Four killed at silver rail elementary school

Elections (9)

• Hancock County shifted nearly 30 points toward Republicans in 2016, as Donald Trump’s campaign turned a reliably conservative area into deep MAGA territory; Iowa, which had voted for Barack Obama twice, moved steadily right during Trump’s campaigns.
• Caleb Renner, a 25-year-old fifth-generation farmer, grew up treating Republican voting as part of his identity and voted for Trump in 2020 without much independent research. He later described his politics as libertarian populist, with priorities including working-class prosperity and domestic manufacturing.
• Renner voted for Trump again in 2024, citing inflation under Joe Biden, the promise of affordable goods, and Trump’s perceived momentum. Once he began farming his own land, he watched whether Trump’s affordability agenda would improve his costs and income.
• Republican Iowa gubernatorial candidate Zach Lane emphasized rural communities, family farms, and taxpayer relief, while acknowledging he could not control foreign policy or global markets. Renner respected Lane’s farming knowledge but felt Lane’s declaration of Republican pride put party interests ahead of Iowans.
• Democratic gubernatorial candidate Rob Sand presented himself as a bipartisan alternative to what he called two private political clubs, arguing that divided power could support practical policymaking. His pitch focused on common ground, public education, and lowering costs rather than party loyalty.
• At Sand’s town hall, Renner asked what infrastructure and economic opportunities could help rural communities. Sand mentioned schools buying food, tax incentives, and federal policy, but Renner wanted concrete proposals; the broad answer did not stop him from viewing Sand as a credible option.
• Renner decided to vote for Sand, his first Democratic candidate, because Sand’s bipartisan approach could create checks and balances and force candidates to earn his support. Renner said the choice felt good because he was no longer voting automatically for one party.
• Renner later chose Democrat Josh Turrick for Iowa’s close U.S. Senate race while planning to support at least one Republican, a candidate for secretary of agriculture. His choices show a voter willing to split tickets rather than follow a party slate.
• Anna Foley frames the midterms as a test of whether disillusioned Trump voters in red states will vote Democratic or stay home. She says polls suggest more voters are becoming politically independent, but Democrats still need to persuade people who distrust both parties.

Trade (3)

• Trump’s tariffs announced on April 2, 2025, were meant to bring manufacturing home, Renner initially believed. China stopped buying American soybeans in retaliation, and Renner sold beans for about $9.20 a bushel, below the roughly $12 price he wanted; he took a loss.
• Renner is replacing some synthetic fertilizer with chicken litter to reduce reliance on overseas inputs. He also raises shrimp in converted above-ground pools and sells them for about $1 each, because income from his two crop fields alone would not support the farm.
• Renner says Trump’s tariffs and the Iran war contradicted promises to protect farmers and avoid foreign wars, leaving him frustrated and betrayed. His distrust now extends to both parties: he rates them around two or three out of ten and considered withholding his vote.

War (1)

• War with Iran and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz raised Renner’s farm costs through diesel and fertilizer. By late summer, diesel averaged more than $5.50, nearly 50 percent above its price when the war began, while fertilizer prices also climbed.

Media (1)

• President Trump canceled plans to livestream the execution of an Army officer convicted of a massacre at a U.S. military base in 2009. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had proposed broadcasting the firing-squad execution, drawing criticism from retired military leaders who called the idea gruesome and voyeuristic.