Farm Groups Not Backing Huelskamp

The Republican congressman from the sprawling 1st Congressional District of western and central Kansas has lost the support of the state’s two major farm groups in the GOP primary.

Kansas Farm Bureau and the Kansas Livestock Association refused Friday to endorse Tim Huelskamp for re-election.

Both groups endorsed GOP incumbents in other U.S. House and Senate primaries. But they made no endorsements in the 1st District, where Huelskamp is challenged by Alan LaPolice.

Farm Bureau President Steve Baccus says the endorsements represent the feelings of county Farm Bureaus.

Baccus criticized Huelskamp’s votes against the Farm Bill and his opposition to repairs to locks and dams on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers needed to transport agricultural goods. He also cited Huelskamp’s refusal to vote for the appropriations bill for a new bio-security lab in Manhattan.