The 2016 election cycle hasn’t cast a lot of drama on the Senate Ag committee. The committee is led by Republican Pat Roberts of Kansas and ranking member Debbie Stabenow, a Michigan Democrat. Only four of the committee’s 20 members are up for re-election this year, and political prognosticator FiveThirtyEight says they all stand a very good chance of getting re-elected. They include Vermont Democrat Patrick Leahy, North Dakota Republican John Hoeven, Michael Bennet, a Colorado Democrat, and Republican Charles Grassley of Iowa. But even if they all four win re-election, there could still be some changes coming to the Committee after the elections. If the Democrats regain control of the Senate, some changes will happen as the chairman always comes from the majority party, and the ranking member is the senior-most member of the minority party. Also, the majority party ensures it has a majority on every committee. The Senate Ag Committee currently consists of 11 Republicans and nine Democrats.
From the National Association of Farm Broadcasting news service.