Minnesota Rep. Angie Craig said she will employ a principled bipartisanship in her new post as senior Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, “working to find compromise where we can, but fighting for our values where we must.” Farm groups said her first goal should be enactment of a new farm bill.
House Democrats chose Craig, who represents a swing district south of the Twin Cities, over veteran Rep. Jim Costa, from California’s Central Valley, on a 121-91 vote during a caucus on Tuesday. She will succeed Georgia Rep. David Scott, who became the first Black chairman of the committee in 2020 and is currently the ranking member, as the job is known.
Craig’s election was the latest step in a turnover of House Democratic leadership to a new generation. Craig is 52. Scott is 79 and has had health issues recently. Costa is 72. Craig will be the first woman to serve as party leader on the committee.
“My focus will be on improving people’s lives — not scoring political points,” said Craig in a statement after the caucus vote. “We can lower food and energy costs for consumers. We can strengthen the farm safety net and open the doors of opportunity to new and beginning farmers. And we can ensure that nutrition assistance programs are available for the Americans who need them.”
In campaigning for the party post, Craig said Democrats needed to “show up and listen” to rural voters, who often, and strongly, prefer Republican candidates. On Tuesday, she said she was elected to a fourth term in November “because my farmers and rural constituents know that I’ll meet them where they’re at, I’ll listen to their concerns, and I’ll work with whoever I can to improve their lives….It means working to find compromise where we can but fighting for our values where we must.”
The American Farm Bureau Federation warned of a potential farm crisis due to high production costs and lower commodity prices and said, “We stand ready to work with Rep. Craig to ensure passage of a new five-year farm bill and to address other matters important to agriculture and rural America.” The National Farmers Union said, “We look forward to collaborating with Rep. Craig to tackle the challenges facing agriculture, starting with the passage of a renewed five-year farm bill in the new Congress.”
Action on the new farm bill was deadlocked for months by disagreements over larger farm subsidies, cuts in SNAP, and funding for climate mitigation.