WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Democratic National Committee has enlisted a trio of South Dakota ag producers for a new mini-documentary aimed at chipping away President Donald Trump’s deep support in ranch and farm country.
Released Tuesday morning, the nearly eight minute video features multi-generational producers Charlie Johnson, Shane Merrill and Frank Kloucek, who describe the mounting pressures they say they’ve faced under Trump’s tariff policies and his push to rewrite U.S. trade agreements with major international partners. National party officials and South Dakota Democrats hope the message resonates in heavily Republican agriculture states where the president maintains strong favorability.
The release comes amid fresh tension between Trump and cattle producers. In October, record-high beef prices and shrinking domestic supply collided with the administration’s move to expand beef imports from Argentina — a decision that has stirred frustration among ranchers across the Midwest and Plains, including in South Dakota.
Merrill, chairman of the South Dakota Democratic Party and a farmer from Parker, said the import shift has rattled producers.
“Importing Argentine beef really has some cattle producers shook. And I dont blame them at all because it really makes us question what’s going on up there that that would be of priority right now.” Merrill said.
Kloucek, a longtime lawmaker from Scotland, and Johnson, who farms near Madison and is a former legislative candidate, round out the group featured in the documentary.
The DNC project also marks a more aggressive campaign posture in places the national party has largely overlooked in recent cycles. DNC Deputy Communications Director Abhi Rahman told The Dakota Scout ahead of the launch that the new documentaries will anchor a digital media blitz across the upper Midwest — particularly in states where tariff impacts have been most severe.
He said South Dakota will see the most concentrated effort, though he declined to disclose spending totals or how much of the campaign budget is being directed specifically at state markets.
“It’s is a new DNC,” Rahman said, acknowledging the minimal attention the committee has given South Dakota in recent years. The party argues that Trump’s trade strategy has “wrecked the U.S. economy, tipped the agricultural sector into recession, and put family farms on the brink of bankruptcy.”
DNC Deputy Executive Director Libby Schneider said the White House has “abandoned and betrayed” America’s farmers.
“Including people like Charlie, Shane, and Frank who are living the consequences of his reckless trade war. Farmers across the country are being pushed to the brink — struggling to sell their crops because Trump’s reckless trade war has locked them out of markets that may never come back,” she said. “And while American farmers and consumers pay the price, Trump is funneling billions of dollars to bail out Argentina and helping other countries undercut our farmers and ranchers — a slap in the face to the people who feed this country and fuel our rural economy.”
