Hoffman announces run for Congress in 7th District

State Sen. Gretchen Hoffman, R-Vergas, announced this morning that she's running for Congress against DFL Rep. Collin Peterson.

"Like many of my neighbors, I've grown increasingly frustrated with Washington politicians who continually fail to clean up the mess they've created with their mountains of wasteful spending," Hoffman said in a news release. "Collin Peterson has simply been in Washington too long and has lost touch with his Minnesota values. I look forward to the coming campaign and building a winning coalition of Minnesotans who want to see fiscal responsibility return to our nation's capitol."

Hoffman made the announcement in the same week that redistricting forced into a pairing with Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria.

Hoffman is in her first-term in the Minnesota Senate. Her campaign said she's received a 100% rating from the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and a "Best Friend of the Taxpayer" award from the Taxpayer's League of Minnesota for her work in the state Senate.

The Senate Ethics Committee has also forced Hoffman to apologize for comments she wrote on Twitter about Sen. Barb Goodwin, DFL-Columbia Heights.

Hoffman will challenge Lee Byberg for the GOP endorsement. The winner will face Peterson in the general election. Republicans have been focusing on the 7th District because the voters tend to vote for Republicans. Peterson, however, has been the exception to that rule. He's the leading Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee and has been active in delivering federal aid to flood stricken communities in northwestern Minnesota.

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