You know what the economics are like in Red Lake County. There's no way a family can pay $15,000, $20,000 a year for health insurance and make it work. You just can't do it. It's got to change.

So [Republicans] packed all the Democrats into districts, very Democratic districts. What that's done is made our party urban, more liberal, and so those people are doing what their constituents want. But that's not what my constituents want.

There's no question that [Donald] Trump got elected because of rural America. And our party still is in denial. They don't get it.

I agree with [Donald] Trump: These trade agreements have not been good deals for America, and they need to be fixed.

You can't have a majority party in Minnesota or throughout the country without [support from] the people in these [rural] districts. Given the position [the Democratic Party] has taken, it's very hard to see how you can do that.

I've tried to maintain my independence in Congress. Sometimes that has meant opposing my own party leaders.

[Rural people] have a different lifestyle, and they don't want to change it. They're happy with the way things are. It's causing the party political problems.