Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, an Agriculture Committee, member will be part of Democratic leadership in the next session. She was elected to chair the Democratic Steering and Outreach committee. The committee’s “primary purpose is outreach to special interest and outside groups when hammering together compromises,” said the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
Two members of Republican leadership also are the Senate Agriculture Committee. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, the Senate minority leader who was elected to become majority leader in January, and John Thune of South Dakota, who was re-elected to chair the Republican Conference.
Minnesota Representative Collin Peterson, the Democratic leader on the House Agriculture Committee, “now has the most Republican seat held by any Democrat” in the House, says Sabato’s Crystal Ball in its “quick takes on the midterm” edition. The distinction is based on Republicans carrying the district in the past three presidential elections. There were seven such Democratic-held seats going into the Nov 4 election, says the Crystal Ball, and the GOP, which targeted them, won four of them. Democrats won two – held by Peterson and Ann Kirkpatrick in Arizona – with one district still undecided.