Dem Klobuchar Announces Run for MN Gov 01/29 06:26

   U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for governor of 
Minnesota, promising to take on President Donald Trump while unifying a state 
that has endured a series of challenges even before the federal government's 
immigration crackdown.

   MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar said Thursday she is running for 
governor of Minnesota, promising to take on President Donald Trump while 
unifying a state that has endured a series of challenges even before the 
federal government's immigration crackdown.

   Klobuchar's decision gives Democrats a high-profile candidate and proven 
statewide winner as their party tries to hold onto the office occupied by Gov. 
Tim Walz. The 2024 Democratic vice presidential nominee, Walz abandoned his 
campaign for a third term earlier this month amid criticism over mismanagement 
of taxpayer funding for child care programs.

   "Minnesota, we've been through a lot," Klobuchar said in a video 
announcement Thursday. "These times call for leaders who can stand up and not 
be rubber stamps of this administration -- but who are also willing to find 
common ground and fix things in our state."

   Klobuchar cited Trump's immigration crackdown in Minnesota, federal officers 
killing two Minnesotans who protested, the assassination of a state legislative 
leader and a school shooting that killed multiple children -- all within the 
last year. She avoided direct mention of ongoing fraud investigations into the 
child care programs that Trump has made a political cudgel.

   "I believe we must stand up for what's right and fix what's wrong," 
Klobuchar said.

   The senator has been among the loudest Trump critics, most recently over the 
immigration enforcement effort that has prompted massive protests.

   Multiple Republicans already are campaigning in what could become a marquee 
contest among 36 governorships on the ballot in November. Among those running 
for the GOP nomination are MyPillow founder and chief executive Mike Lindell, a 
2020 election denier who is close to Trump; Minnesota House Speaker Lisa 
Demuth; Dr. Scott Jensen, a former state senator who was the party's 2022 
gubernatorial candidate; and state Rep. Kristin Robbins.

   Immigration and fraud will be at issue

   The Minnesota contest is likely to test Trump and his fellow Republicans' 
uncompromising law-and-order approach and mass deportation program against 
Democrats' criticisms of his administration's tactics.

   Federal agents have detained children and adults who are U.S. citizens, 
entered homes without warrants and engaged protesters in violent exchanges. 
Minnesota resident and U.S. citizen Renee Good was shot three times and killed 
by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer in early January. On 
Saturday, federal officers fatally shot ICU nurse Alex Pretti during an 
encounter.

   Many Democrats on Capitol Hill, in turn, have voted against spending bills 
that fund Trump's Department of Homeland Security. A standoff over the funding 
could lead to a partial government shutdown.

   Trump and other Republicans also will try to saddle Klobuchar -- or any 
other Democrat -- with questions about the ongoing federal investigation into 
Minnesota's child care programs and its Somali community. Trump also has made 
repeated assertions of widespread fraud in state government, and his 
administration is conducting multiple investigations of state officials, 
including Walz. The Democrat has maintained that his administration has 
investigated, reduced and prosecuted fraud.

   Klobuchar has won across Minnesota

   Serving her fourth term in Washington, Klobuchar is a former local 
prosecutor and onetime presidential candidate who positions herself as a 
moderate and has demonstrated the ability to win across Minnesota.

   The senator won her 2024 reelection bid by nearly 16 percentage points and 
received 135,000 more votes than Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, 
who had chosen Walz as her running mate. Harris outpaced Trump by fewer than 5 
percentage points.

   Klobuchar gained attention during Trump's first term for her questioning of 
his judicial nominees including now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. At 
Kavanaugh's acrimonious confirmation hearings, she asked the future justice, 
who had been accused of sexual assault as a teenager, if he ever had so much to 
drink that he didn't remember what happened. Kavanaugh retorted, "Have you?"

   The senator, who had talked publicly of her father's alcoholism, continued 
her questioning. Kavanaugh, who was confirmed by a single vote, later 
apologized to Klobuchar.

   After Trump's first presidency, Klobuchar was among the most outspoken 
lawmakers during bipartisan congressional inquiries of the insurrection on Jan. 
6, 2021, when Trump supporters attacked the Capitol during certification of 
Democrat Joe Biden's victory over him in the 2020 presidential election. As 
Senate Rules Committee chair, she pressed Capitol Police, administration 
officials and others for details of what authorities knew beforehand and how 
rioters breached the Capitol.

   "It's our duty to have immediate responses to what happened," she said after 
helping write a report focused not on Trump's role but on better security 
protocols for the seat of Congress.

   2020 presidential bid

   Klobuchar sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020, running as 
a moderate in the same political lane as Biden. She launched her campaign 
standing outside in a Minnesota snowstorm to tout her "grit" and Midwestern 
sensibilities that have anchored her political identity.

   As a candidate, Klobuchar faced stories of disgruntled Senate staffers who 
described her as a difficult boss but also distinguished herself on crowded 
debate stages as a determined pragmatist. She outlasted several better-funded 
candidates and ran ahead of Biden in the Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire 
primary. But Biden, then a former vice president, trounced her and others in 
the South Carolina primaries, prompting her to drop out and join others in 
closing ranks behind him.

   After Biden's victory, Klobuchar would have been well-positioned for a 
Cabinet post, perhaps even attorney general. But the Senate's 50-50 split made 
it untenable for Biden to create any opening for Republicans to regain control 
of the chamber.

   Klobuchar announced in 2021 that she had been treated for breast cancer and 
in 2024 announced that she was cancer-free but undergoing another round of 
radiation.

   There are now four senators seeking to lead their home states. Klobuchar 
joins Colorado Democrat Michael Bennet, Tennessee Republican Marsha Blackburn 
and Alabama Republican Tommy Tuberville. Bennet, Blackburn and Klobuchar are 
not up for reelection in 2026 so could remain in the Senate should they not win 
their gubernatorial races. Tuberville is in the final year of his six-year term 
and will leave the Senate in January 2027 regardless.