Top 38 Quotes & Sayings by Collin Peterson

Explore popular quotes and sayings by an American politician Collin Peterson.

Last updated on November 8, 2024.

Collin Clark Peterson is an American accountant and politician who served as the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 7th congressional district from 1991 to 2021. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, or the DFL. he was chairman of the House Committee on Agriculture from 2019 to 2021 and previously holding the office from 2007 to 2011; he had been ranking member from 2011 to 2019 and 2005 to 2007. Peterson was the most senior U.S. Representative from Minnesota and the dean of Minnesota's congressional delegation. In 2020, Peterson was defeated by Michelle Fischbach, ending his 30-year tenure in the United States House of Representatives.

American - Politician | Born: June 29, 1944

Source: Wikipedia

The only thing I can think to do is if the Democratic Party can do what the Republicans have done, which is go in there and take control of these legislatures and governors' areas.

Collin Peterson

A lot of it is backlash against all this political correctness that's going on.

Collin Peterson

[People] don't like the government telling them what to do or telling them how to live their lives.

Collin Peterson

I don't know how you change that. There's hardly anybody left like me in the Democratic Party in Congress. These districts have been so gerrymandered that, in most of them, a Democrat can't win. Somebody like me trying to start off today, he'd never get endorsed. Because I'm too conservative.

Collin Peterson

Try to un-gerrymander these districts so that you're not packing all the Democrats into one district, so you've got districts that are competitive, so that you've got a shot at electing Democrats. But that's more a long-term proposition, if it can even be done.

Collin Peterson

[People] think [the government is] coddling people, like when people's feelings are hurt at the colleges and they send somebody in to make them feel better. Stuff like that drives [voters here] crazy.

Collin Peterson

Well, the sugar guys have been dealing with NAFTA ever since it passed. Now we've got Mexico dumping sugar that's subsidized by the Mexican government into our market in violation of the World Trade Organization, because NAFTA gave them open access to our sugar market. They claim they're not subsidized, but the government owns half the industry in Mexico.

Collin Peterson

There's no question about it. If you look at the map, there's hardly any [Democrats representing rural districts]. There's me, [Rick] Nolan, [Tim] Walz, [Dave] Loebsack and Cheri Bustos. So that's five. And all the rest of them are in urban cities. That's a problem.

Collin Peterson

I think we are starting to get some information that will allow us to get to the bottom of this, and I hope we continue to work on this until we get to the bottom of it.

Collin Peterson

If everybody in our caucus had a 50/50 [Democrat/Republican] district, we'd have a lot different discussion. But if they have a 90 percent Democratic district, they don't ever talk to a Republican, they don't have to and they don't want to.

Collin Peterson

What's happened is the Republicans have been smart.

Collin Peterson

I fought NAFTA when it passed; it has been a big disaster for us, in my opinion. If we can renegotiate that, it would be wonderful.

Collin Peterson

When it [NAFTA] was sold, we were supposed to get two or three times more exports to Canada or Mexico than they exported to us. It's been the exact opposite.

Collin Peterson

Some of the people in my caucus, some of the people in the state party in Minnesota have basically said, "We don't want to deal with these guys because they're too conservative," or "We don't agree with them on social issues."

Collin Peterson

I heard a lot about the Affordable Care Act, too. About how people in the individual market were getting clobbered with all these increases, which is a legitimate issue.

Collin Peterson

The [Democratic] party's become an urban party, and they don't get rural America. They don't get agriculture.

Collin Peterson

[Rural voters] have a different view of the world than people do in these urban centers.

Collin Peterson

It was clear that [the number] just kept growing, and there were no [Hillary] Clinton signs. People were fed up.

Collin Peterson

[Trade] was clearly a factor.That was a complete reversal of where things are normally at. Usually Republicans are all for free trade.

Collin Peterson

[Rural people] have a different lifestyle, and they don't want to change it. They're happy with the way things are. It's causing the party political problems.

Collin Peterson

I always run ahead of the ticket [compared to Democratic presidential candidates]. But this time there were a lot of people that just voted party line, a lot more than usual.

Collin Peterson

There's no question that [Donald] Trump got elected because of rural America. And our party still is in denial. They don't get it.

Collin Peterson

You know what the economics are like in Red Lake County. There's no way a family can pay $15,000, $20,000 a year for health insurance and make it work. You just can't do it. It's got to change.

Collin Peterson

It was kind of interesting: [People] didn't really want to talk about it too much. And then after the election, it's kind of like they've been unleashed.

Collin Peterson

So [Republicans] packed all the Democrats into districts, very Democratic districts. What that's done is made our party urban, more liberal, and so those people are doing what their constituents want. But that's not what my constituents want.

Collin Peterson

It appears to me that no one has learned a thing; that Wall Street is still operating as if 2008 never happened.

Collin Peterson

NAFTA's been a big problem for sugar.

Collin Peterson

[Bernie] Sanders tapped into that [trade issues]; that was part of his support. And then when he didn't make it, some of those Sanders people went to [Donald] Trump.

Collin Peterson

We [Democrats] have become a party of assembling all these different groups, the women's caucus and the black caucus and the Hispanic caucus and the lesbian-gay-transgender caucus and so forth, and that doesn't relate to people out in rural America.

Collin Peterson

I agree with [Donald] Trump: These trade agreements have not been good deals for America, and they need to be fixed.

Collin Peterson

Republicans have spent a lot of money redistricting and everything, getting control of these governorships and statehouses.

Collin Peterson

I am personally saddened and stunned by the tragic events that took place in Red Lake.

Collin Peterson

The use of methamphetamines has become pervasive in our country, and especially in rural areas.

Collin Peterson

I've tried to maintain my independence in Congress. Sometimes that has meant opposing my own party leaders.

Collin Peterson

You can't have a majority party in Minnesota or throughout the country without [support from] the people in these [rural] districts. Given the position [the Democratic Party] has taken, it's very hard to see how you can do that.

Collin Peterson

The New York Federal Reserve is a tool of the big banks.

Collin Peterson

The banks run the place.

Collin Peterson

Pushing gun control drives people [in my district] crazy, gay marriage, abortion, deficit spending.All of that stuff adds up to be a problem for Democrats.

Collin Peterson

Top 38 Quotes & Sayings by Collin Peterson

Related Authors