Hyde-Smith Loses Senate Ag Gavel as SNAP Cuts of 6.3 Million Loom

Republican Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, chair of the Senate Agriculture subcommittee on commodities and risk management, lost her Mississippi seat to Democrat Scott Colom by a single point — 49.2% to 48.2%, according to the Associated Press late Wednesday.

Hyde-Smith had served in the Senate since 2018. She also chaired the Appropriations subcommittee on transportation and sat on the Energy Committee. Her defeat removes a Republican from two chairmansolds that touch farm-state spending and biofuels policy.

Colom becomes the first Black U.S. senator from Mississippi since Reconstruction. He gives Democrats 55 seats next year — the party's biggest midterm advantage since 1986. Republicans hold 44 seats, with Alaska's race still uncalled.

What does this change for farm committees?

Two House Ag members remain in midterm limbo. Rep. Scott DesJarlais, R-Tenn., first elected in 2010 and a Freedom Caucus member, sits at 48.7% against 48.9% for Democrat Victoria Broderick, a customer support specialist. President Donald Trump carried that south-central Tennessee district by more than 20 points two years ago.

Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Minn., chair of the nutrition and foreign agriculture subcommittee, trails narrowly: 49.9% to 50% for Jake Johnson, a teacher. Finstad sits on caucuses for biofuels, 4-H, rural health and modern ag. Democrats are set to hold 255 House seats versus 168 for Republicans, with 12 races uncalled.

The Democratic wave swelled the House Blue Dog Coalition from 10 to 24 members.

"Last week we went from a 10-member coalition to a 24-seat coalition," Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Wash., a co-chair of the fiscally focused group, told Agri-Pulse.

"It's an affirmation that finding and supporting candidates who are just good people, normal people, who know what it takes to run a household, to run a business, not because of what their grandparents did, but because they've done it — that really matters," she said.

Rep. Kristen McDonald Rivet, D-Mich., is the newest member. The Blue Dog PAC, led by Rep. Adam Gray, D-Calif., will keep Gray as chair for the 120th Congress after raising a record $3 million and helping elect 14 new Blue Dogs.

USDA proposal would cut 6.3 million from SNAP

The USDA's Food and Nutrition Administration proposed eliminating broad-based categorical eligibility, or BBCE — a rule that would strip SNAP benefits from 6.3 million people, roughly 17% of households currently enrolled.

"BBCE is a longstanding, congressionally authorized SNAP policy that allows states to extend eligibility for SNAP to people who receive a Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) noncash or a state Maintenance of Effort funded benefit," the Food Research & Action Center said, adding the proposal would reduce access to school meals.

Ty Jones Cox of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said the rule "would terminate SNAP for households with gross incomes even slightly above 130 percent of the poverty line [about $35,500 per year for a family of three], and it would make it harder and more expensive for states to administer SNAP."

CBPP cited USDA data showing SNAP participation down to 36.1 million people — the lowest in 17 years. Since enactment of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, participation has fallen by 5.5 million people, or 13%.

Farmers take transmission-line survey fight to Supreme Court

Maryland farmers are among landowners petitioning the Supreme Court over a proposed 67-mile transmission line serving electricity demand driven partly by data center growth. The petition challenges a 4th Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that let PSEG Renewable Transmission survey properties using eminent domain powers.

"The Fourth Circuit's ruling has wrongly authorized a physical invasion of Marylanders' homes and businesses," said Aaron Newell, an attorney at Pacific Legal Foundation representing the landowners.

"Along the route, petitioners own multigenerational farms and land under conservation easements, and several run businesses there," the petition states.

GLP-1 users keep meat on the menu

A report from the Meat Foundation and 210Analytics found 34% of GLP-1 users report eating more meat and poultry than a year ago, and 51% say they're more focused on protein than five years ago.

"GLP-1s are changing the way people eat, but meat and poultry stay on the menu," 210 Analytics President Anne-Marie Roerink said. "Even after adjusting for age and income, beef, ground beef and pork remain above parity in GLP-1 households."

The structural story for row-crop growers: domestic soybean crush has overtaken exports as the largest outlet for U.S. soybeans, McKinsey & Co. reports. Since the 2021/22 marketing year, crush volumes rose roughly 26% while exports fell 21% — a shift the EPA's Set 2 rule under the Renewable Fuel Standard is expected to deepen.