Farmer Hallie Shoffner runs long-shot Senate bid against Arkansas Republican Tom Cotton
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The gist
Sixth-generation Arkansas farmer Hallie Shoffner closed her family farm and is now the Democratic Senate nominee.
Her race tests whether farm costs can move voters in a heavily Republican state.
Background
Hallie Shoffner is a sixth-generation farmer from Newport, Arkansas, and CEO of Delta Harvest who returned home to take over her family's farm after her father was diagnosed with dementia. Rising input costs and a lack of government support forced the farm, in the family since 1892, to close after 150 years. She launched her Senate bid in July 2025, writing about agricultural policy and farm closures on Substack before being invited to a Little Rock town hall on the farm crisis. The race is her first political campaign; she is trying to become the first Democrat to represent Arkansas in the Senate since Mark Pryor lost to Cotton in 2014.
How it unfolded
- 2025Shoffner shut down her family's six-generation farm, citing rising input costs and Trump administration tariff and trade policies.
- Jul 2025She launched her Senate bid, began writing about farm policy on Substack and was invited to a Little Rock town hall on the farm crisis.
- Mar 2026Shoffner won Arkansas' Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate.
- Mar 9, 2026At her first official campaign event since the primary, in England, Ark., she asked supporters for money to counter negative attack ads.
- Oct 29, 2026Al Jazeera reported she quit farming last year to challenge Cotton in a campaign focused on rising costs.
- Nov 1, 2026Former Gov. Mike Beebe wrote an opinion piece urging Arkansans to back Shoffner.
- Nov 2, 2026Shoffner rallied supporters at Thaden Field House in Bentonville and gave an interview ahead of Election Day.
- Nov 3, 2026Shoffner faced incumbent Republican Tom Cotton and Libertarian Jeff Wadlin, with results due after polls closed.
Who’s saying what
- Party
- Shoffner says farmers aren't closing because they failed but because "the system is rigged against us," and that corporate lobbyists have a stranglehold on agricultural policy.
- Support
- Former Gov. Mike Beebe wrote that her "Arkansas First" promise has awakened something in Arkansans and that "she will win, if we believe."
- Caution
- KARK reported Cotton's camp focused ads on her immigration stance, including a quote that she'd trade "five immigrants for one American," which she said she was quoting a Republican farmer.
Still unverified
Shoffner's campaign has pointed to what it says is an absence from Cotton in Arkansas.