Collin Clark Peterson (born June 29, 1944) is an American politician, member of the Minnesota Democraticâ€"Farmerâ€"Labor Party and the U.S. Representative for Minnesota's 7th congressional district, serving since 1991. He is the ranking member of the House Committee on Agriculture and the dean of the Minnesota congressional delegation. A conservative Democrat, his district, Minnesota's largest and most rural district, includes most of the western area of the state, including Moorhead, Fergus Falls, Bemidji, Detroit Lakes, Thief River Falls, Willmar, Marshall, and Alexandria.
Early life, education, and early political career
Collin Peterson was born in Fargo, North Dakota, grew up on a farm in Baker, Minnesota, and received his B.A. at Minnesota State University Moorhead.
Peterson was a member of the Minnesota Senate for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party (the Minnesota branch of the Democratic Party) from 1977 to 1986, representing a district in northwestern Minnesota. In 1976, he defeated Republican nominee Frank DeGroat 55%-45%. In 1982, he won re-election against State Representative Cal Larson by just 200 votes, or 0.8% difference.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
- 1980s
In 1984, he ran for Minnesota's 7th congressional district in Northwestern Minnesota, held by Republican Arlan Stangeland. Peterson lost 57%â€"43%. In 1986, he ran in a rematch and narrowly lost by just 121 votes. In 1988, he ran again but lost in the DFL primary to State Senator Marv Hanson 55%â€"45%. Hanson went on to lose to Stangeland 55%â€"45%.
- 1990s
In 1990, he ran for a fourth time and won the primary. In the general election, he finally defeated seven-term incumbent Stangeland by 54%â€"46%. In 1992, he narrowly won re-election by a 50%â€"49% margin against former State Representative Bernie Omann. In a 1994 rematch, Peterson won again by a 51%â€"49% margin, despite the Republican Revolution. In 1996, he won re-election with 68% of the vote, and won every county in the district. In 1998, he won re-election with 72% of the vote.
- 2000s
In the 2000s, Peterson never faced a serious re-election challenge and only once did he win re-election with less than two-thirds of the vote. In 2000, he was mentioned as a possible candidate for the U.S. Senate against Republican Rod Grams, but he chose to run for re-election, winning with 69% of the vote. In 2002, he won with 65% of the vote. In 2004, he won with 66% of the vote. In 2006, he won with 70% of the vote. In 2008, he won with 72% of the vote.
- 2010s
In 2010, Peterson survived another Republican wave election. This time, he defeated Lee Byberg 55%â€"38%, his worst election performance since 1994. In 2012, Peterson won re-election with 60.38% to Republican Lee Byberg's 34.85% and Independent Adam Steele's 4.67%.
In 2013, Republicans began pressuring Peterson, in hopes of convincing him to retire. His seat is one of only a handful that is represented by a Democrat but was carried by Mitt Romney in the 2012 election and is seen as a top pick-up opportunity should Peterson retire. Their tactics included airing television advertisements, hiring a press staffer to give opposition research to reporters, hiring a tracker to follow him around his district and record him, and sending mobile billboards with critical statements on them to drive around his hometown. Peterson responded by saying "They don't have anybody else to go after. It's kind of ridiculous, but whatever." After Republicans spread rumors that Peterson was planning to buy a house in Florida and retire there, he said: "I went from neutral on running again to 90 percent just because of this stupid stuff they're doing. You can't let these people be in charge of anything, in my opinion." On March 17, 2014, Peterson officially announced that he was running for re-election, saying, "I still have a lot of work to do". Despite being heavily targeted by national Republican groups, Peterson defeated Republican State Senator Torrey Westrom in the general election by 54% to 46%.
In January 2015, Peterson stated that he is "running at this point" for re-election in 2016, saying that the efforts by Republicans to unseat him had "energized me" and "got me fired up". In October 2014, he said that he may keep running until 2020 because the Republicans "made me mad" with their efforts to defeat him or persuade him to retire.
Tenure
Peterson was one of the original founders of the Blue Dog Coalition, the caucus of House Democrats who identify as moderates and conservatives. He is one of the most conservative Democrats in Congress and frequently crosses the party line. In 2008, a report by Congressional Quarterly found he had the lowest party loyalty score over the previous five years of any member of the Minnesota congressional delegation. In the 109th Congress, he was rated 50% conservative by a conservative group and 57% progressive by a liberal group.
Peterson is generally conservative on social issues; he strongly opposes abortion and has been one of the few Democrats to vote against embryonic stem cell research. He has voted to ban physician assisted suicide and also to approve the proposed Flag Desecration Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and supports the death penalty.
The 7th contains some of the most conservative counties in the state and also the state's most rural district; many DFLers outside the Twin Cities are hunters and trappers who oppose gun control. Peterson is a conservationist, but opposes "excessive environmental regulation" because he argues they harm farmers. He is an avid hunter and supports animal trapping, but in 2000 he joined with The Humane Society of the United States to pass legislation that stopped the interstate shipping of birds for cockfighting. He has an "A" rating from the National Rifle Association and is a "staunch" supporter of gun rights. He has supported legislation that would end protection for wolves in the Endangered Species Act.
Although he's been called a strong fiscal conservative, he is somewhat closer to the liberal wing of his party on economic issues: he has voted against most free trade agreements, the North American Free Trade Agreement, the Freedom to Farm Act, and the Telecommunications Act of 1996. He also voted against both versions of the Patriot Act and he has been sharply critical of the No Child Left Behind Act, which he contends is unfair to rural students. He supports the FairTax, a national sales tax, estate-tax repeal, tort reform, and the Bush tax cuts. He voted against the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act.
