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Mark Zdechlik
ST. PAUL, Minn.

State Sen. Westrom launches congressional bid

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Republican state Sen. Torrey Westrom launched a campaign Thursday for the U.S. House against longtime DFL Rep. Collin Peterson in the 7th District.

Westrom called Congress dysfunctional and said the problems in Washington cannot be solved by sending the same politicians to Congress year after year. If elected, he said he'd work to reduce "overreach" by the federal government and push for a constitutional amendment requiring Congress to balance the budget rather than borrowing money to fund government.

"We have had to live with that in Minnesota," Westrom told supporters in Moorhead. "Washington should have to live with the same type of requirement because it will not sustain itself."

Westrom is an attorney who lives in Elbow Lake, Minn. He was elected to the Minnesota House in 1996 and last year to the state senate.

Peterson, halfway through his 12th term in Congress, is the ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture committee. He won his last election with more than 60 percent of the vote.

The 7th Congressional District stretches across much of the western part of the state from the Canadian border to near the Iowa border.