A new radio ad targets Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN-07) for his failure to stand up to Democrats as they prepare to impeach President Donald Trump.
“Democrat Collin Peterson said he’d be different from most Democrats, yet Democrats continue to pursue impeachment,” says the ad, which was paid for by Freedom Club.
“This partisan impeachment is stopping progress on important issues like trade, agriculture, education, and healthcare,” the ad continues and invites listeners to call Peterson’s office to encourage him to “focus on the real issues that matter to Minnesotans.”
Peterson said he plans to vote against both articles of impeachment, but Freedom Club doesn’t think that is “good enough.”
“He needs to actively call on his fellow Democrats to drop this charade and apologize for enabling Nancy Pelosi. Democrats like Collin Peterson are hoping that voters are not paying attention. They are hoping to confuse the voters,” said a press release. “Republicans, Independents, and even Democrats all agree that we do not need to relitigate the 2016 election endlessly.”
Jeff Webb, chairman of the New American Populist, made similar comments in a statement recently provided to The Minnesota Sun. According to Webb, voting against the articles of impeachment is “simply not sufficient.”
“Rep. Peterson knows full well that the two articles of impeachment presented by the House Judiciary Committee yesterday morning are entirely unsupported by the facts,” said Webb. “It is time for Rep. Peterson to be a profile in courage and announce today that he will vote against impeachment and encourage his Democratic colleagues in the House to do the same.”
Peterson told reporters Saturday that he does not believe President Trump “committed a crime” and will vote against impeachment.
“The biggest problem I have with this is that you had people who have decided they’re going to impeach him, and now they spend a year trying to figure out how they can make a case for it. That’s backwards. I just don’t agree with this,” he said.
Peterson was one of just two Democrats to vote against the rules package that formalized the impeachment inquiry. The other Democrat, Rep. Jeff Van Drew (D-NJ-02), told his staff over the weekend that he plans to defect from the Democratic Party because of the impeachment inquiry.
Republican leadership asked Peterson to join the Republican Party, but the 15-term congressman said he does not plan to “switch parties at this stage” of his career.
Peterson has yet to announce if he will seek a 16th term in Congress in 2020 and a number of Republicans have lined up to challenge him, including former Lt. Gov. Michelle Fischbach. The Cook Political Report has labeled the Seventh Congressional District a “toss up.”
President Trump carried Peterson’s rural district by 30.8 percentage points over Hillary Clinton in the 2016 election. Trump managed to defeat Clinton in every single one of the 38 counties in Peterson’s district.
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Anthony Gockowski is managing editor of Battleground State News, The Ohio Star, and The Minnesota Sun. Follow Anthony on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Photo “Collin Peterson” by Freedom Club of Minnesota.
