Collin Clark Peterson (born June 29, 1944) is an American accountant, politician, and lobbyist who served as the U.S. representative for Minnesota's 7th congressional district from 1991 to 2021.

[1] Collin Peterson was born in Fargo, North Dakota, grew up on a farm in Baker, Minnesota, and received his B.A.

[7] Stangeland's stock had dropped sharply after he admitted to making a number of personal calls on his House credit card.

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.

Republican opposition 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.

"[16][17] 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.

[21] He was challenged by Republican retired Air Force Major Dave Hughes and beat him in close races in 2016 and 2018.

In the November 2020 general election, Peterson was defeated for reelection by Republican former state senator and former lieutenant governor Michelle Fischbach.

Despite his loss, he was the top-performing Democratic representative compared to presidential nominee Joe Biden, outperforming him by 16 points in the district.

Peterson is one of the founders of the Blue Dog Coalition,[34] the caucus of House Democrats who identify as moderates and conservatives.

[36][37][38] Peterson had split from his party on issues such as gay marriage, healthcare, the estate tax, tort reform, gun control, the environment, DC statehood, and abortion.

[45][46] Peterson is generally conservative on social issues; he strongly opposes legal abortion and has been one of the few Democrats to vote against embryonic stem cell research.

[14][47] He has voted to ban physician-assisted suicide and also to approve the proposed Flag Desecration Amendment to the United States Constitution.

Peterson furthered that there could be stipulations requiring some funding go toward Border Patrol and security measures at ports of entry being improved.

[39] 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.

[41] 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.

[59] 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).

[60][61] 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.

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.

[67] 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.

"[73] 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.

[75] Peterson supported a Constitutional Amendment that would ban legal recognition of same-sex marriages in the United States.

[77][78] Asked why he voted against the resolution and what he knew about the Yemeni civil war, Peterson said, "I don't know a damn thing about it".

[83] Peterson was one of six House Democrats to vote against the Marijuana Opportunity Reinvestment and Expungement (MORE) Act to legalize cannabis at the federal level in 2020.