In Barnesville, Minnesota, conservative rural voters show no fervor for Donald Trump. Editor Gene Prim criticizes the trade war with Canada, and David Rick warns that 2026 inflation, with diesel at US$6 a gallon, will weigh on the Nov. 3 vote.
Barnesville, Minnesota — In this town of 2,800 people in western Minnesota, located 40 kilometres southeast of Fargo, North Dakota, voters are mostly conservative and centre-right, but that doesn't make them fervent followers of U.S. President Donald Trump. That is how Gene Prim describes it. Prim is the editor of the local newspaper, the Barnesville Record-Review, and at 82 he knows the people and politics of the region well, where he has worked since 1960.
"They've never been fans of Trump or some of his crazy ideas," Prim said. "They voted for Trump because he wasn't Hillary (Clinton) and he wasn't (Kamala) Harris."
Prim, who was also mayor of the farming community for 16 years, describes himself as conservative and probably a Republican, but he questions the trade war with Canada. "I have no idea what logic or thinking is behind picking fights with Canada... Canada probably got away with tariffing us a bit more than it should have, but this could have been worked out with diplomacy," he said.
The editor has travelled to nearly every Canadian province on hunting trips and knows Canadians well. He warns that fewer Canadians are vacationing in the United States because of the hostilities and the president's harsh words in Washington. Although he always felt welcome in Canada, on his most recent trips north of the border he perceived a less friendly atmosphere; he worries that relations between ordinary citizens of both countries will keep deteriorating and that it will become harder to preserve the USMCA.
Prim called on the leaders of both countries to tone down the rhetoric and make progress for the benefit of ordinary citizens of Canada and the United States. "I never understood Trudeau and I don't know much about the new guy... but I don't know why we can't negotiate (and resolve this)," he said.
David Rick, also 82 and a lifelong resident of Barnesville, was cleaning the gutters of his garage on an October afternoon at 20 °C. He climbed down from the ladder to explain the eight political signs in his yard: one is for his son Jason Rick, who is seeking re-election as mayor, and the rest are for Republican and centre-right candidates for county and state offices, including one for Michelle Tafoya, who is running for the U.S. Senate in Minnesota in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Rick admitted that more people in town are unhappy with Trump than two years ago. One of the main reasons is inflation: the cost of gasoline, food and almost everything else soared in 2026, squeezing the wallets of millions of Americans, including him. "When you live on social security, it's not easy," he said. "I didn't save enough money when I was young. I bought too much beer and had too many girlfriends," he added with a big grin.
In western Minnesota, many people will think about diesel at around US$6 a gallon and expensive ground beef when they vote on Nov. 3, Rick said. "I'm sure they will," he said.
The president was not on the ballot in the midterm elections, but local Republican candidates usually align themselves with the president and order signs with their name next to "Trump." However, in Barnesville there were no Trump signs on front lawns; if any existed, they were hard to find.
The same was true west of Barnesville, in the small towns of North Dakota. Driving through the side streets of about ten towns and villages, The Western Producer found only a couple of homes with Trump signs.
For Prim, that is no surprise. Most of Trump's supporters in the region never voted for him, but against Democratic policies or against Democrats they didn't like. Moreover, people in towns like Barnesville don't follow the daily political noise from Washington: they are more concerned about what is happening at the local high school, why their water bill is going up or whether a business on Main Street is going to close. That is why what Trump says on social media has less impact on local voting decisions.
"What they're doing in Washington is crazy, but we can't do anything about it," Prim said. "We just get on with our lives."
