Republican targets Rutinel's activism
In Colorado, Republicans have gone after Democratic congressional candidate Manny Rutinel for activism against meat production.In college he was photographed with a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals banner.
Rutinel says voters care about their own plates
Rutinel, thirty-one, is running against Republican Rep.Gabe Evans in Colorado's eighth district, which includes ranches, dairy farms and JBS Swift headquarters.Rutinel has made a point of publicly eating steak tacos on the campaign trail.
“I don't think Coloradans care about what's on my plate, I think they care more about what's on theirs.”
Ground beef prices have surged under Trump
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average pound of ground beef cost six dollars seventy-nine last month, up from five dollars fifty-five in January of twenty twenty-five, when Trump returned to office.
Republicans blame Democrats for inflation
A spokesman for Hyde-Smith's campaign argued that Democrats deserve blame for high prices. Nathan Calvert said Scott Colom supports Biden-era policies that drove up inflation, creating a potential weakness in Republican-leaning states where Democrats hope…
“It is Scott Colom who supports Biden-era policies that drove up inflation.”
The headline
In the midterm elections, meat has become a political battleground, with Republicans attacking Democrats as anti-meat while Democrats hammer Republicans over high beef prices.
