GRAND ISLAND, Nebraska (AP) — President Donald Trump on Monday took his Republican midterm rescue mission to Nebraska, where he signed an executive order to ease limits on the tax-free use of red-dyed diesel, a decision he said would save “millions” for farmers and drive down the cost of all goods with just four weeks to go until the elections.
“Pete and Jim, this should absolutely ensure your election, I guarantee you that,” Trump said, addressing
GOP Gov. Pete Ricketts, who is running against an independent candidate backed by national Democrats, and Gov. Jim Pillen, who is seeking a second term.
Diesel fuel prices have spiked in the aftermath of the Iran war, rattling voters and putting pressure on Republicans. Diesel fuel that is intended for off-road uses such as agriculture is exempt from federal and state excise taxes, and it is dyed for law enforcement purposes, the White House explained in a fact sheet. Temporarily removing the limits would reduce cost pressures on the businesses that rely on diesel.
“The typical trucker will save more than $100 every time they fill up,” Trump said, signing the executive order onstage before a crowd in Grand Island, Nebraska, located in the solidly conservative south-central part of the state. “Farmers will also save millions and millions of dollars, and this order will also drive down the cost of all goods and to go to grocery prices very substantially.”
Trump's trip is part of what the Republican president says is a 32-day blitz of rallies ahead of Nov. 3 that so far has taken him to ruby-red territory such as Oklahoma and Alabama.
On Wednesday, he'll make his second stop in two weeks in Texas with a rally in San Antonio.
Ricketts, a former governor of the state, was appointed then later elected to fill Sen. Ben Sasse’s seat when he left to run the University of Florida in 2023. Now Ricketts is running for his first full six-year term against independent Dan Osborn — a race that initially was not expected to be competitive but is now being watched by the national parties.
Voters across the country are frustrated with Trump's handling of the economy, including persistently high costs for fuel and groceries. It's a major issue for rural voters who have backed the president and his party in recent elections.
The administration’s plan to allow more imports of foreign beef has particularly roiled the agriculture-rich state of Nebraska. Trump wants to lower beef prices for consumers, but ranchers have rebelled against the import proposal, arguing it would undercut them.
“The plan to import low-quality foreign beef is not helping Nebraska ranchers,” Ricketts told the AP. “I would advise the White House to change that policy and look for longer-term things that will help us build the size of the herd and ultimately bring the price of beef down for consumers.”
In Grand Island, rally-goers said they they trusted Trump to solve the high cost of living.
“I feel like if we get our reserves built back up, get this situation in Iran taken care of, our gas prices will go down. The economy as far as groceries and stuff like that, it's going to go down too. It’ll stabilize. I have faith in him. More faith in him than I ever had in any other president," said Marlene Abel from Garfield, Kansas, who traveled to the rally with her sister.
David Kuncl, who grew up on a farm, also urged patience, expressing confidence things would improve in the long run. But the Lincoln, Nebraska, resident insisted Trump wasn't to blame, pointing instead to what he believes is “a coup, a plot to try to hurt Trump" and the Republicans in the midterms.
“It’s hurting us. Gas prices. Diesel prices. Beef prices," he said. “I don’t know why they’re high. But it’s not that Trump’s got anything to do with that. He’ll do what he can. But of course he can’t wave a magic wand and make it go lower.”
There are tentative plans for Trump to travel to other election battlegrounds, including Michigan, North Carolina, Georgia, Ohio, Kansas, Montana, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Nevada and Arizona before November's Election Day. That's according to a person familiar with the plans who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly and cautioned the plans could shift.
In the House of Representatives, the Grand Island area is represented by Republican Rep. Adrian Smith, whose race is not expected to be close. But Nebraska has a competitive House race farther east in Omaha, considered the “blue dot” of the state because the area’s electoral vote in presidential elections often goes to Democrats.
Osborn, a former labor union chief, ran against Republican Sen. Deb Fischer in 2024 and lost by 7 percentage points. Though national Democrats support him, he has refused to say what party he would caucus with should he be elected in November.
Other independents in the Senate, including Maine’s Angus King on the moderate end and Vermont’s Bernie Sanders on the left, caucus with Democrats for organizational purposes and committee assignments.
With the Democratic brand remaining deeply unpopular in conservative states, Osborn isn’t the only declared independent running for the Senate against Republicans this year. In South Dakota, Navy and Air Force veteran Brian Bengs is campaigning as an independent against Republican Sen. Mike Rounds. Bengs ran as a Democrat for the Senate four years ago and was handily defeated by now-Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
It’s a similar dynamic in Idaho, where independent Todd Achilles is challenging GOP Sen. Jim Risch.
Democratic voters in Nebraska chose Cindy Burbank as their party nominee earlier this year, but Burbank specifically campaigned on ensuring that no votes would be siphoned from Osborn in the general election in November, and she has since formally dropped out of the race.
Osborn has been traveling across Nebraska to hold meetings in all 93 counties, and has repeatedly criticized Ricketts for not holding town halls to meet with constituents.
Ricketts, whose family founded TD Ameritrade and owns Major League Baseball’s Chicago Cubs, served as governor from 2015 to 2023.
As Trump traveled to Nebraska, Vice President JD Vance headed to Fairbanks — with his wife and their two youngest kids in tow — to rally with Republican candidates there, including Sen. Dan Sullivan, who is locked in a contest with Democrat Mary Peltola that's one of a handful expected to determine control of the chamber in the November elections.
The two-term senator was in the Oval Office last week as Trump announced that South Korea planned to invest about $54 billion in a natural gas project in Alaska, but South Korean officials were more cautious, saying they needed to assess the project’s commercial viability before committing to the investment.
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Kim reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Jill Colvin in New York and Meg Kinnard and Michelle L. Price in Washington contributed to this report.
