A lot of it is backlash against all this political correctness that's going on.

[Bernie] Sanders tapped into that [trade issues]; that was part of his support. And then when he didn't make it, some of those Sanders people went to [Donald] Trump.

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

If everybody in our caucus had a 50/50 [Democrat/Republican] district, we'd have a lot different discussion. But if they have a 90 percent Democratic district, they don't ever talk to a Republican, they don't have to and they don't want to.

The [Democratic] party's become an urban party, and they don't get rural America. They don't get agriculture.

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

There's no question about it. If you look at the map, there's hardly any [Democrats representing rural districts]. There's me, [Rick] Nolan, [Tim] Walz, [Dave] Loebsack and Cheri Bustos. So that's five. And all the rest of them are in urban cities. That's a problem.