American farmers are still waiting for answers from Vice President Kamala Harris on a Biden administration policy that could have detrimental effects to their livelihood.

President Joe Biden’s administration was set to ban menthol cigarettes just before April 2024, until concerns arose that such a move could have negative political implications. The administration has since paused progress on the ban, though the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) top tobacco official has indicated that they are still planning to implement the rule. While Harris has not clarified where she stands on the issue, tobacco farmers in North Carolina, who the Daily Caller spoke to, are worried about what could happen to their farms if the vice president goes through with the ban.

“It would destroy one of North Carolina’s biggest industries and destroy thousands of American jobs and businesses. It would have a devastating impact on many hard-working families not only in North Carolina but in other states too,” Linwood Vick, a tobacco farmer in North Carolina told the Caller.

“President Biden and VP Harris have put us in limbo for years with this proposed ban, and now, as the Democratic presidential candidate, she hasn’t said a word about it. I’m frustrated by the political games, and I’m worried about our family’s business, the many people this industry employs, and what the future of North Carolina would look like if a menthol ban was put in place,” Vick continued. 

Though Harris has not clarified her position on a menthol ban since becoming the Democratic presidential nominee, the vice president has previously shown support for one. As California Attorney General in 2013, Harris signed onto a letter to the FDA pressing them to ban e-cigarettes. In 2018, while a U.S. senator, Harris co-signed a letter urging the FDA director to move forward with a ban on flavored tobacco products and menthol.

“A lot of farmers are worried that [a Harris] administration will try and push something like this, and if it does, if it is passed, a lot of farmers have said that they would just quit farming altogether, because tobacco is really the only thing that keeps them alive when in our area,” Archie Griffin, a third-generation tobacco farmer in North Carolina, told the Caller.

Aside from losing their jobs completely, Ray Starling, general counsel of the North Carolina Chamber of Commerce, told the Caller that such a ban, or lack of clarity on one, is on farmers’ minds as they prepare for the next crop season.

“[A farmer] has to make planting decisions and reserve fertilizer and buy supplies many times in December prior to the next crop year. And so as we’re entering fall, many farmers are starting to think about what they’re going to grow next year. This could have a massive impact on demand, if nothing else, it could be disruptive. It could make everybody play wait and see,” Sterling explained.

“Farmers are no different than any other business owner. They crave reliability and certainty and  predictability. That’s missing here,” he added. 

Within North Carolina, 822 tobacco farms produce $36 billion of output and add $31 billion to state GDP, according to the John Locke Foundation. Those farms employ around 5,000 workers for about $370 million.

Produce wholesale in North Carolina provides $15.3 billion in revenue, contributes $9 billion to the state GDP and keeps 4,500 people employed, the John Locke Foundation reported.

As the numbers show, and as Griffin explained to the Caller, the impact of tobacco farms in the state goes beyond the industry.

“It goes into affecting an economic impact on taxes, farmers, the tobacco industry and a manufacturing impact. Just a quick idea, it’s estimated that the menthol industry, data shows, is valued at 39 billion each year. If a menthol ban was placed on those products, those consumers aren’t going to just stop smoking altogether or stop consuming those products there,” Griffin explained.

“They’re going to switch to alternatives or start putting menthol in themselves. If they can’t get that menthol product, the consumers are going to go to illicit trade products that are either smuggled in here, and when they go to that product, the government’s looking at a loss of of revenue,” he added. 

Banning menthols is stupid, but we banned flavored cigarettes years ago and menthols were carved out as an exemption *specifically* because Democrats wanted to stop white goth kids from smoking cloves but didn’t want to piss off black voters https://t.co/YiSpe9fXXY

— PoIiMath (@politicalmath) November 10, 2023

Former President Donald Trump and Harris are locked in a tight race in North Carolina. According to a Washington Post poll, 50% of the state’s voters support Trump and 48% back Harris. The poll has a margin of error of 3.5 percentage points and surveyed 1,001 North Carolinians.

And with 16 electoral votes on the line in North Carolina, the farmers told the Caller that the impacts of a potential menthol ban are being considered by voters.

“I will tell you people are paying attention, and I think there’s reason for that,” Sterling told the Caller. “I could just tell you, ‘yes this is going to matter,’ but let me tell you why. Particularly in the agriculture community today, they really have their backs up against the wall for all that we’ve seen with regard to inflation, particularly of food prices. None of that increase has made its way down to the farm.”

When the administration was considering the rule in October 2023, retired law enforcement professionals and GOP strategists told the Caller that it could cost Biden big with black voters. (RELATED: ‘Very, Very Significant’: A Quiet New Move Could Spell Disaster For Biden With Black Voters)

Acting FDA Commissioner Janet Woodcock said in 2021 that such a rule would “address health disparities experienced by communities of color, low-income populations and LGBTQ+ individuals, all of whom are far more likely to use these tobacco products.” Health experts contend that a ban is needed because menthol cigarettes disproportionately harm black Americans, and a ban could save a significant number of lives.

The Biden-Harris administration’s proposal of the rule used euphemisms to indicate it was aimed at leveling health outcomes between racial groups, noting that the rule would “reduce tobacco-related health disparities and advance health equity.”

the war on drugs: disproportionately impacting minorities and being a leading cause of mass incarceration in the u.s.

the u.s. government:
not only are we not going to decriminalize drugs, we are also banning menthol cigarettes

— abby (@abby4thepeople) April 30, 2021

“The black community and the Latino community, I think [the Biden-Harris campaign] runs the risk of losing votes from there because I think primarily what it is, is a similar scenario to the 1980s crime bill, and just not paying attention to what can potentially happen,” Maj. Neill Franklin, a retired law enforcement veteran of the Maryland State Police and Baltimore Police Department, told the Caller in 2023.

“These are adults, black adults, that are not happy with this policy. Why are you taking their ability away from them to use menthol cigarettes? It’s clear that this is focused upon the black community and these are adults who know the dangers of smoking, but yet, why is the government trying to be their parent?” he added.

With the race neck-and-neck, Harris has faced questions about her policy proposals and flip-flopping. On some topics, the Harris campaign is completely silent on where the vice president stands.

The Harris campaign did not respond to the Daily Caller’s inquiry on where the vice president stands on a menthol ban and if she would propose one if elected in November. The vice president did recently say that she could not think of anything that she would do differently from President Biden’s past four years. (RELATED: Harris Tells ‘The View’ There’s Not A Thing She Would’ve Done Different Than Joe Biden)

“I think it affects the tobacco states because you’re going right at the heartland,” Rich Marianos, former Assistant Director of the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, told the Caller. “You’re going at an industry that makes money for the states, especially you bring in Kentucky, you bring in Virginia, you bring in North Carolina. Tobacco farmers since the history of this country have been a big part of the fabric of community. Taking away a large percentage of that product and taking away their ability to farm that is going to have domino effects.”