Peterson joined the House Republicans in voting against the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993.
In 1998, as part of an effort to change what were considered unequal fishing regulations between the U.S. and Canada, Peterson gained attention by proposing a constitutional amendment that would allow the residents of Minnesota's Northwest Angle to vote on whether they wanted to secede from the United States and join the Canadian province of Manitoba. Peterson said that the amendment, which was part of a mock secession movement, was successful in bringing the issue to the attention of the White House: "In just the day after I introduced (the amendment), people from the vice president's office have been asking questions, people in the White House (too). I've got meetings scheduled with the U.S. trade representative... we've educated people on both sides of the border, and I think we've brought it closer to the point where we'll get this thing resolved."
In 2003, he was one of just 16 Democrats to vote for President Bush's Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement, and Modernization Act.
From 2003 through 2005, $14.7Â billion in crop subsidies went to the congressional districts of members on the House Committee on Agriculture, an analysis by the non-partisan Environmental Working Group found. That was 42.4% of the total subsidies. Peterson is reported to have brought $874Â million to his District. In Peterson's district, which includes sugar beets, wheat and poultry, 58% of the $2.8Â billion paid out in crop subsidies from 1995 to 2005 went to 10% of recipients, according to the Environmental Working Group, which tracks farm spending. The chairman says he has no problem with that. "Ten percent of the farmers produce 90% of the food," he says.
In 2004, he joined with Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch in suing the state of North Dakota over what they argued were discriminatory laws that forbid non-North Dakota residents from hunting during the first week of the waterfowl hunting season. Their case was rejected by the United States District Court for the District of North Dakota, a decision which was upheld by the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit.
In January 2005, he was selected by the House Democratic Caucus to succeed former Texas Congressman Charlie Stenholm as the Ranking Member on the Committee on Agriculture. He became the committee's chairman after the Democrats won control of the House two years later.
Peterson was a cosponsor of the Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2005 which would provide job protection for three million illegal immigrant agricultural workers and their families, and extend the visas of legal immigrant agricultural workers.
In December 2005, Peterson joined four Republicans to form the Second Amendments, a rock and country band.
Along with John Conyers, in April 2006 Peterson brought an action against George W. Bush and others alleging violations of the Constitution in the passing of the Deficit Reduction Act of 2005. The case (Conyers v. Bush) was ultimately dismissed.
Peterson was one of the few Democrats to vote in favor of the Military Commissions Act of 2006.
In May 2007, Peterson was the lone Democrat to vote against the Federal Price Gouging Prevention Act.
On January 28, 2009, Peterson was amongst the seven Democrats who voted in the House together with the unanimous Republican opposition against President Obama's stimulus package (American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009).
In April 2009, Peterson voted against the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act.
On May 6, 2009, Peterson voiced his opposition to climate change legislation proposed by the Obama Administration saying, "I will not support any kind of climate change bill â€" even if you fix this â€" because I don't trust anybody anymore. I've had it." Peterson predicted that an Environmental Protection Agency proposal to assess indirect effects of ethanol production on greenhouse gas emissions, combined with the climate change legislation, could "kill off corn ethanol."
On July 27, 2009, a controversy erupted after Peterson was quoted in a Politico.com article saying, "25 percent of my people believe the Pentagon and Rumsfeld were responsible for taking the twin towers down. That's why I don't do town meetings." The state Republican Party denounced the remark as "outrageous and offensive". Peterson apologized for the comment, which he described as "off-hand".
On March 21, 2010, Peterson voted against the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.
In 2010, he was endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee and the National Rifle Association.
In 2011, he co-sponsored HR 3, the No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act. The bill contained an exception for "forcible rape," which opponents criticized as potentially excluding drug-facilitated rape, date rape, and other forms of rape. The bill also allowed an exception for minors who are victims of incest.
Committee assignments
- Current
- Committee on Agriculture (beginning with the 102nd Congress to present day; see: H.Res. 43)
- Ranking Member & former Chairman. As ranking member of the full committee, Peterson may sit as an ex officio member of all subcommittees.
- Previous
- Oversight and Government Reform
- This was one of the first committees Peterson served on {102nd 103rd 104th & 105th Congresses}. It appears that he did not serve on this committee from the 106th onwards.
- Veterans' Affairs Committee
- Began membership in the 106th Congress, 107th.
Caucus membership
- Military Veterans Caucus, Co-chair
Electoral history
2016
- 2014
- 2012
- 2010
- 2008
- 2006
- 2004
- 2002
- 1990
Personal life
Peterson lives in Detroit Lakes, just east of Moorhead. He is divorced and previously dated former Congresswoman Katherine Harris, the former Republican Secretary of State of Florida. He is a licensed private pilot and frequently travels by private plane across his district.
See also
- US Congressional Delegations from Minnesota
- List of United States Representatives from Minnesota
References
External links
- Congressman Collin Peterson official U.S. House site
- Peterson for Congress
- Collin Peterson at Minnesota Legislators Past & Present
- Collin Peterson at DMOZ
- Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
- Profile at Project Vote Smart
- Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
- Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
- Political profile at the Minnesota Legislative Reference Library
- Campaign 2012 Candidate Questionnaire profile from Minnesota Public Radio
- Agricultural Job Opportunities, Benefits, and Security Act of 2005
