Minneapolis Star Tribune
MINNEAPOLIS — Sen. Amy Klobuchar announced Sunday that she is running for president.
The Minnesota Democrat began her candidacy in front of a crowd of supporters gathered at Boom Island Park along the Mississippi River near downtown Minneapolis.
“I am running for every parent who wants a better world for their kids. I’m running for every student who wants a good education,” Klobuchar said. “For every senior who wants affordable prescription drugs. For every worker, farmer, dreamer and builder. I am running for every American. I am running for you.”
With the announcement, Klobuchar joined a growing roster of Democrats running for the nomination to challenge President Donald Trump in 2020. The group includes four of her fellow U.S. senators and could grow to include a former vice president and other big names in the party.
Klobuchar emphasized her background as a homegrown Minnesotan, the daughter of a journalist and union worker whose grandfather worked in the Iron Range mines, before sharing stories of hardworking people across the country.
“That’s community, that’s a shared story, that’s ordinary people doing extraordinary things,” she said. “That sense of community is fractured across our nation, worn down by the petty and vicious nature of our politics.”
“Today, on this snowy day on this island, we say ‘Enough is enough.’ our nation must be governed not from chaos but from opportunity, not by what’s wrong, but by marching toward what’s right.”
In putting herself forward as the opposite of divisive, she emphasized the U.S. motto: “E pluribus unum” —— out of many, one.
“It is more than a motto, America, it is the north star of our democracy, it is the north star of our effort,” she said. “I am asking you to join this campaign. It is a homegrown one.”
Republicans quickly critiqued Klobuchar during and after her speech.
The Republican National Committee put out a news release Sunday saying, “Despite spending months vowing to serve her third term in full if re-elected, Amy Klobuchar has broken that promise just four months later in favor of her own personal ambition. With today’s announcement, Klobuchar has shown her true colors to the people of Minnesota as another out-of-touch Democrat looking to push the failed policies of her party onto the American people.”
Klobuchar, 58, has never lost an election. Leaders of the Minnesota Republican Party frequently criticize her as an overly cautious politician who plays it safe by focusing on broadly popular issues such as consumer protection even as she reliably votes with Democrats on more controversial measures.
“Minnesota Nice is not going to work on a national stage,” said Jennifer Carnahan, chairwoman of the Minnesota Republican Party. “We’ve seen that in the past. People need to get out there and demonstrate true leadership potential.”
