Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., became the latest Democrat to throw her hat in the ring for the 2020 presidential race – announcing on Sunday her candidacy during a speech in Minneapolis’ frigid and snowy Boom Island Park.
Klobuchar, a moderate, Midwestern Democrat who has served in the Senate since 2007, highlighted in speech her ability to work across the aisle with Republicans and her “grit” as Democrats try to win back voters in a region that supported then-candidate Donald Trump in the 2016 race.
“We worked across the aisle to get the federal funding and we rebuilt that I-35W bridge — in just over a year,” Klobuchar said in her speech with the Interstate 35 bridge over the Mississippi River as her backdrop. “That’s community. That’s a shared story. That’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” she said in her prepared remarks.
She added: “But that sense of community is fracturing across our nation right now, worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics. We are all tired of the shutdowns and the putdowns, of the gridlock and the grandstanding. Today on this snowy island, we say enough is enough. Our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity. Not by wallowing over what’s wrong, but my marching inexorably toward what’s right.”
The I-35W Mississippi River bridge collapsed in August 2007, killing 13 people.
The Minnesota Democrat becomes the eighth major candidate – and the fifth Democratic senator – to announce a bid for president or the formation of an exploratory committee. Klobuchar’s announcement came a day after Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., officially launched her presidential campaign.
“I don’t have a lot of money,” she said on Sunday. “I have grit. I have family. I have friends, and I have you.” – READ MORE