GOP Rep. Michelle Fischbach easily wins re-election in western Minnesota

PARK RAPIDS, MINN. — In western Minnesota's deep-red Seventh Congressional District, U.S. Rep. Michelle Fischbach easily won a third term.

Fischbach took the stage at the GOP party in the Mall of America to an excited crowd after her race was called, the first Minnesota race called Tuesday night. She worked the crowd with promises of Republicans taking control of both chambers of Congress as well as the White House.

Democrat A. John Peters challenged Fischbach, a Donald Trump loyalist from Litchfield who was first elected in 2020 when she ousted DFLer Collin Peterson, who held the seat for 30 years. Fischbach, 58, has since amassed one of the most conservative voting records in Minnesota's delegation.

She won in 2022 by about 40 percentage points and nearly 30 percentage points in the August primary. She was ahead by similar margins in early returns.

Fischbach, who spent the weekend campaigning for Republican congressional candidates in Iowa, said in a statement before the victory that "the election will validate the work I've been doing on behalf of the good people in western Minnesota. I am honored to be their voice in D.C. advocating for decency, common sense, and our rural way of life."

Audrey Brasel, 37, a nurse practitioner in Park Rapids, voted for Fischbach after her shift Tuesday night at Essentia Health-Park Rapids Clinic. She cast an all-Republican ballot.

"Those leaders are the people that align with what I believe and just want to preserve, I guess, the standards of our country and preserve our freedom," Brasel said.

Nathan Torvinen, 30, a landscaper from Park Rapids, also voted straight red, including for Fischbach, who he said "aligned with my views better than the other guy's."

Peters said his goal is to get 35% of the votes, noting some polls gave him less than a 1% chance of defeating Fischbach.

Fischbach served in the Minnesota Senate for more than two decades — the first woman to serve as its president — before a one-year stint as lieutenant governor.

As a congresswoman, she voted against former president Donald Trump's second impeachment and against an independent panel to investigate the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol. Trump has endorsed her.

Peters lost state Senate races to former Senate Majority Leader Paul Gazelka in 2020 and in 2022 to Sen. Paul Utke, R-Park Rapids.

The Seventh District is Minnesota's largest by land area and is one of the nation's top-producing agricultural districts. It spans 38 counties from the Canadian border south almost to Iowa.