MEXICO, Mo., Nov. 4, 2026 — Rural voters sent a clear message on Tuesday: they will back candidates of either party who stand with independent farmers against the corporations that control America’s food system. Candidates endorsed by Farm Action Fund’s Rural Independence Initiative won seven of nine races, including the Iowa Senate seat and Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Districts, several of them on the other party’s turf.
“Rural America didn’t vote red or blue last night. It voted in support of independent farmers,” said Farm Action Fund President and fourth-generation farmer Joe Maxwell. “From Iowa to Florida, voters rewarded candidates who stood up to the meatpackers, the pesticide giants and the corporate lobbyists writing farm policy in Washington.”
In Iowa, Josh Turek defeated Rep. Ashley Hinson to win the state’s open U.S. Senate seat. Hinson wrote the Save Our Bacon Act, which would override state livestock standards such as California’s Proposition 12 and wipe out a market that independent hog farmers have already borrowed money to reach. Turek ran on the right to repair, country-of-origin labeling for beef and breaking up the monopolies squeezing Iowa’s family farms.
“Iowa voters sent a message rejecting the Save Our Bacon Act for Iowa farmers who played by the rules and invested to meet them,” Maxwell said. “Josh Turek will be a senator who fights to break up the ag monopolies who’ve sucked the wealth out of Iowa and not for the China-owned corporations seeking further consolidation that squeezes Iowa farmers.”
In Iowa’s 1st District, Christina Bohannan defeated Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, an original cosponsor of the Save Our Bacon Act. Bohannan, the granddaughter of family farmers who lived through the 1980s farm crisis, campaigned on corporate consolidation in seed, fertilizer and meatpacking, and on Iowa’s water quality.
“Christina Bohannan knows what consolidation did to Iowa’s farm families because her own family lived through it,” Maxwell said. “Southeast Iowa just sent a fighter for independent farmers to Congress.”
In Iowa’s 3rd District, Sarah Trone Garriott defeated Rep. Zach Nunn, a cosponsor of the Save Our Bacon Act, in one of the most competitive House races in the country. Trone Garriott, who began her career as a rural minister, ran on the farm economy, rural health care and water quality.
“Sarah Trone Garriott has spent her life serving rural communities, and now she’ll do it in Congress,” Maxwell said. “Central Iowa voters chose someone who will put working Iowans ahead of corporate interests.”
“We endorsed Republicans and Democrats for the same reason: they stand with independent farmers,” Maxwell said. “Voters in both parties rewarded that tonight, and we look forward to seeing these lawmakers keep up that fight in the next Congress.”
Farm Action Fund news release
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