House ag chair Collin Peterson faces stiff challenge in Minnesota

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House ag chair Collin Peterson faces stiff challenge in Minnesota

It’s election day—and while most the attention centers on the presidential race, there are also several Congressional races of interest and importance to farmers and ranchers.

One of most closely watched is the 7th District in Minnesota where Democratic House Ag Committee chair Collin Peterson is squaring off against Republican Michelle Fischbach.

The race is considered a toss-up by most analysts. But David Wasserman with the Cook Political Report thinks Peterson is in trouble.

“This is a district that voted for Trump by 30 points in 2016. I think it will vote for Trump by about 20 points this time,” Wasserman says. “Peterson got away without a strong Republican challenge in the last two cycles.  This time there’s a lot of money being thrown at him.”

Wasserman speculates on who would take the reins of the House Ag Committee if Peterson is defeated and Democrats retain control of the House.

“Either someone who is more commodity-focused, perhaps Jim Costa of California. But next in line, according to seniority, would be David Scott from Georgia—and there’s even talk about Marcia Fudge of Cleveland.”

Wasserman says Scott and Fudge would be more SNAP-focused—nutrition-focused—and likely take the ag committee in a much different direction.

Wasserman made his comments last week during a presentation to the National Milk Producers Federation.