Politicians that don't fit stereotype

Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, born in Havana, has been a Republican House congresswoman for 30 years. She was the first Latina elected to congress. Her child is the first transgender child of a congressperson. The congresswoman campaigns heavily for LGBQT rights. Although her district voted heavily against Trump last election she was re-elected by a solid majority. She has announced her retirement this year.

She is one of three Latino Republican congressmen whose districts voted heavily against Trump (by more than 10%), and their districts are high on the Democratic Committee target list for a party change.

The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is a social liberal political party in the U.S. state of Minnesota. It is affiliated with the United States Democratic Party. Formed by a merger of the Minnesota Democratic Party and the social democratic Minnesota Farmer–Labor Party in 1944, the DFL is one of only two state Democratic party affiliates of a different name (the other being the North Dakota Democratic-Nonpartisan League Party).

Collin Peterson has represented Minnesota's 7th district since 1990.


For a Democrat, Peterson is generally conservative on social issues; he strongly opposes abortion and has been one of the few Democrats to vote against embryonic stem cell research. He has voted to ban physician assisted suicide and also to approve the proposed Flag Desecration Amendment to the United States Constitution. He also voted for the Defense of Marriage Act and supports the death penalty.

The three Minnesota districts, #7, #8 and #01 are three of the four districts in the county with Democratic congressmen that voted for Trump by more than 50%.

District - Clinton - Trump
MN-07 31.0% 61.8% Peterson, Collin (D)
MN-08 38.6% 54.2% Nolan, Rick (D)
MN-01 38.4% 53.3% Walz, Tim (D)

I wish all politicians were more like the above.
Politicians should look at every issue independently regardless of party position.

Quote: terapined

Politicians should look at every issue independently regardless of party position.

It is not clear if this Republican congresswoman would feel this way if her child did not transition.

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