Bad News for Kamala: Food Banks Report Record Numbers in Swing States

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Food banks in key swing states are reporting record-level increases in the number of people in need as the presidential election looms on the horizon. This development could indicate trouble for Vice President Kamala Harris as she fights for votes in these states.

In rural and urban areas, more people are turning to food banks amid high inflation rates and skyrocketing prices at grocery stores,” according to NBC News.

Across the rural communities and industrial towns of western Michigan, semitrucks hauling thousands of pounds of food are pulling up to church parking lots and community centers where growing lines of people are waiting for a few boxes of free groceries.

One truck can carry enough food for up to 600 households, but some days even that isn’t enough to meet the demand, which has gone up by 18% over the past 12 months, said Ken Estelle, president of Feeding America West Michigan.

“We have never seen this level of need in the 43 years we have been serving this community. It is significantly higher than during Covid and has pressed us beyond our capacity,” said Estelle. “We’ve just seen this drumbeat increase every month of more people and more people.”

From rural Michigan to midsize towns in Pennsylvania and affluent suburbs in Wisconsin, food banks are reporting record levels of need that have been steadily increasing over the past several years. Despite rising wages and low unemployment rates, many households continue to struggle with escalating costs that have depleted their savings and increased credit card debt, leaving little money left over at the end of the month to put food on the table, food bank directors said.

“It’s a hunger crisis,” said Joe Arthur, who runs the Central Pennsylvania Food Bank, which has seen a more than 50% increase in demand since 2021. “The need that we’re seeing in our localities is actually as high as it was at the peak of the pandemic, yet there are less resources for those families today.”

Harris and former President Donald Trump have campaigned aggressively in Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin as residents of these states are overly burdened with economic woes.

Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin — critical states in the upcoming presidential election — have become the focus of campaign efforts by former President Donald Trump and Vice President Kamala Harris, who are both seeking to address voters’ economic concerns. Harris has proposed tax breaks and incentives for low-income households, and a plan to combat price gouging by food producers and grocery stores. Trump has promised to lower prices by reducing energy costs and regulations and to create jobs through corporate tax cuts and tariffs on imported goods.

While the pace of price increases has slowed from the peak two years ago, costs for many essentials, like food, remain high. A pound of ground beef costs 42% more than it did four years ago, a gallon of milk is up 17%, and a loaf of bread is 32% higher. In areas where prices have begun to decline, like rent and gas, costs still exceed pre-pandemic levels.

Phil Knight, executive director of the Food Bank Council of Michigan, told NBC News that it is becoming more common for people who did not use their services previously to get food at their facilities. He said it has “almost become a form of income replacement” and that it is “becoming a regular practice for lower-income families.”

Food banks have been struggling to meet the increased demand.

For food banks, it has been a struggle to keep up with demand, with federal assistance down from where it was during the pandemic and overall costs rising. That’s forced many organizations to cut back on the amount of food they give to each recipient and turn away more people seeking help.

In the Dairy State, Gamauf said her Waukesha pantry has gone months without being able to get a consistent supply of milk, butter and eggs. In western Michigan, Estelle said they have cut back on the amount of food they give out at their distribution events from around 50 pounds to as little as 30 pounds. Even then, he said there are times when they run out of food with hundreds of people still in line.

Despite Democrats’ claims to the contrary, the state of the economy is placing an extra burden on Americans struggling to make ends meet.

The latest consumer price index increased significantly. The annual inflation rate is now at 2.4 percent, which is worse than what previous projections suggested. Shelter costs have increased by 4.9 percent year over year. Filings for unemployment benefits have risen significantly as well, which is not only bad news for Americans, but also for the Harris/Walz campaign.

Harris has proposed price controls aimed at stopping grocery stores from engaging in “price gouging” as a way to ease the stress on people’s wallets. Yet, this proposal met with criticism from Democrats and Republicans alike. Democrats are in quite a quandary in this election season, with economic concerns consistently ranking at the very top of voter priorities.