Michelle Fischbach Ousts Collin Peterson in Minnesota's Seventh District

by Briana Bierschbach (Star Tribune) Republican Michelle Fischbach ousted DFL Rep. Collin Peterson in Minnesota’s Seventh District on Tuesday, ending a three-decade career in Congress and toppling Democras’ powerful chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Fischbach, a former lieutenant governor and state senator from Paynesville, benefited from President Donald Trump’s popularity in the western Minnesota district and a flood of spending from outside groups against Peterson.

Fischbach was ahead by more than 13% of the vote when the race was called after 12:30 a.m. Wednesday.

Four years ago, Donald Trump won Peterson’s Seventh Congressional District by more than 30 percentage points over Hillary Clinton. Peterson managed to hang on, beating a little-known challenger by 5% of the vote and earning the distinction as the Democrat representing a district that swung the hardest for Trump in 2016.

But Republicans railed on Peterson in television ads, trying to tie him to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and progressive Democrats like DFL Rep. Ilhan Omar. Peterson, a Blue Dog Democrat, pushed back on that narrative in his own ads, touting his vote against impeachment and his support for law enforcement. READ MORE

Excerpt from AgWeb: Peterson’s loss sets up jockeying for the Ag Committee chairmanship among some key democrats. Reps. David Scott of Georgia, Jim Costa of California and Marcia Fudge of Ohio have seniority on the panel.

“The important thing to know is two of the three are frankly, urban representatives,” said Redpath “You know, Marcia Fudge from the east side of Cleveland, really a pretty big chunk of downtown Cleveland, and then David Scott from Atlanta, Georgia. Obviously, that would represent a fairly significant change in the leadership of the House Agriculture Committee.”

“Jim Costa, who frankly needs no introduction to agriculture, served for 20 years on the Agriculture Committee in the state assembly in California, himself a farmer and certainly well-versed in everything agriculture and trade related,” Redpath added.

Fischbach told Politico she plans to request a seat on the House Agriculture Committee. READ MORE

Excerpt from Politico's Morning Energy: GAVEL GAZING: Reps. David Scott (D-Ga.) and Jim Costa (D-Calif.) are both vying to take control of the House Agriculture Committee after current head Collin Peterson lost his reelection bid this week, POLITICO's Helena Bottemiller Evich and Liz Crampton report. Both lawmakers called for combating climate change in their pitches. Peterson, one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress, had resisted a push from progressives to advance a national strategy on climate change.

Scott, who is next in line in seniority, touted his nearly two decades of service on the committee representing Georgia, where agriculture is the largest industry, in a Dear Colleague letter to fellow Democrats. "The threat of climate change is a present and growing danger, and we must promote sustainable agriculture solutions that are economically viable, ecologically just, and support the social fabric of our rural communities," Scott wrote. "Transitioning away from fossil fuels toward ethanol and biofuels can create jobs and foster economic opportunities in our rural communities."

Costa's California district in the central San Joaquin Valley is an agriculturally rich area. "I firmly believe that America's farmers are stewards of the land and environment, but conservation of these resources is becoming increasingly difficult in the face of climate change," Costa wrote in his own letter. "... We must harness all the tools at our disposal, as well as lean into out-of-the-box thinking to combat climate change so America's farmers can continue to feed the world." READ MORE

While it may draw less attention than other House panels, the Agriculture Committee is responsible for directing trillions of dollars to various agriculture priorities through the five-year farm bill as well as determining policy on food stamps, crop insurance, subsidies and conservation efforts.

“You can’t just pass a [farm] bill with farm representative votes. The farm and rural areas don't have enough votes. So you have to work hard to build a coalition that brings in suburban and urban votes as well,” said Rob Larew, president of the National Farmers Union.

While Costa, who is also a member of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, comes from a rural area of central California, Scott and Fudge’s districts in Georgia and Ohio are much more urban.

Earl Pomeroy, a former Democratic House member from North Dakota who served on the panel, said Fudge would be "precedent shattering on three counts" as "the first woman, African American and person from an urban area to chair the committee.”

But Congressional Black Caucus members have also been pushing Fudge to Joe Biden's campaign as a potential contender to be Agriculture secretary should Biden win the White House.

Pomeroy noted that more rural areas in the South and West with much larger congressional delegations — and at times different farming priorities — may now get priority as Peterson loses his leadership spot on the Agriculture Committee.

“I will confidently say it will be a very long time before our region has the gavel of the House Agriculture Committee again, and as a result we’ve lost a tremendous amount of clout, which will be demonstrated as the dollars run short for us in future farm bills," Pomeroy said. READ MORE