Longtime Congressman Collin Peterson loses re-election bid to Michelle Fischbach

November 4, 2020

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) – Republican Michelle Fischbach has upset Democratic U.S. Rep. Collin Peterson, the chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, who was seeking a 16th term.

Fischbach is a conservative former state senator who briefly served as lieutenant governor in 2018 when Tina Smith resigned the seat upon her appointment as a U.S. senator.

Fischbach argued during the campaign that Peterson was too close to Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and other liberals.

Peterson, a conservative Blue Dog Democrat, represents western Minnesota’s heavily agricultural 7th District, which sprawls from the Canadian border almost all the way south to Iowa.