Hallie Shoffner on Farming, Healthcare & Arkansas' 2026 Senate Race

Episode notes

Hallie Shoffner is a sixth-generation Arkansas farmer who closed her family's 150-year-old farm last year because of the economic crisis. Now she's running for U.S. Senate against Tom Cotton, and just over two months from Election Day, the race is closer than almost anyone expected. In this episode, host Andy McNeill talks with Hallie about what's actually driving her campaign: healthcare affordability, rural hospital closures, a farm bill that leaves specialty crop farmers with nowhere to turn, and the growing anxiety around data centers being built in communities that feel like they have no say. They also dig into privacy and government surveillance, immigration policy from a farmer's perspective, and what it really means to be an Arkansas Democrat. In this conversation: Why Hallie left farming to run for Senate The failures of the current farm bill for Arkansas farmers Rural hospitals, Medicaid & the coming senior care crisis Data centers and who gets a say in where they're built Privacy, the Fourth Amendment & government surveillance