Amy Klobuchar 2020 presidential campaign
The 2020 presidential campaign of Amy Klobuchar, the senior United States senator from Minnesota and former Hennepin County attorney, was formally announced on February 10, 2019, in Minneapolis. Prior to her announcement, Klobuchar had been discussed as a potential candidate for the office by multiple news publications.
Amy Klobuchar 2020 presidential campaign
Amy Klobuchar
U.S. Senator from Minnesota (2007–present)
County Attorney of Hennepin County, Minnesota (1999–2007)
February 10, 2019
March 2, 2020
Justin Buoen (campaign manager)[1]
Julia Kennedy (deputy campaign manager)[1]
Michael Schultz (national finance director)[1]
Rosa Po (policy director)[2]
Nathan Nye (digital director)[2]
Carlie Waibel (national press secretary)[2]
Elise Convy (deputy national finance director)[2]
Sam Clark (special advisor)[2]
Jeff Blodgett (special advisor)[1]
Brigit Helgen (senior advisor)[2]
US$28,950,479.25[3] (December 31, 2019)
Let’s get to work (unofficial)
Klobuchar pitched herself as a moderate choice within the 2020 Democratic Party presidential primaries. Her platform included investments in infrastructure, a public option for health insurance as a pathway to universal healthcare, ensuring election security, overturning the Citizens United ruling, protecting online consumers by requiring transparency of terms, and promoting agriculture to spur rural job growth. She opposed free four-year college tuition, a Green New Deal, or immediate single-payer healthcare as being unrealistic.
Klobuchar suspended her campaign on March 2, 2020, following poor results in the South Carolina primary and one day before Super Tuesday. She endorsed Joe Biden for the presidency.[4] Her failure to gain significant support among primary voters was attributed to competition with a large number of moderate competitors, a failure to attract nonwhite voters, and a lack of campaign funds.
Background[edit]
Klobuchar was described by The New York Times in 2008 and The New Yorker in 2016 and by the Star Tribune in 2012 as one of the women most likely to become the first female President of the United States.[5][6][7]
In January 2019, Klobuchar was reported to be seriously considering entering the Democratic Party primaries for the 2020 United States presidential election.[8][9][10] Klobuchar placed fourth among Democratic potential candidates in a December 2018 poll of Iowa voters.[11]
On February 5, 2019, Klobuchar announced she would make a "major announcement" on February 10 about a presidential bid.[12] That day, the Iowa Democratic Party announced that Klobuchar would be giving the keynote address at a banquet in Ankeny, Iowa, on February 21.[13] The Washington Post's national columnist Jennifer Rubin wrote that Klobuchar would be a moderate candidate with significant rural policy experience, and would be well positioned in Iowa (which borders Klobuchar's home state of Minnesota). Rubin also wrote that Klobuchar could make an excellent vice-presidential candidate.[14]
Klobuchar's allegedly harsh treatment of her Senate staff received some media coverage before her announcement.[15][16] In February 2019, Buzzfeed News, citing anonymous sources, reported that Klobuchar's congressional office was "controlled by fear, anger, and shame".[17] Interviews with former staffers indicated that Klobuchar frequently abused and humiliated her employees, with as much staff time spent on managing her rage as on official business.[17] In particular, Klobuchar received national attention for an alleged incident in which she berated a staffer for neglecting to bring a fork onto an airplane so that Klobuchar could eat a salad; Klobuchar reportedly ate the salad, used a comb as a utensil, and ordered her staffer to clean the comb afterwards.[18][19][20][21][22][23] However, over 60 of Klobuchar's current and former staffers co-signed an open letter disputing these accounts.[24] Klobuchar later confirmed that she had eaten a salad with a comb and acknowledged that she can be a tough boss, but described the incident as a "mom thing".[25][26][27]