When you read the next round of trend pieces about how there are no more moderates in Congress or how there are no more districts with representatives of the opposite party leaning, look for Collin Peterson’s name in the lede. Tonight, I’ll be watching for an upset in Minnesota’s 7th District, where longtime Democratic Rep. Collin Peterson, a heavyweight on farm policy and founding member of the Blue Dog coalition, is in the fight of his political life to hold onto a seat that he’s held since 1990.
The race is interesting for three reasons.
First, a Peterson loss would be a huge upset in a district that Democrats and nonpartisan observers had long thought would be safe as long as Peterson kept running. Despite representing a solidly red district, Peterson’s moderate profile, close ties to the district, and influence on agriculture policy had helped him win reelection with huge margins every cycle in the past decade Republicans had long talked about making the deeply-red seat competitive, but even in their sweep of 2010 never came close to making the race competitive. Its relevance this year is in part a reflection of the strength of Peterson’s challenger, State Senator Torrey Westrom, and in part a reflection of how narrow the playing field for House seats has become. Faced with relatively few truly competitive races, national Republicans invested heavily in the race after having taken a pass cycle after cycle.
Second, Peterson is a major player on agriculture policy and a powerful advocate for the Blue Dog coalition in Congress. He’s largely credited with helping to shepherd through the most recent farm bill because he had strong working relationships with Democratic leadership and Republicans on the committee. He is one of the last remaining members of the original Blue Dog coalition and one of its most senior advocates, so Peterson’s forced retirement would be a major blow to the group of moderate Democrats.
Finally, Westrom’s victory would be a win for the visibility of politicians with physical disabilities. Westrom was the first known blind member of the Minnesota state legislature and could become the most visible blind politician since David Paterson’s brief stint on the national stage.
Or, of course, Peterson could win, in which case we should expect him to top every ‘could retire’ list published in the next few weeks.