Representative Collin C. Peterson, Democrat of Minnesota, the chairman of the Agriculture Committee who has represented his large agrarian district for three decades, lost his re-election bid early Wednesday, handing Republicans a pickup in the House.
Mr. Peterson, 76, had bucked political trends for years, winning re-election in a rural district that was increasingly shifting toward the Republican Party. Michelle Fischbach, 55, a former lieutenant governor who vowed to “fire” Speaker Nancy Pelosi upon arriving in Washington and sought to tie the congressman to his party’s left flank, finally ended his run, according to The Associated Press.
“It really is the death knell for the moderate rural Democrat,” said Tim Lindberg, an assistant professor of political science at the University of Minnesota Morris. “It was clear he knew he was in trouble.”
President Trump won the district by 31 points in 2016, and Republican strategists had theorized that should Mr. Peterson face tough competition during the president’s re-election year, they could flip the seat. His defeat underscored a growing divide between suburban areas that are increasingly aligning with Democrats and the white working-class rural districts that are shifting ever more sharply toward Republicans.
On the campaign trial, Ms. Fischbach had echoed Mr. Trump’s “law and order” message, seeking to sow fear and blame Democrats for unrest in America’s cities over the killings of Black people by the police.
“They want to make sure the stuff going on in Minneapolis is not going to happen in their back yard,” Ms. Fischbach said of voters in the district during a recent debate.
Mr. Peterson sought to play up his seniority accumulated over years in the House, repeatedly making a practical pitch to his constituents. As chairman of the Agriculture Committee, he argued, he could help farmers in a way a newcomer to Congress such as Ms. Fischbach could not.
“Agriculture is this district,” Mr. Peterson said, citing the sugar industry’s importance to the local economy. “Any ag meeting in Washington in the House doesn’t start until I get into the room, and it ends when I leave. The secretary calls me all the time.”
Despite his powerful position in Washington, Mr. Peterson, a licensed pilot known to fly his private plane across his district, had grown increasingly endangered.
During the 2018 midterm election, Dave Hughes, an Air Force veteran endorsed by Mr. Trump, narrowly lost to Mr. Peterson as conservatives flipped two neighboring rural districts.
Outside money poured into the 2020 contest, with Mr. Peterson and groups supporting him spending more than $16 million to try to retain the seat, while Ms. Fischbach and her allies spent nearly $7 million to seize it.
On the campaign trail, Mr. Peterson repeatedly emphasized his independent streak from his party. He often votes with Republicans, including against the Affordable Care Act, and earned an “A” rating from the National Rifle Association.
He is the only current Democrat in Congress who voted against both articles of impeachment against Mr. Trump.